When I was young, using "guys" for a mixed crowd seemed a bit like a joke - like, deliberate obtuseness, or deliberate misstatement.
Then, guys seemed like a deliberate short hand, especially because there was no appropriate "guys" for women. There was "gals" but that wasn't like "guys"... I don't know if I heard "gals" as less than "guys" because it was used that way, or if I just assumed that it was due to sexism in the culture. So, now it seems like a perfectly proper shorthand, but I do sometimes hope that it's not misconstrued.
"Dude" is always a guy for me, unless it's being used as an exclamation. Like, if we were playing a game and you played a skillful move that impacted me (or betrayed an earlier agreement we had, in one of those back-stabby kinds of games) then "Dude!" in an aggrieved tone definitely means "you".
But "I met a dude" excludes the possibility that I'm going to mention tits, unless I'm talking about a crossdresser. (Or someone with a medical condition. Or if I just want to talk about tits.)
no subject
Then, guys seemed like a deliberate short hand, especially because there was no appropriate "guys" for women. There was "gals" but that wasn't like "guys"... I don't know if I heard "gals" as less than "guys" because it was used that way, or if I just assumed that it was due to sexism in the culture. So, now it seems like a perfectly proper shorthand, but I do sometimes hope that it's not misconstrued.
"Dude" is always a guy for me, unless it's being used as an exclamation. Like, if we were playing a game and you played a skillful move that impacted me (or betrayed an earlier agreement we had, in one of those back-stabby kinds of games) then "Dude!" in an aggrieved tone definitely means "you".
But "I met a dude" excludes the possibility that I'm going to mention tits, unless I'm talking about a crossdresser. (Or someone with a medical condition. Or if I just want to talk about tits.)