[urda]

> Nearly every usage of "fella" I've heard has implied that it referred to a male.

Neat, and I've heard it implied multiple times to refer to generic groups of people, in US English as well too just like you. The thing though we need to consider is definitions, facts, sentence context, and even the auhtor's intent much more heavily then both of our personal experiences.

It can easily be argued based on context that the author's intent was to refer to a group of people generically, they even used the "nonstandard" and generic version of the word.

Personal anecdotes do not make facts.

[exoducks]

> Personal anecdotes do not make facts.

That's precisely why I provided links to two dictionaries. Not the definition google spoon feeds you when you type in "define fella"

[urda]

I provided facts as well, so let's use your own sources shall we?

  A person in the same position, involved in the same activity, or otherwise associated with another. [1]

You conveniently ignored that when you attempted to mispaint actual facts in your comment. Here I'll even add another source:

  ​used of people or a person with whom you share something, esp. the same kind of job, interest, or experience [2]

[1] https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fellow

[2] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/fello...

[exoducks]

You linked to "fellow", not "fella".

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/fella

[urda]

Did you read my original comment at all? I'm sorry, I'm not engaging you on this any further.