Dear Abby on gender-neutral "guys"

[Wilson Gray]

That's rather extreme on her part. I got over my annoyance with the
usage ca.1969. When women themselves started addressing other women as
"guys," I decided that it was time for me to drop back five and punt.

-Wilson

On Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 3:37 AM, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>  Subject:      Dear Abby on gender-neutral "guys"
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  Turns out the use of "guys" for female referents rankles a lot of
>  "Dear Abby" readers...
>
>  http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/columnists/advice/chi-080226dear-abby-column,1,1275286.column
>
>
>  --Ben Zimmer
>
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>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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