Diane at Dees Diversion explains:
I am tired of being referred to as a man
I recently went to lunch with a female friend, and after we sat down, the young waiter said “What can I get you guys?”
I told him we weren’t guys, and he did that kind of “oh yeah I always say that, huh?” look, smiled, and said “What can I get you ladies?” We smiled back and ordered. He brought us our food, and a while later, came back and asked “How is it, guys…oops…ladies?” We smiled and said it was very good and thanked him.
Later he came back and asked “Can I get you g-…ladies some more tea? And there was a bite in the “ladies” because, you know, who the hell did I think I was, asking to be referred to as a woman and not a man?
This is not something that bothers me, but it bothers a lot of women and I take that seriously.
Luckily, in Texas we have developed a solution to this problem.
It is the word “y’all.”
It is plural and gender neutral. You don’t have to pick between such terms as gals, ladies, women, chicks, girls, guys, gentlemen, men, boys, etc., which is good if you are addressing strangers and don’t know their preferences among such terms. All the kids are saying it, and I can only hope that in a generation or so we will have solved the problem completely.