"guy''

[Jonathan Lighter]

1932 _American Speech_: "One girl to others: 'Come on, guys!'"

  JL

"Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Joel S. Berson"
Subject: Re: "guy''
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At 6/15/2007 08:13 AM, Jon L. wrote:
>"Guy" has been America's slang/colloquial term of choice for male
>human beings for well over a century; so more specific nuances are
>inevitable. (Gays look for "guys." So do "gals." Is that
>linguistically noteworthy? Dunno.)

Is it linguistically noteworthy that it is also being used today to
refer to females, including by females? What date should one look to beat?

Joel

> HDAS lacks a separate definition for vocative "guy" because it
> seemed unnecessary. That may have been a hasty decision.
>
> But the year to beat (shouldn't be difficult) is 1915.

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