On Fri, 07 Nov 2003 02:03:01 GMT, Julia Altshuler
> wrote:


>Frogleg wrote:
>
>> You hit a nerve. I'm a part-time grammar cop, and "guy/guys" drives me
>> up the wall.

>I fancy myself a part-time grammar cop as well, and for reasons I can't
>explain, I rather like the informal and gender neutral use of "guys."
>In the examples you gave for news reporting, I agree that victim,
>suspect and man would be better, but for informal everyday speech,
>"guys" has an un-stodgy air that suits me. At work, I like being the
>woman in charge. At lunch, I like being just one of the guys.

Ah, but that's the point. Colloquial speech and writing is, by
definition, casual and informal. I can't speak for more than 30
seconds without producing incomplete or run-on sentences. I certainly
refer to "this guy I used to know" (or "that SOB at the hardware
store"), but not for publication or presentation. Try as I do, I
cannot completely eradicate "you know" from my speech, but I don't
expect news reports to include those defects in a script in an effort
to seem "friendly" or "understandable." One term that has made it
into both print and broadcast reports here is "busted" or "busted out"
for "broken," as in "several car windows were busted out."

While I don't expect the Daily Fishwrap to be written with the style
and vocabulary of 'Moby Dick', it *could* approach the level of a 9th
grade example of correct grammar and use.