this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024
38 points (80.6% liked)

No Stupid Questions

35780 readers
1110 users here now

No such thing. Ask away!

!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.

All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.



Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.

If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.



Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.

If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.



Credits

Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!

The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I've been back and forth with this just because of my habit to use "oh man", or "oh dude" in the past. I've done pretty well with changing the terminology just to keep to the discussion at hand and being respectful for anyone I'm talking to (just feels like basic public respect, like back in the day they would say "Dear Reader," not really a PC problem to me).

So anyways, I found myself typing "oh boy" the other day and I paused to wonder about it. I don't think I've ever seen it brought up in discussions like man or dude. I never even thought of that phrase as it signifying the recipient is a "boy". The more I think on it I don't even know what the actual meaning is besides the way in which it is used (like, "shit" or "you wouldn't believe").

tldr: Is "oh boy" an acceptable gender-neutral response loop hole so I can be lazier when typing or has this been discussed a lot and I've just missed out on it?

I would love to hear the perspectives of everyone and encourage you to voice your opinion (just message if you don't want other's chiming in if you prefer)

top 44 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 9 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

When I was working as a line cook in college, I was one of two white guys behind the line, with the rest of our BOH (Back Of House) crew being black. One day on the line we were all joking around like we always did. One of the black cooks, named Rose (he was an older guy, with coke-bottle glasses and strong, thickly calloused hands. He had a snaggle tooth and a big ol' pot belly), was regaling us with stories about how he has a veritable harem of women at his beck and call. He told us he was supporting like 5 different women, and all of them were entirely devoted to him.

I thought that he was being hyperbolic, and decided that I would poke fun. I was going to say something like "Rose, I can't believe for a second that even 1 woman would be after your ugly mug." But my midwestern-whiteness shone through, and before I could deliver that absolute blister of a line, I decided to use an exclamation so as to punctuate my lack of belief in his statement. I started with "Ooh boy," and didn't get to finish.

I was immediately accosted by Rose, his spatula gripped tightly, and he was mad as hell. The other line cooks were instantly aware of the situation and reacted to hold him back, as Rose was about to knock my befuddled ass into next week. Eventually they were able to calm him down, and explained to my dumbass that calling a black man "boy" was explicitly racist, and derogatory.

We were fine once he realized I had no idea it was racist, I just thought of it as an exclamation along the lines of "Boy howdy!" or something.

It was a very eye-opening moment.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago

Hmm, as a non-American, I didn't know the potentially racist connotation either until I read your post. I'm assuming that it could be interpreted as infantalising black men... But anyway I'm curious about the historical context.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 hours ago

Ooh boy, not racist.

Ooh, boy, racist.

Easy moment of confusion tbh.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 16 hours ago

That's actually why Mr T adopted his moniker.

I think about my father being called "boy", my uncle being called "boy", my brother, coming back from Vietnam and being called "boy". So I questioned myself: "What does a black man have to do before he's given respect as a man?" So when I was 18 years old, when I was old enough to fight and die for my country, old enough to drink, old enough to vote, I said I was old enough to be called a man. I self-ordained myself Mr. T, so the first word out of everybody's mouth is "Mr."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 23 hours ago

I interpret it as being analogous to "oh wow". Some people will say "oh boy" in place of "oh wow", kind of similar to how my friends will say "I know right" but I and some other people will instead say "I know eh".

[–] [email protected] 10 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

If anyone gets upset at that, start saying 'Oh trans masc' instead of 'oh boy' until they leave you alone forever.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago

Yes. It's ONLY supposed to be used when you find yourself leaping from life to life. Striving to put right what once went wrong. And hoping each time that your next leap will be the leap home.

I don't make the rules. I just enforce them.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm sure it'll piss someone, somewhere off. Literally everything does. Watch, I'm about to post "I'm sure it'll piss someone, somewhere off. Literally everything does." on Lemmy, and it'll piss someone off.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 hours ago

How fucking dare you.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I'm so incredibly pissed off at you saying this will piss someone off

[–] [email protected] 7 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

You don't need permission to make someone pissed off, you do need their permission to make them pissed on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

Technically speaking, no. But more polite, I agree

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago

They're idioms and not meant to be taken literally.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

IMO, "oh boy" would have a definition of "wowza!" Whereas "oh girl" would have a definition of "sassy!". In this vain, I declare "oh boy" to be gender neutral.

