"man" vs. "guy" redux

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:14 PM -0500 11/19/02, Herbert Stahlke wrote:
>My point exactly.  As I went on to say, "you guys", as a form of address, is
>a periphrastic 2p, not the lexical "guy".  I can say "you guys" to a group
>of women, but I can't point to a group of women and say to someone else,
>"See those guys?".
>
While this distinction is a real one for many speakers (especially us
older ones), the non-sex-specific use is gaining in referential as
well as vocative uses, as I've discovered whenever I poll my classes
on this.  (See also Clancy's paper in AS a few issues ago--

Clancy, Steven J. (1999)  The ascent of guy.  American Speech 74: 282-97.)

Context matters, too.  I have a number of cites from the (National
Champion) UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma in which he
referes to his players as "(the) guys", or to a specific player as
"my go-to guy".  ("Woman" doesn't seem to work here, and "man" is too
sex-specific.)  But I'm pretty sure "man-to-man" defense is still
used, or "man" defense, where no specific reference is intended.

Larry