The assumption of a 1-1 correspondence between gender and sex is old fashioned nowadays.
On 28/09/2012, at 6:30 PM, Bjørn Mork wrote: > Scott Howard <sc...@doc.net.au> writes: >> On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 11:10 AM, Jo Rhett <jrh...@netconsonance.com> wrote: >> >>> Guys seem to think that it's gender neutral. The majority of women are >>> used to this, but they have indicated to me that they don't believe it to >>> be very neutral. Using "guys" is not gender neutral, it's flat out implying >>> the other gender doesn't matter. * >>> >> >> The Oxford English dictionary apparently disagrees with you. >> >> http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/guy?region=us&q=guys >> (*guys*) people of either sex: * you guys want some coffee? >> * >> >> As other many words in the English language there are multiple definitions, >> and one of those definitions is gender specific - but the one above is very >> much gender neutral ("either sex" - it doesn't get much clearer than that!) > > Well, "either" sort of implies that there are only two sexes. I believe > "people of any sex" would have been better. See e.g. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_gender > > > Bjørn >
