Guys calling me dude..

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I know dude can be a gender neutral term. Looking at the motive, using it among friends, I at least respect the motives. Putting men and women equal.

But it rubs the pedantic putting things into categories part of me the wrong way.

I'll half-jokiningly say "That's dudette to you."

"dudette" sounds awkward

"Mailwoman" sounds wierd

"Man" is a species. "Man" doesn't always mean "not woman"

"Guys" refers to men and women

"Girls" refers to adult females

Adult females often get called "girl". Adult males rarely get called "boys"

Sexism

Some sexism is inherent to the language

For example "woman" contains the word "man"

The worst one is "waitperson". I get that both men and women can wait tables but for some reason people think waiter refers only to a male doing it. That's stupid. Waiter should mean anyone who waits tables.

I usually use the word facetiously when I’m referring to an older male I don’t like that much. I often call the leaders in my former religion “dudes.”

The word can be used for either gender, but it doesn’t come naturally to me, so I only use it when I’m in an irreverent mood.

There was a whole running gag on SNL on that very subject. Folks in an office verbally fumbling and stumbling around a certain coworker who ...dressed in gender neutral clothes and had a gender ambiguous name. I hear that it got quite hilarious. So you're not the only one.

I can't be bothered with all this gender obsession. I accept all definitions terms and categories completely without prejudice, but I don't appreciate having to be involved in who is what. I have no need to know who people go to bed with, what clothes they like, I don't care who enters the ladies bathroom with me, and cross dressers, lesbians, transgenders all look perfectly fine to me. People are people. Leave me out of it and I'll be fine with everyone.


Regarding the OP, I have never used the word "dude" in my life.