@anyia @xgranade

> my circle of friends has always seen "guys" as all-inclusive

That's just the lifetime of patriarchal oppression talking.

@alice @anyia @xgranade

Frankly I have been wondering about that, since some time. English is "only" my second language. I originally thought "guys" would be gendered, but then I saw it used as ungendered all over the place and came to doubt my initial understanding. And saying/writing "guys and girls" seemed somehow even worse.

Now, I am grateful to Alice for resolving this question for me, AND I am very grateful to @xgranade for bringing up the alternative of "folks". I had been looking for one, but inspiration did not come.

@BernieDoesIt @alice @anyia @xgranade

> Where I grew up, "guy" is rarely marked for gender. "Are you guys going to the girls-only activity?" is a common thing for folks to say

Yes. This kind of things threw me off, originally. You see, I read a lot.

Since I am usually acting in a less local context (Fedi, the company, the internet in general, formerly my studies --- hell, locally hardly anybody speaks English here, even those who don't speak German), I prefer to practice a usage that is on average least offensive. At the danger of coming over less folksy ;-). I am not the folksy type anyway, and @xgranade has shown a great way to introduce folksy when I need it (literally ...)

Another, now that I think about it, way to address a group informally (but more formal then "folks", would be "you all"). I call this the exaggerated plural ;-) --- as opposed to "you". Like in "Would you all like to go into the lunch break now or should we start the next lesson and interrupt at 12:00".

@glitzersachen @alice @anyia @xgranade There's never any reason you have to say "guy" in American English. It's an informal word, so it's generally avoided in formal text. That doesn't happen to words that are hard to avoid.

Sadly, it's pretty much impossible to find a plural "you" in American English that fits well for everyone. "You all" is a good choice, in that it's not something that will grab anyone's attention, but beware it has the meaning of including all listeners, not just some.

@BernieDoesIt we don't need to find *a* perfect replacement for "guys" (we already have vibrators 💁🏼‍♀️), we just need to move away from *those* gendered terms that erase non-male participation in society.

@glitzersachen @anyia @xgranade

@alice @BernieDoesIt @anyia @xgranade

LOL. 😉