People who claim “guys” is gender neutral would most often only count men when asked the question “How many guys did you sleep with in your life?”
Until I find a single person who immediately thinks of people of any gender at that question, I will not fall for the internalized misogyny of “‘guys’ is gender neutral” meme. (Same with “dudes” and all the other ones I’ve seen over the years. I’ve even seen someone say “bro” is gender neutral.)
It’s only gender neutral when used as a direct address, as an alternative to “y’all” when you’re actually talking TO people:
“Hey guys!” or “Later, guys!”.
When you’re talking ABOUT people - “I saw some guys at the store” - it’s not neutral. In that case you’re essentially saying “I saw some dudes at the store.”
It’s basically the difference between using it as a greeting or direct address versus using it to DESCRIBE people. As a direct address in most of the US it is absolutely considered gender neutral. I’ve come around to “y’all” though :)
Edit: more precisely&concisely–
Vocative case = gender-neutral
Regular plural noun = masculine
People who claim “guys” is gender neutral would most often only count men when asked the question “How many guys did you sleep with in your life?”
Until I find a single person who immediately thinks of people of any gender at that question, I will not fall for the internalized misogyny of “‘guys’ is gender neutral” meme. (Same with “dudes” and all the other ones I’ve seen over the years. I’ve even seen someone say “bro” is gender neutral.)
It’s only gender neutral when used as a direct address, as an alternative to “y’all” when you’re actually talking TO people:
“Hey guys!” or “Later, guys!”.
When you’re talking ABOUT people - “I saw some guys at the store” - it’s not neutral. In that case you’re essentially saying “I saw some dudes at the store.”
It’s basically the difference between using it as a greeting or direct address versus using it to DESCRIBE people. As a direct address in most of the US it is absolutely considered gender neutral. I’ve come around to “y’all” though :)
Edit: more precisely&concisely–
Vocative case = gender-neutral
Regular plural noun = masculine