Another kind of buddy: ''guy''

[Benjamin Barrett]

I spoke with a server, perhaps last year, who gave some meta-commentary
about this. He said second person plural is a difficult problem learned
to avoid the informal-sounding "you guys" by switching to "we". BB

Doug Harris wrote:
> I've observed a lot of younger-than-most-everybody servers (in
> restaurants) refer to their customers, including, collectively,
> male and female couples, as _guys_. Though my grandmother would
> have been appalled to be so addressed, I'm usually able to prevent
> my knee jerking similarly, and to accept the remark in the 'for
> the next hour I'm your buddy' way in which it was intended.
> (the other) doug
>
>> At 6/14/2007 11:12 PM, RonButters wrote:
>>
>>> Is it only gay men who address each other as "guy"?
>>>
>> =20
>> I think lots of younger-than-I men and women, and boys and girls,
>> refer to each other as "guys" -- "you guys" -- without distinction as
>> to the gender of the guys.=A0 I've even used it myself, addressing
>> youngsters:=A0 "You guys need to be quieter in the library."=A0 But of
>> the singular I do not speak; surely the vocative singular (if I'm
>> using the right term) must be rare.
>> =20
>> Joel
>> =20
>>

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