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[–] 23 points 1 year ago (16 children)

I always mean words like dude or guys as gender neutral, and luckily none of my friends have an issue with it, but I understand why some people wouldn't like that. Is there a good gender neutral replacement for the word?

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  • [–] [S] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

    folks, friend(s), y’all, sweetie, partner, sport, buddy, pal, chum, sunshine, fam

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Isn't "pal" masculine, with "gal" being the feminine version?

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Oh, maybe! I'm not an english speaker

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago

    Looking at wiktionary, apparently the two words have completely separate etymologies - but "pal" is borrowed from "brother" in one language, while "gal" is borrowed from "girl" in a different language (which itself derived it from English, I think?)

    Language can be funky

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (5 children)
  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Pal, friend, and bud all sound... idk, somehow condescending to me? I don't really know why. I think the best one I've been able to think of so far is y'all.

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