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What is a gender neutral replacement for man, guys, buddy, etc? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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] 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.