Scott Howard <scott@doc.net.au> writes:
On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 11:10 AM, Jo Rhett <jrhett@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!)
Well, "either" sort of implies that there are only two sexes. I believe "people of any sex" would have been better. See e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_gender Bjørn