@alyx I've met a "hey-man" before, and it was more like a speech habit.

Some people have this habit of saying certain word combos or phrases... such as "so, like" or "and stuff " and their speech will be permeated with it.

it's not easy to break away from. I hope this "guy" is just someone with a speech habit.

I get tired of general "guys" and "dudes" too.

@ThatDamnCat yeah, i think that is a thing

a thing i do not wish to tolerate :)

it's on them to stop steppin' on our metaphorical toes

you will notice that this normalization process never, ever seems to go in the opposite direction, with feminine terms coming to supplant masculine ones

hmm, why is that? 🤔 🤔 🤔

like, "hey gals" (meaning a mixed group of women and men)

that sounds weird to everyone, i bet. but why is that weird and "gender-neutral" "guys" got a pass?

mysteries!

(not really)

@alyx What I find most annoying is when we get a waiter or cashier who refers to a group of women as "Ladies," but if they see me and some cis women at a table, they then say, "Guys."

I dress pretty femmey. I'm kind of obsessed with wearing outfits that make it clear I have breasts, since I think that tips the scale towards people getting I'm not a guy. But my voice is hardly great, so I guess they either read me as "crossdresser" or "not female enough to be a ~lady~." It could be they're just cycling through words, but I worry it's the worst case.

@ikea_femme yeah. we trans women suffer a bit of extra collateral damage from gender-neutral "guys" because it leaves us unsure if they're reading us badly or just using mainstreamed patriarchal language

@alyx Also, if a Straight Guy ever really aggressively tries to argue guys is a gender neutral term, ask him how many guys he's slept with. 😅

@00dani oh, i never actually encountered that one. something to look forward to!

@morae i adore and worship y'all and use it constantly with no concern about appropriation, personally

it's my bestie