Member-only story
A Rose By Any Other Name Is a Boy
Why English has so many male names and pronouns, (and a garden for the birds and the bees)
Spoken or written English lately? Is so, you probably have never much noticed how male is the default designation.
But, what’s in a name? Specifically, what’s in the names we use for denoting people?
It’s just that they’re mostly male.
Come on, it’s true, guys. Bros. Dudes. Man, it’s kinda the way we talk, man…
We use all of these first three; guys, dudes, — and even bros— among groups of mixed sex and gendered people, but even more often among just male people.
A short history (HIS story!) about that for you guys.
Dudes, at first were fancy men in Yankee Doodle Dandy garb. But, then all that regalia and dress up went west. In the west, cowboys and dude ranches emerged. All the hats, belts, chaps, and boots began to refer to Dude ranches, even though women signed on.
You guys, as in “Come on you guys, let’s go,” began as a sort of substitute for “thou.” Thou meant all of you, but also, just “you.” Maybe that was confusing so people tuned into one particular guy: Guy Fawkes. Slowly thou and “all of you” became “You guys.” Meaning everybody, but clearly…
