A question, please, about slang

[Haole Girl]

It came up at work, today, that it is acceptable to say "Yeah man" instead of "Yes ma'am."

OK, first of all, when did this happen?

Secondly, is it true? I mean, are people really saying "man" for women too?






Sometimes, I swear, I live in my own world and don't even see what's going on around me. But, then again, without any children, how am I supposed to keep up with this stuff?

[lildreamer316]

1. Ummm,..what?

That cannot be right. I dunno, though, considering what I do, I would not be up on that.

[Haole Girl]

2. What do you do?

:hi:

[lildreamer316]

18. ....

Adult Entertainment (read=stripper).

[Haole Girl]

24. Oh yeah

I remember now. :hi:

[begin_within]

3. On "American Idol," Randy Jackson calls the female contestants "dude"

So I guess gender doesn't matter any more.

[Haole Girl]

5. Well, I was just catching up on the dude thing last week...

...and now this.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

6. "Dude" is now acceptable with people male or female.

[Haole Girl]

10. Yes, I'm ok with that now...

...still pondering the ramifications of the other...especially with our foreign customers...yikes! :scared:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

4. I'll say stuff like "yeah man" or "yo dude" to my friends, male or female.

I wouldn't use it in a situation where "yes ma'am" could possibly be appropriate.

[Haole Girl]

7. Thank you!

So, it is a casual thing right? I mean, not appropriate for customer service, right? Sometimes I just don't know if I'm being the old lady I said I'd never become, or being respectful...there's such a fine line.

Here is an appropriate smilie for how I'm feeling on the subject:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

16. Not normally.

I've done a lot of customer service work. If it was a regular customer that I really knew well, then I'd say it's okay. But it also depends on the place. If it's an upscale place, then it still wouldn't be appropriate. Some of the regulars I had at the health food store, yes, but that was an abnormally informal place. Like, if it's a customer that will pick up a piece of produce and crack a dildo joke and buy you a drink when you run into him at the gay bar, then formality is out the window.

[Kutjara]

8. I thought that the strictly correct etiquette...

...was to refer to gentlemen as "motherfucker" and ladies as "biatch."

I hope I haven't been making a faux pas at work all this time.

[Haole Girl]

11. lol

[Kali]

38. snarf

[cwydro]

9. Well, no

maybe to my friends, but I usually still say Yes ma'am or sir at work to clients or customers. But then, I WAS raised in the south....and I'm kind of old school anyhow. Manners are a good thing.:-)

[Haole Girl]

15. Yes, I must be officially...

southern fried now, because I feel the same. But, I want to be flexible...I mean, if that is how people want to be addressed..then, so be it...I guess.

[cwydro]

23. IMHO

you can never go wrong being polite...

[greatauntoftriplets]

12. What happened to....

Yes, person's name.

Certainly in an office situation that would be the way to answer.

I would be annoyed if someone called me "man", but then the chairman of my company (who has Alzheimers but would be much worse off if he didn't come into the place that he built and is a sweet old guy) patted my ass today. At least I am past the age where I would be offended at that coming from someone who isn't in charge of all his faculties. Now if his son had done it, I would either have dropped dead (considering that the son is hopeless) or immediately filed a lawsuit.

Edited for horrific grammatical error....

[Haole Girl]

17. Patted your ass?

I see that things could be much more complicated.

[greatauntoftriplets]

22. Yes...

But he is not quite all there. Had it been anyone else, I would have been royally pissed. It is really sad, considering what he accomplished in 50 years. Coming from this man, it was funny. And sad that he is the way he is. I remember when he was different.

[Haole Girl]

25. It's very kind of you to be so understanding

I hope everyone else is! :hug:

[greatauntoftriplets]

29. He is back in another era....

Usually he just hugs people.

And he is much better than he used to be years ago...when he would ream out and scream bloody hell at people who did something he didn't like. Never me...but his angry outbursts were damn scary.

Now if we could only get him to quit smoking cigars in the office.....

