I have found it interesting, that after the discussion about the usage of the word "dude", the caller said goodbye with: "Thanks a lot, guys".
So the caller addressed both, Martha and Grant , as a "guy" each. (?)
Wasn't the word "guy" originally used only for males? (like the british "bloke")
I thought, "guy" comes from the male given name "Guy" . Wasn't in this case the original "guy" "Guy Fawkes", one of the "Gun-Powder-Plotters".?
So the similar question would be: When & how did "guy" become also used for females.?
...or is it only used in the plural sense? ("guys" = "you people", like "gente" in Spanish)
This reminds me: In some languages (e.g. Spanish, Portuguese) if there is a male and female form in the singular, only the male form is used in the plural.
Like in Portuguese "filho"(son), "filha" (daughter) becomes "filhos" (sons and daughters = kids).
Is there a name for this "male-ification" of the plural?
It's only in the plural. Fairly recent. I suspect it's been spread by Youtube where the universal greeting at the start of every personal or how-to clip is "Hi Guys!"
(Sidenote: "Hi Guys" is the only English phrase that has standard tones. Hi is always on G, Guys is always on E.)
You're right in connecting it to people or gente or leute or люди. It's a plural that doesn't really have a singular.
This sounds like a fair survey by Glenn.
Might add another observation: parents will call their children "you guys," and some children will call their parents "you guys." But the group so called will never be a mixed group of parents and children. I could be wrong.
As a female in a male dominated career, I have proposed for the last several years (at least since 2000), that guys was generic enough to include women in the bunch. I did however make a point to someone who sent out a meeting invitation addressed to "Gentlemen", that I felt that meant I didn't have to go to that meeting.
For a single word for gentlemen and gentlewomen we could bring back the archaic gender-neutral collective Gentles.
Dear Gentles,
...