Is the phrase "you guys" gender specific or gender neutral?

sarabee1995 · 2019-09-20T08:31:41-04:00

Life - Is the phrase "you guys" gender specific or gender neutral? I group up in New England (the... (168 replies).

Poll - Total Votes: 62

Gender neutral -- can apply to a group of men or women or mixed

Gender specific -- applies to men only

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I group up in New England (the northeastern most region of America) and there the phrase is used in a gender neutral fashion.

One of my friends down here just said, "I'm not a guy," when I used the phrase this way.

How about where you're from? Neutral or specific?

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Rutterman · 46-50, M

Southerners and those with southern roots don't have this problem. "Y'all" (you all) is what they/we say instead of "you guys". It is a gender neutral way of referring to any group of people.

I understand "you guys" to be gender neutral north of the Mason-Dixon line, but you can expect to be corrected again if you continue to say that when you're dealing with southerners.

I'm personally in the habit of saying "you all" or simply "you".

Yulianna · 26-30, F

@Rutterman 🙂 i thought southerners said y'all cos they couldn't always tell the difference. is this not true?

Rutterman · 46-50, M

@Yulianna What? Lol. Not true. 😄

Yulianna · 26-30, F

@Rutterman 😂🤗

sarabee1995 · 26-30, FVIP

@Rutterman Yup. I've always thought it was a north-south thing and my friend here is from the south. But the poll seems to be going almost exclusively gender neutral.

@Yulianna 😂😂😂