[Ads-l] fines for saying "you guys" to mixed groups?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Who gets to keep the dough?

JL

On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 8:08 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: fines for saying "you guys" to mixed groups?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > On Jun 11, 2015, at 7:28 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >=20
> > On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 6:46 PM, Geoffrey Nunberg <
> > nunberg at ischool.berkeley.edu> quoted:
> >=20
> >> "We didn't invent the idea, though I'm not sure where we first heard =
> about
> >> it," reads the company's explanation on Tumblr. "But the idea is: if =
> you
> >> believe that using the word 'guys' to describe a mixed-gender group =
> of
> >> individuals is creeping sexism, and are trying to eliminate that word =
> from
> >> your casual use, you put a dollar in the jar every time you do it
> >> accidentally."
> >>=20
> >=20
> > What if you don't believe that using the word "guys" to describe a
> > mixed-gender group of individuals is creeping sexism, and are not =
> trying to
> > eliminate that word from your casual use?
>
> I take it that's why the fine is conditional:  *if* you believe it's =
> sexist and *if* you're trying to cut out/down on your own use of it for =
> mixed groups (or all-female groups, if such actually exist at a tech =
> start-up), *then* you put a dollar in the jar.  Presumably if you don't, =
> then you don't,
>
> LH
> > What do you do every time that you do it on purpose?
> >=20
> > Will "y'all"/"you"/"you-all" be included, if there are women in the =
> group
> > whose birth-language is a Semitic - or should that be "Semetic"? - =
> language?
> >=20
> > Will the "nigger" excuse be allowed into play?
> >=20
> > When I use "you guys," Mary, I don't intend it to reference =
> well-educated,
> > job-holding, classy woman-Americans like you, of course. I apply it =
> only to
> > unmarried mothers, bag-ladies, school-teachers, welfare-queens, and =
> other
> > such embarrassments to your gender. You'll agree with me on that, I'm =
> sure.
> >=20
> >=20
> >=20
> >=20
> > --=20
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint =
> to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -Mark Twain
> >=20
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