Seriously, it is sad to see him deteriorate this way. But we all understand that being there is important to him. I don't know if he has patted anyone else on the ass, of course. I once had a supervisor who did subject me to sexual harrasment...years ago. Later wished I had done something about it. Today, and maybe because it is years later and the situation is so far different, it was merely amusing.

Again, if it had been anyone else, I would have reacted differently.

[madinmaryland]

13. Yeah man....

:wtf:

[SOteric]

14. It's fine in informal conversation,

so the answer really depends on the social situation. I'd never be a big enough goober to run that one past the high muckitymucks at work, and it seems a bit brash to try it on relative strangers. But I'm thinking that if one is well enough acquainted with the people involved, and at a similar social level, it's not all that offensive.

[Reverend_Smitty]

19. IMHO slang is never appropriate in formal settings

eg...dealing with clients at work or something like that, but I will use man in a familiar setting if I am talking to a woman same thing with dude

[jobycom]

20. I believe that formal settings are never appropriate, man.

:evilgrin:

[Haole Girl]

21. OK

Thanks. Now, I guess the young ladies at work were telling me the truth...that man is, indeed, used for both men and women.

When, approximately, did this happen? I must get out more.

[Reverend_Smitty]

26. not sure when it happened

all I know is that I've been saying it for as long as I can remember...I'm 22, so make of it what you will

[Haole Girl]

27. I feel so old

[Reverend_Smitty]

28. It's alright man...

just start talking like the kids and you'll feel 20 years younger in no time! :P

[Haole Girl]

30. Thanks, man!

Oh...now that I think about it, my mother's generation talked like that!

[Reverend_Smitty]

31. see everything old is new again!

[Solon]

32. I guess its similar to referring to groups as "you guys"....

regardless of the gender composition of the group. I have a bad habit of saying "Hey, you guys, what's up?", and it be an all female group at that! Never took offense to it though, they know me. Of course, they know I'm being snarky when I use the word "ladies".

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

34. I never, ever thought of "you guys" as being gender specific at all.

Of course, I'm from Jersey, so "you guys" is like "y'all" in the south.

[Solon]

37. I'm in Missouri...

Those living north of I-70 say "you guys", those south of it say "Y'all".

[Haole Girl]

35. Actually, after 17 years in Texas...

the term ladies seems like a compliment. ;-)

[Ptah]

33. My grandmother (shown in this photograph) objected to 'ma'am'

The times they are a-changing.

[Haole Girl]

36. lol

[khashka]

39. It's OK

Calling women man or dude or guy is acceptable. I do it.

Kinda bugs me since it still indicates male dominance.... but in the meantime I do it anyway.

I'm still working on the feminist revolution.....


Khash.

[petronius]

40. There is no situation calling for a "Yes, ma'am" where "yeah man"

is an appropriate substitute. (Similarly, a "sure, dude" is unacceptable in a "yes, sir" situation.) However, I'd say that in more casual conversation gender is a bit flexible, e.g. 'dude' and 'guys' referring to women as well as men. (It's not generally agreed on - my mom gets extremely irritated to be included in a 'you guys' for example.) Using 'man' as gender-neutral would feel odd to me.

It's interesting how language changes over fairly short times. I remember how shocked I was the first time I saw 'busted' (as in "a busted window") on the front page of the NY Times; now, it's common...

I've actually started having this talk with my students every quarter, usually related to e-mail. Basically, a lot of younger folk don't know that a professional e-mail should include a salutation, a signature, and so forth, and that I am Professor (or Dr.) Petronius, not 'Dude'...

[sarge43]

41. Depends upon the situation

A bunch of teenagers talking trash, acceptable.

Addressing one's commanding officer, not so much.

The English language defaults to 'man'. From hu-man to the lack of a neuter personal pronoun "If a person ..., he? she? it?" Formal usage dictates 'he' to titles - Midshipman, etc. So English speakers are hardwired to think of people in male gender terms. It's changing albeit slowly.