The you-guysing of America
May 14th, 2008 at 09:58am Pat Cunningham
 
This doesn’t have anything to do with politics, but so what?
My friend and fellow RRStar blogger Wally Haas vents a bit HERE about the inappropriate familiarity with which people at some businesses address their customers.
Which brings to mind this rant I wrote last year on another blog:
I was in a Rockford restaurant the other day — an otherwise pretty good eatery — where our server set what seemed to me to be a new world record for use of the term “you guys” while dealing with the six diners at our table.
It was awesome. For an hour or so, in utterance after utterance, never once did this young lady refer to the six of us as simply “you” (as in “Would you like to have drinks before dinner?”) No, it was strictly “you guys” this and “you guys” that.
Of course, we’ve all become accustomed to the almost ubiquitous use of this term among wait staffers in restaurants — even when the customers are elderly women (in which cases it’s especially incongruous). But familiarity with the offense has not diminished my annoyance at hearing it.
I sometimes want to tell the offender: “You sound like an idiot. We’re your customers and your elders. Don’t address us as if we’re your imbecile friends discussing some matter of little real consequence on ‘American Idol.’”
But I don’t say that. I just sadly resign myself to the likelihood that this verbal rudeness will remain a blight on American service industries and other parts of our culture for the rest of my life. It’s even evidenced at times in business meetings, where the user of it runs the risk of diminished stature.
Oh, there’ll always be isolated exceptions. Some restaurants admonish their waiters to avoid “you guys” — and to refrain from such atrocities as “I’m Derek, and I’ll be your server tonight” (as if I care what his name is or don’t know why he’s standing there with a pen and order pad), or kneeling at the table to talk with the patrons (which is appallingly discourteous), or asking every 90 seconds if everything is all right. But those places are rare, indeed.
The cause is lost, my friends. According to linguist George Jochnowitz, “the you-guysing of America,” as he calls it, is a fait accompli. All we can do now is warn our children against it and hope that they’ll see the value of our advice. Fat chance.
Entry Filed under: you-guysing of America
12 Comments Add your own
1. Mike Carroll | May 14th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Pat-Fuddy Duddy, you Liberals just can’t adjust to the realities of life like Conservatives but in principal its a mute point, you know.
2. Dave Kelley | May 14th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
hey, Pat. I am in total agreement. Most annoying, indeed. Although I do believe that such a word as “atrocities” is a bit harsh and should be used in conjunction with nazi, Darfur, Iraq, and the like.
3. Dave Kelley | May 14th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
oh yeah…. and, Mike, the word is moot…. not mute.
4. Pat Cunningham | May 14th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Dave: I used the word “atrocities,” of course, as a stylistic hyperbole. I think your effort to liken it to, say, “holocaust,” is a bit persnickety. “Atrocity” derives from “atrocious,” which is a word often used in criticism of literature, the performing arts, decor and even culinary creations, among other things. Don’t begrudge me my innocent hyberboles, Dave.
Mike, actually my attitude about “you guys” is illiberal, not liberal. One might even say it’s conservative.
5. Mike Carroll | May 14th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Dave-perhaps my comment was a touch too satirical for you. I am well aware that the word is moot (as in Moot Court) and by the way the word would be principle not principal, you know (do I need to explain that as well?).
6. Pat Cunningham | May 14th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Ooh! A war over words (rather than just OF words)! Cool. I love wars over words. Lemme see….uh….I have a theory that the most commonly misplaced word is “only.” Agree? Disagree? C’mon, guys, let’s get it on.
7. Mike Carroll | May 14th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Pat-you do have a fascination with semantics. Those nuns had more impact than I thought. Sorry I can’t play-off to another meeting to continue to fund your social security checks.
8. redrover | May 14th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
The expression “you guys” is just one of many ways that some speakers of English compensate for the fact that the 2nd person singular and plural pronouns in standard English are identical.
Here’s an excerpt or two from a discussion of this issue in Wikipedia:
In standard English, you is both singular and plural; it always takes a verb form that originally marked the word as plural, such as you are.
[…]
Because you is both singular and plural, various English dialects have attempted to revive the distinction between a singular and plural you to avoid confusion between the two uses. This is typically done by adding a new plural form; examples of new plurals sometimes seen and heard are y’all/you-all (primarily in the southern United States and African American Vernacular English), you guys (in the U.S., particularly in Midwest, Northeast, and West Coast, and in Australia), you lot (in the UK), youse (Scotland, Northern England, Australia, New Zealand) youse guys (New York City region, Philadelphia, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; also spelt without the E), and you-uns/yinz (Western Pennsylvania, The Appalachians). English spoken in Ireland, known as Hiberno-English, sometimes uses the word ye as the plural form, or yous. Although these plurals are useful in daily speech, they are generally not found in Standard English. Among them, you guys is considered most neutral in the U.S.[1] It is the most common plural form of you in the U.S. except in the dialects with y’all, and has been used even in the White House.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You
SEE ALSO;
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20040601&slug=youguys01
9. Tom McMahon | May 14th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
And “You’re Welcome!” has been totally replaced with “Yeah . . .”. Don’t get me started.
10. Leatherneck | May 14th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
You have a point. I have never heard anyone question that before but you are right. I guess we are so used to “you guys” that we are conditioned to accept it. Same way with the word “kids”. I have a friend who takes umbrage with that and will correct people and say “my children” and he says that the term “kids” is demeaning because his children are not goats. Ha! And you know, about 99% of teachers refer to their students as “kids”
11. CR | May 16th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Pat! You sound old! Soon you’ll be calling evryone under 60 “those darn kids” and lecturing them with “when I was your age..”! I used to listen to your show on WROK in the 90’s, hadn’t stopped by to read your stuff in several years, and MAN are you showing your age dear boy!
Seriously though, even though I rarely agree with your politics you’re still a good columnist and I’m glad to see you’re still in business at the ‘Star.
- CR in Denver
12. John Foust | May 16th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
What about “youse guyses”?
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