guys != gender neutral

[owen at delong.com (Owen DeLong)]

Ugly would usually be considered pejorative.

Owen

On Sep 29, 2012, at 20:59 , Keith Medcalf <kmedcalf at dessus.com> wrote:

> 
> Ugly bags of mostly water?
> 
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>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Otis L. Surratt, Jr. [mailto:otis at ocosa.com]
>> Sent: Friday, 28 September, 2012 05:33
>> To: nanog at nanog.org
>> Subject: RE: guys != gender neutral
>> 
>> Maybe the OP for "really nasty attacks" in hindsight wishes "NANOGers" was
>> used instead to address the list. :)
>> 
>> Having "all walks of life" essentially all around, it really makes one
>> careful to truly think before speaking. Sometimes we miss this with
>> everything we have going on, but no one is perfect.
>> 
>> The bottomline is, no one can really sastifisfy any indivdual and their
>> preference of how they would liked to be addressed. If one is to be offended
>> or looks for offense they will capitalize on it period. I try much as
>> possible to avoid those situations.
>> 
>> When we refer to our clients in a mass communication we either utilize our
>> tools to auto fix their name to the letter or we address them as "OCOSA
>> Family" or "All" or "Clients".  We are a very family-oriented business and
>> are "down to Earth." We'd like to believe our clients are apart of our family
>> and some may take offense but you might or never would know unless an
>> opportunity presented itself.
>> 
>> Personally, I practice using the person's name, I am in communication
>> with...not "buddy", "bud", "pal", "man", "guys", "gal" "y'all" and etc. When
>> addressing mixed gender groups, I simply speak or address as "all". Thus, no
>> mistakes.
>> 
>> When addressing both genders you have to be extremely careful. Ultimately, It
>> depends on the audience and treating all with respect seems to work for me.
>> 
>> For example: You could address a group a men and call them "boys". Well, that
>> might offend some, especially if they are older than you.
>> For example: You could address a group of young adults and call them "kids".
>> Well, that might offend some.
>> 
>> As Owen mentioned saying "human" seems okay and true but then again, because
>> it's not the norm it raises some question. (Internal thinking process, "Oh
>> I'm a HUMAN!!!!, well I that is true" then your temperature gets back to
>> normal) :)
>> 
>> In general, this is life and I simply have fun and enjoy it because it's too
>> short.
>> 
>> 
>> Otis
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