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

[Laurence Horn]

> On Jun 11, 2015, at 8:53 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Who gets to keep the dough?
> 
> JL

All the other guys split it.

LH
> 
> On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 8:08 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> 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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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
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