Date:  Tue, 24 Jan 1995 09:45:57 -0800

From:  David Harnick-Shapiro <david[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]BUCKAROO.ICS.UCI.EDU>

Subject: Re: 2 pl



On Mon, 23 Jan 1995 22:27, Beth Lee Simon writes:



> Someone on another list, in her reply to a question about why the list

> seemed quiet this weekend, said/wrote/posted:

>     "But remember, lots of our guys are not in the eastern time zone."

>

> My immediate understanding was that she meant, the males on the list, and

> I was confused about why she would only mention the males. It was only

> when I considered it, that I understood "our guys" to mean all of us.

>

> Is "our guys" gender specific for anyone else?



Odd thing, that. When I read the example, my first thought was that

it was an awkward statement, and that the the author meant males.

However, I quickly thought of a situation in which the sentence did not

strike me as awkward: when *our* guys are being contrasted with their

guys (whoever "they" might be). And in this context "guy" is completely

genderless.



Anton Sherwood wrote that Douglas Hofstadter reported hearing a woman say

"even _guys_" use the word `guys' for both genders. As in that example,

it seems that in my speech "guys", when stressed, is +male, but when

unstressed is epicene.



--------

      David Harnick-Shapiro   Internet: david[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ics.uci.edu

Information and Computer Science   UUCP: ...!{ucbvax,zardoz}!ucivax!david

University of California, Irvine