Moved Medical school admissions and race - was: VP pick

[Rhea]

Female players are almost always called 'girls.' There is nothing inherently wrong with this but calling male high school players 'men' elevates their status or makes them want to become more mature and adult. It increases their self respect. It encourages them to step up to the occasion. Or I assume that's the intention.

I have never heard an adult male refer to other adult males as "boys". I have heard many adult females refer to other adult females as "girls".

Really? Never?
Maybe it's a regional thing, but a guy saying something that starts with "The boys and I are gonna..." wouldn't be the least bit unusual around here.

Generally, like "girls", it's more of a familiarity thing. A person's friends or a church group or a batch of siblings, something like that.
Tom

It is absolutely a familiarity, trust and respect thing, and that is why acquaintances, strangers, bosses, co-workers and others should not use it.

If it's so wrong why do a lot of the female hikers I know use it to refer to themselves and other female hikers?

I call my husband “Sweetie” and “Darling.” He calls me the same.
When I use the same phrase to Loren or TSwizzle, or they to me, it is NOT the same meaning, even if it is the same word.


This goes for a large number of words that one might hear intimates or members of some sub-group say to each other, but which one should not, under any circumstances, consider oneself qualified to use on acquaintances or stranger. Such as a white person calling a Black person they don’t know the n-word, or calling your mother-in-law a bitch, even if you have heard your spouse do it.

 

[Shadowy Man]

.

I have never heard an adult male refer to other adult males as "boys".

You don't recall "the Proud Boys"?

And we're sure they're the type who wouldn't mind if a stranger approached them and referred to them as a "boy", right?