[rasteau]

> Ask them if they like people using words like fa---- and ni---- and b---- in the workplace.

Low hanging fruit. What about using "guys" when referring to a mixed gender collection of individuals, as in "thanks, guys"?

I have seen coworkers publicly shamed by using "guys" in that way. Too often, the negative responses were as if the speaker had said "thanks to the men here only, and not to the women". This, despite knowing that "guys" is colloquially gender neutral [0], and despite knowing that's precisely how the speaker was using it.

I find it troubling that when etymologically gendered words become gender neutral, some people choose to fight to keep those words gendered.

[0] To the point that it is used even when there are no men present.

[paulddraper]

Using masculine nouns/pronouns in the generic sense is a long-standing tradition in English: "man", "men", "he".

In fact, German (the primary origin of English grammar) uses "Mann" for "male person" and "man" for "you/one/a person".

Sadly, it seems English is unacceptable to a vocal part of the population.

I wonder if it is related English's general _lack_ of gender. In languages where everything has a "gender", people learn that grammar does not have to have a perfect match. German "Mädchen" ("girl") is neuter, and "Bikini" (loan word) is masculine, but those are simply odd parts of the language and everyone gets over it.