Wednesday, March 11, 2015
"You Guys" to Refer to Majority-Women City Commission?
At this morning's City of St. Augustine City Commission special meeting, St. Augustine City Planning and Building Director David Birchim twice referred to City Commissioners -- four of five are women -- as "you guys." How sexist and misogynist. City Hall directors are all white and all but one men.
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3 comments:
When I moved to Rhode Island briefly 40 yrs ago, I quickly learned that "you guys" was the way they said "ya'll" in New England and probably elsewhere north of Mason Dixon. It did not denote gender at all. I learned to use it because "ya'll" just wasn't going to work up there - and to this day, I still do.
David Birchim earned his Master's Degree in Planning at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville circa 1998 and has worked for the City of St. Augustine ever since -- he has never worked anywhere else ever since (except for any moonlighting).
I do not believe Rhode Island dialect is at issue -- he is tone deaf and talks down to women in authority, I believe.
I moved to East Tennessee in 1981 and to Memphis in 1983 and speak to people in their own language. It helps. Listening to people inevitably results in learning to alter your speech patterns.
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