Something that perplexes me. There are many examples where the collective ‘guys’ is used to represent a bunch of people, comprising both males and females. I’ve read up a little on the web about the term actor/actress, I guess (my brain isn’t working well at the moment, and I can’t concentrate on much for any period of time – therefore I have not read up on Waiter/Waitress and Air Hostess…)
What’s with the collective term ‘guys’? Does any female out there detest being grouped under the term ‘guys’? Let me hear your thoughts!
3 replies on “Guys”
I wouldn’t say so much that i detest it, rather I have an issue with the dumbing down and politically correcting of language as a whole.
If in mixed company, then the use of the term “guys” is tolerable as a collective noun. As the person giving the salutation is shortening “guys and girls”. But when in a group of females, then the use of the term simply shows no forethought by the person.
For actor/actress, a woman can be both an actress and an actor. An actress by definition is a female actor. It is a bit like using bull and cow to define the differences in bovine genders. As anyone who has worked in the film industry will also tell you, there are many more similarities between actors and bovine, but this is not the place to go into those things.
Actor as a term can also be used to describe an actress who is in the process of performing their art. But the use has been clouded by the political correctness, in that actresses are now called actors, so as toput them on a level playing field.
What gets my back up, is the changing of words, to suit this political correctness, when there is no need to change the word. Words like Chairman, or terms such as “manhole cover”, have been changed to Chairperson, or “subterranean access point”.
These are terms which have been used for many years, and do not bare a resemblance to the gender of the person, but rather uses the term man to describe a human. Due to a perceived need to change titles to allude to some kind of gender equality is, in my mind, petty and contrived. I prefer to show my equality, than to have it thrust upon me by some inane title.
Just my thoughts on the whole issue anyway.
I find ‘guys’ to be a very generic term now and I certainly don’t feel offended by being included in that collective. English has plenty of bastardisations where one word means different things in different contexts. Why don’t we just invent new words when we need them?
Apparently everyone is called “bloke” in Denilquin …