So I’ve realized that in conversations I’ll use traditional terms for men as general terms for all genders, both singularly and for groups. I always mean it well, but I’ve been thinking that it’s not as inclusive to women/trans people.
For example I would say:
“What’s up guys?” “How’s it going man?” "Good job, my dude!” etc.
Replacing these terms with person, people, etc sounds awkward. Y’all works but sounds very southern US (nowhere near where I am located) so it sounds out of place.
So what are some better options?
Edit: thanks for all the answers peoples, I appreciate the honest ones and some of the funny ones.
The simplest approach is to just drop the usage of guys, man, etc. Folks for groups and mate for singular appeal to me when I do want to add one in between friends.
Fellow Earthlings
Or earthers if you are not from here.
Fucker.
“Buddy” is gendered?
Yep. It’s a name for teen boys or for men that are significantly younger than the speaker. Typically said by men rather than women too.
No one says “Hey buddy” to a teen girl, or to a woman a couple of decades younger than them
I’m not no one. Buddy can be used for pretty much anyone. You’re definitely right about it addressing younger people though.
My boyfriend’s nephew calls me buddy and I am a woman about ten years older than him, we are both adults so he isn’t a confused toddler either. It might vary regionally. It simply means friend in our case. I don’t think he is trying to make me out to be younger than him. Maybe it is his way of declaring I am “one of the guys”, however.
Interesting, I use it pretty much interchangeably with “friend”.
I do
i only use buddy for dogs and puppies
Bitch or bitches
Come on, bitch is as gendered as dude and guys /s
The simplest approach is to accept language is inherently gendered, and at a certain point it is exhausting to either take offense to everything or walk on eggshells.
I’m southern, so I use y’all almost exclusively lol
Y’all
Meatbags.
Negative, I am a meat Popsicle.
I feel like “guys” is definitely colloquially gender-neutral in most contexts.
“Fireman” is clearly a patriarchic term that literally has “man” in it. In English “firefighter” is commonplace nowadays, but in my native Finnish, a lot of professions have “man” in the term, much in the vein of “policeman”, “ombudsman”, the Finnish equivalent of “janitor”, roughly translated directly as “building/house-man”.
We’ve replaced loads. Most of them are good. Some new terms feel natural and get taken into use, but replacing “man” with “person” rarely works for us without feeling incredibly awkward to use.
So my point is that we can reclaim those terms as gender neutral. Context matters. N-word being acceptable among black people is completely acceptable (and actually a very nice tool for emphasis when properly utilised), and it’s even in songs without anyone accusing the artists of racism. (Well, for pop songs at least, no racist hillbilly songs made it to that level.) That being said, it definitely doesn’t take away from it’s power as a slur if someone uses it in such a way.
So I suggest we’ll just use “guys, bro, dudes” as gender neutral and rely that people will understand from context when they’re actually used to address men/exclude women etc.
Also, isn’t “buddy” sort of neutral already? *goes to check* OoooooOoOooooh, it’s from “brother” originally. Guess it’s not as neutral originally.
Well that’s s new one for me.
All the alternatives make me cringe.
If someone is insulted that you use the term “guys” for a group, they’re not worth being friends with. That’s a lot of exhausting mental energy to deal with. Ignore 'em and move on.
Guys is always fine as it refers to followers of Guy Faulks and pretty much anyone has probably considered blowing up parliament at some point.
Carbon-based life forms
“Citizens”. It has the added benefit of implying that you’re an authority figure and they’re in trouble.
Not everyone is a citizen in the place they happen to be. In my country, more than 30% of permanent residents are not citizens.
But they are still citizens (of somewhere)
Usually yes, but not always, some are stateless.
True
Luckily service guarantees citizenship!
I would like to know more!
Comrades?
⚒️
I’m just going out on a limb to remind people it’s totally ok to say sup man to legit anyone. People that care about that stuff are people you can choose to change it for if you want to be around that type of person.
Try the following for groups:
Hey folks, how’s it going?
Listen up assholes!
Greetings, gumshoes
Listen up assholes!
I say “greetings earthling(s)” but I also like gumshoe! Also definitely adding “listen up assholes” to the rotation, my coworkers appreciate your suggestions!
