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."

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by ElPecas

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

In the USA, yes, but not in the UK, at least not yet!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I'm glad that I asked. It's an interesting discussion. Thank you all!

[pjt33]

Man as an interjection is not uncommon, and as with hombre in Spanish and home in Valencian (and possibly other dialects of Catalan for all I know) doesn't inflect for the gender of the hearer. I can well believe that there are some sociolects of English whose speakers could analyse the given phrases as using it as interjection rather than vocative. Having said that, it would still strike me as surprising if I heard it.

@Perikles, I use guys for mixed or indeterminate gender. This may be a generational difference.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Perikles

..not in the UK, at least not yet!

Originally Posted by pjt33

@Perikles, I use guys for mixed or indeterminate gender. This may be a generational difference.

At least I predicted it, but didn't know it was already here. I can't bring myself to join in.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by 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).

Ummm. This is not true... We never refer to women as men or say "Thanks, Man" to females. We say that only to men. Same thing as "Thanks, bro" "Thanks, dude" Thanks, homie" ect..

If a male is saying this to a female then he's either just being funny making a joke, or maybe the female in question is very good friends with the guy using the phrase and considers her to be one of the "bro's" or "dudes" or "guys" Only then is that phrase acceptable to be used with women.

Originally Posted by 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."

All this is very true. Also, to refer to a group of different gender people, It's very common to hear "guys and girls" or "ladies and gents"

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Thank you, Shazam. It seems I wasn't so wrong to have found it rather strange.

And thank you everyone. After all your replies, I asked some of the people who have used that "man" with me why they do that, and they don't seem to know why. The result though is that now that I pointed it out, they have stopped doing it.

[Shazam]

No Hay de que, señor.

It's kind of like in spanish (specifically spanish spoken by Mexicans) you wouldn't here a man call a woman "Guey" o "Wey"

Example(s): "Hola, wey" "Si, wey" "Que pedo, wey" "What's up, wey" You wouldn't use that word (wey o guey) with a female.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Ummm. This is not true... We never refer to women as men or say "Thanks, Man" to females. We say that only to men.

You didn't read my post very well. I said that we use the interjection 'man' without even thinking about the gender of the person we're addressing. This is a true statement. I also said that I seldom use "Thanks, man" when I'm speaking to a woman. The only time that would happen is when the phrase is used without any regard to the gender of the person. This IS done, but in my case it would be done without thinking or without regard to gender.

I think the main reason Malila was taken aback was because members here in the forum didn't bother to check her gender before saying what they did. Had they known she was a woman, they probably wouldn't have used 'man'.

Originally Posted by Shazam

No hay de qué, señora.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Rusty: Although it has happened a couple of times here in the forums, I always assume nobody has to know my gender, so I usually don't mind. Of course I started to wonder when I told someone I was a woman and they kept using "man". However, also people I know from other places --people I've known for many years and people who definitely know I am a woman-- started to use those expressions, so I thought there must be something else about it. Now I can more or less infer what is inside those heads.


@Shazam: The use of the word "buey/güey/wey" has changed a lot since the last ten years or so. From being an insult, now it's used as "bro", "dude" and the like.
And from being used exclusively among men, now it's overwhelmingly common to hear men and women calling each other "wey". It has entirely lost its meaning.
Last time I told a bunch of young people what they were saying, I was left in total estrangement.

[mekdroid]

Originally Posted by JPablo

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

He,he!

That is why we have the endings that indicate sex in Spanish! The problem is that we apply them to everything, including a good many things that would best be left neutral. Some non-native speakers I know basically use the endings at random, on the assumption that they will be right about half of the time :-)