Same goes for "awww, maaaan"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

I say "Damn, Gina!" after the 90s Fox sitcom, Martin.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I got into an internet argument with someone who claimed similar with my usage of "dude."

In the wise words of a great poet of our generation, "I'm a dude, he's a dude, she's a dude, we're all dudes, hey."

I still use dude with everyone.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 23 hours ago

The dude abides.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago
[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Look at it this way, if you're talking to someone who gets offended because you said "Oh boy", you really, really don't want to be having any more conversations with a person like that, so it's kind of a win/win situation

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

Just start saying "Oh geez!" Like Morty and people will beg you to go back to Oh Boy

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Who would be misgendered by saying it? You aren't referring to the person you are speaking to when you say it imo, it's a hypothetical boy

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

"Oh it" sounds like you are trying to sneakily say "Oh shit" by not pronouncing some syllables.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

No, it's known as an interjection

[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Can we all just agree that Dude is a gender agnostic term and doesn't just refer to men. It's what Bill and Ted would have wanted.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 20 hours ago

I'm a dude, he's a dude, she's a dude, we're all dudes, hey

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

I’ve been surprised to find that females in my circle consider dude gender neutral.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Sure, I agree it’s fairly gender agnostic, but it’s a familiar term that shouldn’t be used when addressing strangers.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

Sweet! What does mine say?

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Saying "Oh boy" in the way you would say "Oh my" or "Oh wow" is not gendered in the sense that you aren't calling anyone around you "boy", but rather saying it to yourself as an exclamation; just like how religious people say "Oh God!" or "Oh my God!"; if you said "Oh God", you wouldn't be calling the other person "God".

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

I’m not a native English speaker, but I always thought an expression like “oh boy” was more self-reflective. Like you say it more to yourself than to whoever you’re talking to.
In which case, the other’s gender shouldn’t really matter?
In any case, I personally don’t feel insulted or misgendered if someone uses it in a conversation with me.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I've never had problems using terms like "look man," "oh boy," or "dude" In "normal" conversion with anyone until recently. I was talking to a trans-woman I know and definitely stopped myself from dropping "hey man" in our conversation because I thought she would not appreciate it. That's caused some self reflection and while I'll probably continue to use genderbent language when talking with my wife I'll probably seek to minimize it elsewhere. I don't really know how in tune a given woman I'm talking to is with their muliebrity and it seems not my place as a cis man to make that determination for them.

I would say for a lot of people it probably doesn't matter, but for those that it does it does a lot and it's no skin off my back to try to be courteous in my speech with whomever.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

I'd separate oh boy from hey man. Hey man is directed at someone, oh boy is just a remark about the state of things

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

TIL- Muliebrity (Muliebrity means womanly nature or qualities, or the condition of being a woman. It comes from Latin muliēbris, derived from mulier, meaning woman)

Feel about the same as your case. Every one has preferred pronouns, I like to point out to conservative relatives that "sir" and "ma'am" is just another form that they learned growing up for certain individuals. It's just basic manners.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)

In a similar vein, I'm curious about the modern consensus on "you guys," as in, "what do you guys want to do this weekend?"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

FWIW, as a woman, I’ve never cared or felt excluded when people say “you guys” or “dude”. I say these things all the time in casual conversation. The only time I’ve felt weird about it is if these terms are used in a less casual setting, and even then, it’s usually because someone has used these terms and then realized that there is, in fact, at least one woman present, and then they start tripping all over themselves to correct their wording, and it’s awkward as fuck (and a little funny) watching them try to sort themselves out.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I personally don't like it as it makes me uncomfortable because I'm not a guy, and it makes me feel a bit excluded.

That being said, I'm fully aware it's rarely used in a gendered way anymore so I'm don't generally say anything. It's just how I feel. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

replace with Y'all

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I don't think it's a gendered term, but you could switch to "oh snap"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

oh I like that, it's not in my usual rolodex but covers the feelings of all of them. A little new-age for me, but it checks out as a good alternative.