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| Anni Morris |
Whatever happened to "women's lib"? In the beginning when it all started, I would stare at the speaker and say, "I don't see any guys". But soon found that all it does is confuse the person, especially if they were born in this century!
Somewhere in another era, our society began to substitute ''people at work'' for ''men at work'' and ''humankind'' for ''mankind''. Just when we were starting to be aware of the degree to which language affects our perceptions of women, this ''guy'' thing happened.
The term ''guy'' to mean ''person'' is so insidious that I'll bet most women don't notice they are being called ''guys,'' or, if they do, find it somehow flattering to be considered one of the "guys". Some say that this slang is just a sign of the times (mindless), a catchphrase that will fizzle out.
I have seen no polls which let me know that other women resent this term, but nuns??? Here is one who is not content to let it fly..... to this nun it is just thoughtless!
Maybe we could take a hint from the people in the south and say: Y'all! Ladies, we need to unite!
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| Anni Morris |
This is so funny I was just having this conversation with my 11 year old daughter. She said that her friends would even say "a new guy in the class" when it was actually a new girl! She seemed to think "guy" is a gender-nuetral word like "person." Perhaps it is moving in that direction and will actually become one in the future. But when I asked her "so how come people say Guys and Girls?" She was confused.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! My Guild Wars 2 guild has a policy of no sexist or abelist language in guild chat, so it's made me more aware of those sorts of things. And yes, "y'all" needs to be a word in wider usage.
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