Saying “you guys”

Is there a problem with saying “you guys”? I use it all the time (even if there is a female in the group). I never really saw a problem with it until one of my friends (a semi SJW girl) brought it up.

What do you guys (lol) think? Is there a problem with this? If so, what alternative phrases can you even use without sounding like a weirdo?

 

that's just silly mate. 'Guys' seems pretty gender neutral when speaking in a group. Uniquely English has a plural 'you' and no singular 'you', hence there's no real way to say "you multiple people" other than the southerner "y'all" so it's a gap in the language.

Not your fault, it's a flaw in the language.

Instead I suggest you use "hey fuckers" whenever referring to multiple people. As in "hey fuckers, you ready to go to lunch?" or "Good morning fuckers," or "I'm so happy you fuckers could make it to my birthday."

And tell your SJW colleague to go pound sand.

 

Not to my understanding. Hence 'you are' and not 'you is'. That's the glitch in the English language. 'You' is always plural. Hence the southerner "y'all" is grammatically incorrect, but in reality English needs such a clarification in many cases to make it clear that the 'you' is referring to multiple people. The Brits often say 'you lot' to similarly patch the glitch. But this is WSO so 'you fuckers' makes more sense.

 

I’ve seen females using this to address (almost) all female groups in emails / texts

 

I’m a female and I say this all the time without a second thought

 

"semi SJW" is a good joke, try batshit crazy lol.

On another note, I use the words "bud" and "buddy" unironically and I looked a 70 year old man in the eye yesterday and called him "bud" with no hesitation. Can't wait till I call my next interviewer "buddy"

 

Just say 'guys.' Who cares?

Even I find this semantic, and I've written papers on the differences between GICS and ICB industry classifications. (Sorry, that one's internal use only)

The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.
 

I stick to the traditional "ye" when addressing groups. This also has the benefit of adhering to modern mores of gender neutrality, thus burnishing my credentials and appearing more 'with-it'.

If I have to address someone singularly and I outrank them socially, as I usually do, I am sure to use "thou". Otherwise I default to "You". I suggest you follow my approach here.

 

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Good thing we got another "SJW" thread on WSO though. We were definitely running low on those.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

It's good if somebody gets offended at something stupid. It's free valuable information that they're someone you can disregard and pay no mind.

heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 

I have a former coworker who's aVP. She gets "Guys" but we go to drinks with former coworkers. (the karaoke afterward is fun)

The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.
 

I currently am going through training with a bunch of SJWs, who say that "guys" is offensive. I'm conflicted between just saying it anyways, or making sure I'm on good terms with everyone and saying "everyone."

 
NYCBoyAbroad:
I currently am going through training with a bunch of SJWs, who say that "guys" is offensive. I'm conflicted between just saying it anyways, or making sure I'm on good terms with everyone and saying "everyone."

I mean, there is a certain decor that needs to be observed. You need to be careful if you don't really know the people personally. I've sent "congratulations on your child" cards to half of the coworkers I didn't say it in person to, but will call 'bros'. (their Instagrams are crap, btw.)

The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.
 

I’ve referred to a group of girls as “you guys” plenty of times. It’s never meant as a gender thing but instead as a way to refer to a group of people. Like, “do you guys know where the rest room is” instead of “do you people know where the rest room is”. If I was speaking to a group of girls saying “hey girls” would just come off as very weird..

 

Quick Story Time:

I used to bartend to put myself through university back in the day.

One day I had a party of two Karens/'Can I Speak To Your Manager' types. Bowl cut bangs on the front - long hair on the back - you get the picture.

I tried to open the conversation super friendly by saying "Hey guys, how can I help you two today? :)"

They responded cordially, I took their order, and went to go put it into the system. However, after I left they went directly to the hostess at the front to complain about me calling them "guys"....... they felt as if I did it on purpose to make them feel uncomfortable and yet they wouldn't even tell me to my face? At least tell me why you are unjustly offended....... Not immediately go try and run to someone to try and get me in trouble for saying what I thought was polite.....

This was back in 2013; I couldn't imagine what servers & bartenders have to put up with today with how this world is encouraging everyone to be offended by everything.

There is more than one way to get there. I'd rather have 30 chapters than 3000 pages.
 

I think saying "you guys" is totally fine.

However, starting off emails with "gents' is gendered and should be done away with.

Plus, every time an email starts off with "gents" you know it is going to be bad...

 
u7o2q0qla4:
Plus, every time an email starts off with "gents" you know it is going to be bad...

This is the greater issue.

What an absolute toolbag way to start an email

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

On a similar note I met up with some friends to drink beers at at a city park. One of them was complaining about making minum wage at a cheese shop while shes getting her masters in Social Work (why??) at an expensive private college. My other friend was like yeah minum wage should be $20/hr, so that you can afford to live better etc. I was like uhh NO, and you shouldn't have to rely on minumam wage as an educated adult, and living in the neighborhoods that "you guys" do is a privilege, not a right. It was astonishing.

 

I used to wonder that myself until I started hearing it used in meeting by females as well. So I don’t see what the issue is. These fucking days you need to think about too much and tbh majority of people don’t give a fuck. Media and social media makes it seem as if it’s a hot topic but talk to 20 people and 18 will tell you this whole thing is stupid. But we somehow all of sudden base our lives on the few morons in society.

 

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