What is a gender neutral replacement for man, guys, buddy, etc?

So I’ve realized that in conversations I’ll use traditional terms for men as general terms for all genders, both singularly and for groups. I always mean it well, but I’ve been thinking that it’s not as inclusive to women/trans people.

For example I would say:

“What’s up guys?” “How’s it going man?” "Good job, my dude!” etc.

Replacing these terms with person, people, etc sounds awkward. Y’all works but sounds very southern US (nowhere near where I am located) so it sounds out of place.

So what are some better options?

Edit: thanks for all the answers peoples, I appreciate the honest ones and some of the funny ones.

The simplest approach is to just drop the usage of guys, man, etc. Folks for groups and mate for singular appeal to me when I do want to add one in between friends.

sjmulder,

Guy:innen

chayleaf,

guy:ки

DeltaTangoLima,
@DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com avatar

I tend to use “folks” for my usual gender-neutral collective pronoun.

I don’t think “dude” is a real issue, is it? Here in Australia, I’ll happily use mate for any gender, and I often hear other genders do the same.

Of course, we also tend to unnecessarily shorten (even lengthen) people’s names here, and those always get used:

  • Darren = Daz or Dazza
  • Josh = Josho
  • Dan = Danno or Danny-boy
  • Adam = Ads
  • [first name] Thompson = Tommo
  • [first name] Johnson - Jonno

Even our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is Albo. You get the idea… :0

Mr_Blott,

“Yous badly-aimed batches of ejaculate”?

theywilleatthestars,

Comrade

IgnatiusJReilly,

Meatbags?

NigelFrobisher,

Fellow Earthlings

HaywardT,

Or earthers if you are not from here.

kaffiene,

Buddy is masculine?

june,

Could be. Depends on a bunch of factors. But as a trans person I’ve never encountered someone who’s trans and feels that it’s masculine.

feedum_sneedson,

cumsplats

echo,

all friends everyone folks peeps team

If you’re only addressing one person then it can be left off entirely.

Akareth,

“My fellow great ape”

dandroid,

Dude.

I’m a dude. He’s a dude, She’s a dude. We’re all dudes.

theotherninjaturtle,

Hey !

nadiaraven,

Trans women sometimes feel uncomfortable when they are called dude, so if you’re aiming for maximum comfort of people, dude is not a great choice.

dandroid,

Well, to make a more serious comment instead of just quoting an old song from an old movie, it’s definitely most important to call people by pronouns that they prefer. That’s the number 1 priority.

That said, I have some trans friends who don’t like gender neutral pronouns in general. One in particular has explained how much she has gone through to be able to identify as a woman, and using “they” instead of “she” makes her feel like she still isn’t a woman.

So the real answer is there’s no one word that will make everyone happy. They best way to do that is to ask people the pronouns they prefer.

MajorMajormajormajor,

I never though about that aspect of it, thanks for sharing that friend’s perspective.

redempt,

the best take. as with everything, there is no one size fits all solution

dead,

Yep, especially your mom, she’s probably the best dude

braxy29,

i find myself using “friend” a lot lately. dunno if that’s a great replacement.

nonfuinoncuro,

I’m not your buddy, guy!

ComradePorkRoll,

I find “y’all” works pretty well, so does “folks” or even better “Fellow Workers.”

kaffiene,

I’ve noticed people using these more but I hate them. It’s a cultural thing. I’m a New Zealander and y’all sound American redneck to me and folks just sounds weird.

hglman,

All it takes is using it for a bit, and it doesn’t.

kaffiene,

Nah. To me this is like suggesting to Americans that they start saying “good sirs” as a greeting. It grates

june,

Rich coming from someone who says ‘nor’ instead of ‘no’.

/s

Seriously, I love NZ and can’t wait to get back there. I’ve only met a few shitty kiwis and they were all here in the US lmao

BlueEther,
@BlueEther@no.lastname.nz avatar

good point, bro

olympicyes,

“Y’all” is Texas’ greatest cultural contribution IMO.

cmbabul,

Texas does not get to claim that 100%, Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Mississippi own a good bit of that

AdrianTheFrog,
@AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world avatar

People here are not understanding that language changes with location

MajorMajormajormajor,

Exactly. As great sounding as some of these suggestions are, if I were to call an acquaintance or a stranger cunt I would be crucified.

mipadaitu,

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