Discussions
The use of "guy"
Posted by vnrozier • 6/10/07 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: ears, guy, names, nicknames
Does anyone have an opinion of the use of the word "guy" to refer to men in general and men of a certain age in particular. To my somewhat old fashioned British ears it is a little strange.
User Comments
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It's fairly normal here in the States in casual speech. Probably the closest equivalent in the UK would be "bloke". But I'm originally from New Jersey here in the US, and "guys" is often even used for a group of females as a friendly greeting. As in, "Hey guys!"
I don't know that "guy" has a connotation for any particular age range. Though you might hear it used with "old" or "young" to be more specific. "Some young guy" etc. -
When my dad is going out with his friends (golfing or whatever), he'll call it his day out with the guys.
"Guys' night out" and "girls' night out" are part of everyday language here in the States.
I considered the different variations contributors to my blog project were submitting (e.g., bloke, chap, thug, man, male, boy, fellow, gentleman - to name just a few... and there were just as many female variations). I didn't want the bylines to distract from the cinqpics themselves, so went with a simple "guy" and "girl" for consistency.
Don't worry, vnrozier. It's not a disrespectful term here. One of my favorite songs is Ella Fitzgerald's "I Got A Guy." Do you know it?
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Adria, you're much too nice to ever offend anyone let alone me. My original question was refering to Blogcatalog's use of it. When I was younger the word 'chap' was very common. Mostly private schools. Or 'Public Scools' as they are called in England to confuse Americans. Older I've use the word 'fellow'.
You carry on just as you are.
Of course I know Ella Fitzgerald, I am of your grand parents generation evidently.
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I use 'guys' as a casual catch all phrase,
whether talking to males or females. It is
slangish, think it was more common amoung
my generation... or, perhaps, as TSR said,
it might be connected with New Jersey, as
I also am originally from there.
Also, to incinq, that 'girl' designation
was the only thing I did NOT like about
being in your blog project. As a woman
in my 50s, I haven't thought of myself
as a 'girl' in decades! If the females
have to submit to being called 'girl',
then why aren't the males called 'boy'?
I'd be happier with 'female' and 'male'
designations, which don't imply anything
beyond gender. But maybe I'm the only
one put off by it. -
Going with "male" and "female" feels too clinical for me.
My mum is 40, and says she's "forever flexing her girl power muscles." To me and my family, "girl" is an empowering word - one that is every bit an equal to the word "guy." Even my 77 year old grandmother has weekly "girls' lunch out." I've never heard her say, "We're having a women's lunch out."
I certainly didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. No disrespect was intended. The gender bylines have been consistent throughout from the very first cinqpic, so I stand behind my decision. Contributors submit their cinqpics voluntarily. Guidelines and FAQ are provided, and there are hundreds of cinqpics to browse through. As my mum's publishing house has told her during the copy-edit stage of manuscripts, "House rules and style apply."-
Oh, of course it is YOUR site, (your
most EXCELLENT site) and you should do
it the way that feels best to you.
Your comments about choosing which words
to use just reminded me of the squirmy
discomfort I felt when I saw the word
'girl' above my submission. I am so
NOT a 'girl'. I think, for me, it has
a certain belittling quality to it, to
refer to a grown woman that way- like a
white racist referring to an adult black
man as a 'boy'. And clearly there is no
disrespect intended by you, incinq, nor
do I mean to imply that in any way.
I'm just talking about how I respond to
these words... and it also has to do with
the language you were brought up with, as
you mention. I was not raised around women
who referred to themselves as girls, although
certainly I did hear that usage in mainstream
culture.
I do find it very interesting how we all have
our own differing takes on word usage. And
actually, I'm not even sure what vnrozier meant
when he spoke of 'guys' referring to men of a
certain age in particular. Is that a British
thing? And what age men does the word 'guys'
bring to mind? I'd be just as likely to use
it in speaking about a group of 20 year olds as
I would a group of 50 year olds. But I would be
less likely to use it when referring to a group
of elderly gents, as the very casualness of it
might seem lacking in respect.
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Hey guys! Just kidding! Mam is the word that gets to me, makes me feel ancient.
If a youngish man were to say, for instance, "you girls, go over there." I would feel affronted and immediately instruct him politely that he should not address us thusly, or order one about as it is improper and rude. Now, If an older gentleman were to refer to me and other women as girls, I should most likely take that as a compliment.
I feel like a woman-child-girl inside and it all depends on who is using the word girl and why and how.
As to the original question. Were I an older gentleman I would not enjoy being address by the word guy. Period, unless by another gentleman who was a friend. Or, of course if Guy actually was my name. Then it would be proper.
