guys != gender neutral

Sun Sep 30 00:30:37 UTC 2012

On 9/28/12, joseph.snyder at gmail.com <joseph.snyder at gmail.com> wrote:
> Intention is everything, words are only part of it.  If you can't determine
> intention and you get upset then it is you that has the problem.  Ask or let
> it go and assume the best intentions.  The world be a lot better off if we
> all did this.

Exactly. In protest against all the pedantry, in the selection of
"neutral" terms; I suggest making a habit of doing the opposite of
what pedants want....  in other words:  just ignore the
reaching-out-on-a-limb-and-trying-to-dictate-what-the-sky-means
arguments  about if-word-x-is-really-neutral.   Use the neutral terms
we are already familiar with, that are understood, convenient, and
"natural";

If you think "Guys" is neutral, for cases where the distinction
between gender isn't important, then that's how it is;  it's not
something that can be dictated otherwise by anyone other than the
speaker.

The understood part is most important,  especially on mailing lists.

And lo.... the OP has opened up a can of worms here on NANOG,  which
are crawling around, all over the place and setting up nests, creating
infestations.

Please kindly get every single one of the worms released, packed up
immediately,  reseal the can-o-worms,  and ship them back to their
natural habitat in  the US, Washington DC,
before Monday,

so we can have fewer distractions from legit operational matters.

Thanks,

--
-JH