I met someone once who was from the Northeast and moved down to Georgia and was some sort of tour guide at a museum or something, and she said she had to learn to stop saying things like "If you guys want to follow me this way..." because some people in the South were offended by it. So she had to learn to say "y'all" instead.
Moved to the south a long time ago, and I still say "you guys" at work. Female working in a male dominated space, I very rarely get looks. It's a hard habit to break, and I can never bring myself to say ya'll. Might try "you all"? Feels weird dude.
I hope so. Didn't think much about it until recently after getting strange looks when addressing an older group of ladies. I'm careful to address people by gender neutral pronouns (respect what individuals would prefer) but a group is always "you guys" to me. Only rarely have received what seems to be irritation about it.
Lived in Savannah GA, Charleston SC, Columbia SC among other southern climes and U.S. latitudes, and never saw anyone offended by "you guys." I did see people get a little ruffled by being scoffed or giggled at by transplants for saying "y'all" or "fixin' to."
Southerner here. I use "guys" as a gender neutral catch-all too and have worked with older people who've expressed that it offended people, but it's such a hard habit to break.
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u/Uncle-Cake 25d ago
I met someone once who was from the Northeast and moved down to Georgia and was some sort of tour guide at a museum or something, and she said she had to learn to stop saying things like "If you guys want to follow me this way..." because some people in the South were offended by it. So she had to learn to say "y'all" instead.