guys != gender neutral

Thu Sep 27 23:08:11 UTC 2012

On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 11:10 AM, Jo Rhett <jrhett at netconsonance.com> wrote:

> Guys seem to think that it's gender neutral. The majority of women are
> used to this, but they have indicated to me that they don't believe it to
> be very neutral. Using "guys" is not gender neutral, it's flat out implying
> the other gender doesn't matter. *
>

The Oxford English dictionary apparently disagrees with you.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/guy?region=us&q=guys
(*guys*) people of either sex: * you guys want some coffee?
*

As other many words in the English language there are multiple definitions,
and one of those definitions is gender specific - but the one above is very
much gender neutral ("either sex" - it doesn't get much clearer than that!)

  Scott