"guy" used by teens?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Stalker is right. There were no "teens" until the 1920s or '30s.

"Guy" is possible, but I'd recommend "fellow."

JL

James C Stalker <stalker at MSU.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: James C Stalker
Subject: Re: =?utf-8?Q?=22guy=22?= used by teens?
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This is an interesting sociolinguistic question. “Teens” probably
didn’t exist in the 1800s, at least in the sense that we conceive of them,
especially in the middling to lower classes. They were young adults,
members of the workforce, or soon to be. Between 15 and 17, they generally
went to work, with adults, as apprentices. They lived in an adult world as
adults. I would guess that teen language reflected their adult social
context. In literature, the most likely place their language would be
reported, slang, or informal whichever you choose, was rarely represented,
as far as I know. One of the few that I know is Austen’s “Northanger
Abbey,” in which the main female character is a teen, but not overtly
presented as that category. Part of the interest for this novel is that it
is about a teen and her perceptions (and the unfortunate effect of novels on
those perceptions). The only slang that I remember is a hot dude from
Oxford, with a chaise. Emma gets more play time in current movies, but she
is not, I think, equivalent to our modern teens.
Nonetheless, I went looking in Farmer and Henley to see what they had to
tell us. I was surprised to find an 1837 citation in which a female is
referred to as a “guy.” (HDAS, of course, has the citation as well.) I
thought the female reference was much later, like more in our time, you see
what I’m sayin’. In querying my classes, over several years, they
(male and female) are willing to accept mixed gender groups and all female
groups being referred to as “guys,” by either male or female speakers.
But guy in the singular is never applicable to a female.


Jim Stalker




Patti J. Kurtz writes:

> I know that "guy" (fellow) goes back to the mid 1800's. My question
> is-- would it have been used by teenagers in that time period to refer
> to others of their own age group, as in 'he saw her standing between two
> guys." Or is the use of this by teens a more recent phenomenon?
>
> Anyone have thoughts on that?
>
> Thanks!
> --
>
> Dr. Patti J. Kurtz
>
> Assistant Professor, English
>
> Director of the Writing Center
>
> Minot State University
>
> Minot, ND 58707
>
>
>
> Foster: What about our evidence? They've got to take notice of that.
>
>
>
> Straker: Evidence. What's it going to look like when Henderson claims
> that we manufactured it, just to get a space clearance program?
>
>
>
> Foster: But we are RIGHT!
>
>
>
> Straker: Sometimes, Colonel, that's not quite enough.
>



James C. Stalker
Department of English
Michigan State University


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