Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!jarthur!ucivax!gateway
From: jan@orc.olivetti.COM (Jan Parcel)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Girls, girls, girls
Message-ID: <9009191610.AA18518@Siena.ORC.Olivetti.Com>
Date: 19 Sep 90 16:51:50 GMT
References: <85789@aerospace.AERO.ORG> <653609811@lear.cs.duke.edu>
Reply-To: jan@orc.olivetti.com
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In article <653609811@lear.cs.duke.edu> gazit@cs.duke.edu (Hillel Gazit) writes:
>Webster's Dictionary define "guy" as:
>"... 3 b: PERSON - used in pl. to refer to members of a group regardless
>of sex [example:] <saw her and the rest of the guys>"
>
>Therefore the word "guy" seems to me as gender neutral to start with.
>
>Any comment from native English speakers?

In my parents' day, it was "guys and dolls," when I was little, it was
"guys and gals,"  by the time I was a teenager, "guys" had become a bit
like "men," in that we NEVER used it for a group of ALL female, but if
the group contained one or more males, we would use it.  Then we went to
"cats and chicks," then "dudes and chicks."  (I grew up in California,
my parents are from the west, i.e. 1200 or so miles east of here 8-) )

If someone said "I saw this guy driving down the road," everyone I knew
would understand that as "I saw this [boy or man] driving down the road."
In other words, guy was more age-neutral than gender-neutral.

If I were going out with a bunch of women, I would probably say I'm going
out with the crowd, or the gang.  But I'd be perfectly happy to see "guy"
keep evolving into a gender-neutral word.  A good test of a TRULY gender-
neutral word (in terms of research into mental imagery, which is the
"PC" method of analysis ) is when it keeps its neutrality when applied in
the singular.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ jan@orc.olivetti.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We must worship Universal Consciousness as each of the 5 genders in turn
if we wish to be fully open to Yr glory.
						-- St. Xyphlb of Alpha III