this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Y'all doesn't get enough love. It is gender neutral and extremely versatile.

[–] xmunk 29 points 8 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ustedes if you're less formal or you live outside Spain 😁

[–] xmunk 3 points 8 months ago

if you're less formal

What a fun way to phrase that. You're not wrong but it's making me giggle.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm under the impression that you pronounce it the same way this cat looks.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You know... that's about right.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I still wonder why English (a Germanic language) doesn't have its own pronoun for the plural 2nd person like German (euch) or Dutch (jullie), I think it kinda helps with distinction between talking to one person and talking to multiple people.

The problem is... what pronoun should we choose? I think "yinz" would sound kinda cool, but nobody outside of a very specific spot in the US actually uses it (other than myself I guess).

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I agree. It's the plural of "you" that should be the official standard, since it disambiguates "you." It can even be broadened to include larger groups via "all y'all," as in, not just y'all in talking to, but all y'all in the house.

It can replace "guys", but not "man," though.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago

The plural of you is yous or ye. In Ireland at least.

[–] ArbitraryValue 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

"You" is already plural and I'll never yield this hill to anyone. However, I'm open to bringing back "thou".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Well, you don't have to yield, because it's correct. My issue isn't that you isn't plural, it's that it's both singular and plural, and therefore ambiguous. IDGAF whether we normalize y'all, or thou in the other direction, or yous as someone else mentioned... but "you" needs to pick a fucking lane.

[–] Makeshift 1 points 8 months ago

Thank thou for being someone other than myself that’s annoyed at English having the same dang word normalized for both singular AND plural for such a common and important word.

[–] Reverendender 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's become the go-to in my company

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Do you work with me? I'm in the US south and my EU colleagues love "y'all" and have started using it (ironically or not :) pretty often.

Warms my heart.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I have no hint of a Southern accent, but when I moved here "y'all" became almost an instant part of my vocabulary.

[–] Reverendender 2 points 8 months ago

A LOT of my company is remote, but we are headquartered in Providence Rhode Island.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

It sounds cringeworthy if you're not American though. The standard way of saying it is "you lot" and other dialects, like mine, have "yous".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Here where I'm from in the US, you occasionally hear a "y'alls" and now I'm going to start using it as a cultural gap between your dialect and mine.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Where I’m from people just assume you’re a hick is you say y’all. It’s not very common in the northern, out Midwest of the US, but everywhere in the south.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I can't do it, I don't want to sound like I'm from the South.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

If everyone starts using it, it won’t sound southern any more. C’mon, you know you want to.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Take it from them!