I’ve been back and forth with this just because of my habit to use “oh man”, or “oh dude” in the past. I’ve done pretty well with changing the terminology just to keep to the discussion at hand and being respectful for anyone I’m talking to (just feels like basic public respect, like back in the day they would say “Dear Reader,” not really a PC problem to me).
So anyways, I found myself typing “oh boy” the other day and I paused to wonder about it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it brought up in discussions like man or dude. I never even thought of that phrase as it signifying the recipient is a “boy”. The more I think on it I don’t even know what the actual meaning is besides the way in which it is used (like, “shit” or “you wouldn’t believe”).
tldr: Is “oh boy” an acceptable gender-neutral response loop hole so I can be lazier when typing or has this been discussed a lot and I’ve just missed out on it?
I would love to hear the perspectives of everyone and encourage you to voice your opinion (just message if you don’t want other’s chiming in if you prefer)
Saying “Oh boy” in the way you would say “Oh my” or “Oh wow” is not gendered in the sense that you aren’t calling anyone around you “boy”, but rather saying it to yourself as an exclamation; just like how religious people say “Oh God!” or “Oh my God!”; if you said “Oh God”, you wouldn’t be calling the other person “God”.
Can we all just agree that Dude is a gender agnostic term and doesn’t just refer to men. It’s what Bill and Ted would have wanted.
What does mine say?
Sweet! What does mine say?
I’ve been surprised to find that females in my circle consider dude gender neutral.
Sure, I agree it’s fairly gender agnostic, but it’s a familiar term that shouldn’t be used when addressing strangers.
Look at it this way, if you’re talking to someone who gets offended because you said “Oh boy”, you really, really don’t want to be having any more conversations with a person like that, so it’s kind of a win/win situation
Just start saying “Oh geez!” Like Morty and people will beg you to go back to Oh Boy
I got into an internet argument with someone who claimed similar with my usage of “dude.”
In the wise words of a great poet of our generation, “I’m a dude, he’s a dude, she’s a dude, we’re all dudes, hey.”
I still use dude with everyone.
I’m not a native English speaker, but I always thought an expression like “oh boy” was more self-reflective. Like you say it more to yourself than to whoever you’re talking to.
In which case, the other’s gender shouldn’t really matter?
In any case, I personally don’t feel insulted or misgendered if someone uses it in a conversation with me.Who would be misgendered by saying it? You aren’t referring to the person you are speaking to when you say it imo, it’s a hypothetical boy
“Oh it” sounds like you are trying to sneakily say “Oh shit” by not pronouncing some syllables.
In a similar vein, I’m curious about the modern consensus on “you guys,” as in, “what do you guys want to do this weekend?”
I personally don’t like it as it makes me uncomfortable because I’m not a guy, and it makes me feel a bit excluded.
That being said, I’m fully aware it’s rarely used in a gendered way anymore so I’m don’t generally say anything. It’s just how I feel. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
replace with Y’all
I’ve never had problems using terms like “look man,” “oh boy,” or “dude” In “normal” conversion with anyone until recently. I was talking to a trans-woman I know and definitely stopped myself from dropping “hey man” in our conversation because I thought she would not appreciate it. That’s caused some self reflection and while I’ll probably continue to use genderbent language when talking with my wife I’ll probably seek to minimize it elsewhere. I don’t really know how in tune a given woman I’m talking to is with their muliebrity and it seems not my place as a cis man to make that determination for them.
I would say for a lot of people it probably doesn’t matter, but for those that it does it does a lot and it’s no skin off my back to try to be courteous in my speech with whomever.
TIL- Muliebrity (Muliebrity means womanly nature or qualities, or the condition of being a woman. It comes from Latin muliēbris, derived from mulier, meaning woman)
Feel about the same as your case. Every one has preferred pronouns, I like to point out to conservative relatives that “sir” and “ma’am” is just another form that they learned growing up for certain individuals. It’s just basic manners.
I’d separate oh boy from hey man. Hey man is directed at someone, oh boy is just a remark about the state of things
I don’t think it’s a gendered term, but you could switch to “oh snap”
I suggest “By Grabthar’s Hammer!” 🤓
What a savings!
I would say this a thousand times before i would say snap.
oh I like that, it’s not in my usual rolodex but covers the feelings of all of them. A little new-age for me, but it checks out as a good alternative.
IMO, “oh boy” would have a definition of “wowza!” Whereas “oh girl” would have a definition of “sassy!”. In this vain, I declare “oh boy” to be gender neutral.
Same goes for “awww, maaaan”
Oh my?
|\/|
Oh fuck
No, it’s known as an interjection