Sometimes we in the States are way too informal. -
interesting. -
I use the word guy usually for any male between say, 15 and 70. But I never refer to women or mixed groups as "guys". In that case I'd say "y'all" because I'm from Texas -
Ah, see, "ya'll" is almost the same as the New Jersey "guys". Or here in Pittsburgh, it's even worse-- it's "yinz guys" (basicially a contraction on you-one's (you people)...
Pittsburgheze, though, is a bit odd. ;-)
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Well of course wasn't there once a musical called 'Guys and dolls' or perhaps with the introduction of Orwell's 'newspeak' in politically correct society has the title been sanitized?
I should remind readers that my English is archaic and I'm happy with it. Of course in France where I live they are still with the dinosaurs in terms of linguistic evolution. -
I've really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on this.
I considered several combinations, including humorous pairs like "dude" and "diva" (which would undermine some of the more serious cinqpics).
In the end, I felt "guy" and "girl" were the most unobtrusive (without being reminiscent of every gender question on a test/survey/dating-network, like m/f). Happy coincidence: the lower case "g" looks like the number 9, the number of words in each cinqpic.
The "guys" and "girls" in the cinq drawer are fabulous! I have the utmost respect for you contributors. I'm humbled by your creative expressions.
Thanks to all. -
I've found myself using "guys" for a crowd, even mixed gender, but never for just a woman/girl as I would any age man/boy.
I prefer y'all (apostrophe before the 'all'). I'll even say "all y'all" if it's a crowd. I've never heard or used y'all for a single person as you hear in movies making fun of southern accents and I've lived in GA my whole life. -
Oh, well, now that you bring up
singular versus plural, JW, I'll
add that I would never use 'guy'
for a single female either... and
I find it weird sounding when the
younger (ages 16 - 24) people I work
with do that with the word 'dude'.
I'll also use y'all once in a blue
moon, as I lived for a while with a
woman and her 3 children who were
from from North Carolina.
With all these different usages of
the English language, it's no wonder
we can easily confuse each other...
especially online, where there is
only the written word without tonal
inflection or body language to add
meaning to the message.
I'd like to thank vnrozier for starting
this discussion. I'm enjoying pondering
all this!
Oh, another slang term for a group of
people that I really like is 'peeps'.
I'm not sure where it came from, and
I don't use it often because not many
peeps seem familiar with it, but I do
like the sound of it. It's one of those
words that I find fun to use.
And another term I use when referring
to people in general is 'humans'... it
is, perhaps, overly formal, and maybe
a bit rude? In referring to others as
'humans' it expresses my own sense of
alienation from the species, a feeling
that overtakes me from time to time.-
Peeps. I like that.
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I like 'peeps' as well. To my mind, though, there's a difference between THE peeps and MY peeps. As in: "I wonder what the peeps will think of this blog post." The peeps = all of the people who might read it. Compared to: I act as an advisor to a certain group of people, so they are "my peeps."
Hairsplitting. :-b
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Peeps peeps peeps ! Cute but what does it mean again?
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Short for people. My peeps = my people, my crew, my gang, etc.
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peeps = a group of people,
as in:
"Have you peeps read my blog yet?"
I first heard it used by a fellow
(a peep?) who had spent years in
traveling circuses. And then more
recently, I think I've heard it used
by people (peeps) from urban settings,
meaning people from their area, as in:
"The peeps in my hood are all into
reading Jaya's blog." (Hood is short
for neighborhood for those not familiar
with that slang. It also used to be short
for the word hoodlum, but both the short
and long version seem to have gone out
of common usage now.) -
And the terms for what is 'in'
change frequently. For instance,
I got hooked on the word 'cool'
for things that I liked back in
the late 60s, and still use that
word a lot.
Then, things that were cool began
being described as being 'hot',
and more recently, I hear the kids
at work using the terms 'bad' and
'sick' to mean something they think
is good.
And, also frequently changing are
the insults that are used... Now,
they are often foul references to
body parts or sexual activity. But
I remember when I was a little kid
and the term to call someone you
didn't like was a 'fink' or, better
yet, a 'ratfink'. I stopped using
that by the time I hit puberty, but
it still brings a smile to my face.
Although, the old English insults
still sound great to me... such as
this example from the Shakespearean
Insults Generator:
"Thou creeping long-tongued vile worm!" -
I will be the last person in Australia to adopt teenage slang from American television programmes and films.
Australian guys will always be "chaps" "blokes" or "men" to me; "sidewalks", "apartments" and "movies" are words I would never use; spelling has to be Oxford-approved; we use tins and not cans; cars run on petrol and not gas etc etc
However I am absolutely clear that within one generation, Australian children will be aping American television speech. -
Its all about the 'lads'
Going out with the lads!
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