you guys

[Dennis R. Preston]

Not particularly interesting up here in the frozen North (East
Lansing); such usage is common. More recently, even "guys" without
"you" has moved into this territory. I heard a young woman yell to
friends of hers just the other day "Hey Guys! Wait up! Even this may
have been around here longer than I think (since my principal
channels of communication are with aged graduate students and
colleagues).

dInIs

To clarift my first message, "I'm glad I'm not a woman--you guys have too
many issues to deal with!" seemed particularly interesting because "you
guys" is used to address all women, and only women.

-Mai

--
Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic,
      Asian & African Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027
e-mail: preston at msu.edu
phone: (517) 353-9290