I mean, even if you personally feel that "guys" is totally fine for mixed gender groups, it clearly bothers some people. So why not say, "hey, everyone..." instead of "hey, guys..."?
Why not? Because I'm growing increasingly tired of having to keep up with all the various people who are offended by trivial bullshit so that I can adjust my own language to fit them.
There is no right to not be offended, and I think that fact is a core part of freedom of speech, both Constitutionally and socially.
Edit (the following line is out of place and unwarranted in this discussion but I will keep it in for the sake of posterity.): We live in a harsh world, and there is some nasty shit out there. I think people need to learn to grow a thick skin already.
Don't misunderstand me, I fully embrace peoples right to request people to change some of the common word usage, but I also support the right of people that don't want to do so.
“I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.” - Voltaire
But you seem to be against those people accepting consequences of that action. What if I'm offended and decide to stop hanging out with those people, or decide to remind them each time that they are offending me? They should accept my decision and not tell me to "grow a thick skin" and pretend that their offensiveness is my fault.
Let me clarify a bit please, I fully support people trying to educate people on potentially sensitive verbiage, and their ability to remove themselves from a situation where they aren't comfortable. I think you are right and my "grow a thick skin" comment was unwarranted so I have put an edit in saying so. My primary issue is this:
Censorship, full stop. Don't like something? Ok, tell the world your reasons, and try to convince it to follow your lead. Don't, however, use "offensiveness" as a tool of censorship of things you don't like. That's my main point, so sorry if I muddled it a bit. Censorship from either point of view is my issue.
Of course, you also have to take into consideration that I am saying this from a decidedly American perspective, where freedom of speech is respected to a higher degree than almost anywhere else.
I think Christopher Hitchens put it well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIU96N7ciXM
I still say 'guys' pretty regularly but every time I do I now check in with myself and think "was that a strongly gendered use? could I have said it better". Not because I feel forced to protect everyone around me, but because I want to do better at including people.
And finally, the obligatory "Free Speech" xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1357/
Which could be translated as:
"Nice free speech you got there. Shame if there were any 'consequences'..."
True, one of the necessary conditions for free speech is that the government does not punish unpopular views, but another, even more important and vitally necessary condition underlying free speech is the tradition of respectful disagreement. This tradition is one of the prime values of the enlightenment, and it was hard won, emerging as it did from the repressive regimes and brutal religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries where people believed that they were under a divine imperative to eliminate all dissent.
The idea being propounded by the xkcd comic, that it is justifiable to mob, harass, shout down, and punish people you disagree with is deeply incompatible with enlightenment values, and represents a step backwards into barbarism.
The difference is that you see fit to declare holy war over very trivial micro-offences, while the religious factions after the enlightenment managed to interact peacefully despite profound disagreement with each other.
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
Softening your language makes it easier to pretend these people don't exist.
"That's why they call it murder, not muckduck." - Dwight Schrute, The Office
There's no right you hold for people to not be offended at your speech, either.
Trying to please everyone is the suremost way to fail.
"Offence is rarely given - only taken." sums it up nicely.
Once you mix something else in and stop saying 'guys' practically every time, it's hard to go back.
The worst thing ever is the second-person plural possessive that you hear on the West Coast: "you guys's." The correct word is just your but in the process of searching in vain for an unambiguous plural version we've created a monstrosity.
Hi, everyone.
Hi, friends.
Hi, y'all.
There's something for everyone.