"guy'' NOT ''guys''

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jun 15, 2007, at 8:49 AM, Jon Lighter wrote:

> Nobody in his or her right mind would use singular vocative "guy"
> to a female.

my feeling also, but just wait...

there's a series of male vocatives that have developed uses as
exclamations: first "boy", then "man", and now, i think, "dude".  i
have heard "dude" used by one woman to another, in a context where i
really couldn't tell whether it was vocative or exclamatory.

arnold

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