Thank you man!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It's been different persons (both native English speakers and non-native English speakers) in different places and in different situations that have called me "man" lately... and puzzled me.

·Thank you man!
·See you later man.
·Don't worry man.
·Call you later man.

I understand that the word can be used like "buddy" or "pal", but I had only seen it used between men until now. Is this normal to extend it to women?

[JPablo]

Oh, boy, oh boy... I think this is a difficult one to discern for us foreigners... don't worry, man, ejem..., madam...

[Glen]

I've heard the same gender mix-up when a sales clerk says "Thanks, guys" to a man and his wife. Is it like the Spanish use of señores to address a group of women which may include only one man?

[Villa]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

It's been different persons (both native English speakers and non-native English speakers) in different places and in different situations that have called me "man" lately... and puzzled me.

·Thank you man!
·See you later man.
·Don't worry man.
·Call you later man.

I understand that the word can be used like "buddy" or "pal", but I had only seen it used between men until now. Is this normal to extend it to women?

He oido mujeres hispanas decir al uno al otro por ejemplo, Si hombre.

But any way. Oh man what a good looking chick! It's an expression I have used a lot. Oh man, my whole body hurts/aches.


Oh MAN!
Oh man?
Oh man, what is that thing over there!?

Man, you have some really nice teeth/breasts! Speaking to a woman.

The word ‘man’ was originally gender neutral, meaning more or less the same as the modern day word “person”. It wasn’t until about a few 100 years ago that the word “man” started to refer to a male and it wasn’t until the late 20th century that it was almost exclusively used to refer to males. Woman

[Rusty]

Don't take it personal, Malila, because the expression is as impersonal as they come. "Thanks, man" is used without any regard to the gender of the listener.

I would seldom use the phrase when addressing a female. Instead, I would just omit the filler on the end. "Thanks, ma'am" sounds a bit too formal in my neck of the woods, but it is very much heard in the South (Southern United States).

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Thanks for the answers.

@Glen: Thanks... I have seen "guys" used like that, yes. If I had thought about that, I wouldn't have been so puzzled by "man".

But in Spanish, using the masculine to talk about a group where at least one member is not a feminine object (or person) is because in Spanish we don't have a neuter gender, so we use the masculine. Nowadays it's different but many years ago, the words "imported" from foreign languages used to be always masculine because the public didn't have to know whether it was a feminine or a masculine in their original language. (Nobody used to say "la chance", but "el chance", for example.)
This is quite different from the fact that the latest fashion of women calling themselves "güey"/"wey" is rather wrong, since this used to be an insult exclusive for men.

I would like to add that women don't call each other "hombre". "¡Hombre!" is an interjection (almost meaningless and just used for emphasis) that doesn't address the other person as if it did by their name.

@Rusty: Thank you! I certainly don't take it personal, but it sounds strange.

[JPablo]

Pero, hombre, mujer, el "hombre" si lo usan entre sí las mujeres en España, por lo menos. Claro, el contexto es informal y amistoso... nadie se pica, ni molesta por ello...

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

I certainly don't take it personal, but it sounds strange.

(adverb: personally) I've never heard it used specifically addressing one woman, that sounds weird to me too.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Taking note of the adverb. Thank you!

[ElPecas]

"Thanks, man" or any phrase tacked on with "man" generally is not used with regards to women. If you hear it used that way, then you are right to think it's strange or uncommon.

As people here have mentioned, "man" can be used as an exclamation e.g. "Man, what a view we have from the top of this mountain!" or "Man, that's a lot of money", but the word doesn't really carry any gender with it in that context.

To refer to men/women together, "guys" is of course common. "Have a good night, guys."