@SuperOniichan Not really. Guys refers to males, girls refers to females. There is a lot more to it than that. It's mostly that people would talk to the men, ignoring the women in the group so it took on a quasi-genderneutral status. Some people are butthurt that there could be other genders that want to be identified who aren't guys. People who don't know any better (for example people who don't know english) are often given a pass on this though. In the same way that other languages give us English speakers a pass when we don't pronounce words correctly, or get the definition wrong. It's the "Well, at least they tried" thing.
@jhadred@urzu_se7en Well, when this word translating from English to Russian, translators usually use the word "ребята" aka "kids", because the analogue of "guys" in Russian has a much more stronger male connotation. Therefore, I was always surprised when girls used this word in relation to their female friends.
@SuperOniichan in that case yes, because they're among other girls, they would have been referring to the others as "girls". Especially as young kids. Though adults would have called them "kids" rather than boys or girls. The gender neutral thing starts to apply once there is a male in the group being referenced. And as you probably figured there's a lot of discussion on that because people don't want to be called guys, just as some people wouldn't want to be called girls.
@jhadred In the end, as I understand it, such treatment is a literary norm, but in the English-speaking society there are different opinions about its use?
@SuperOniichan Interesting. We often use 'kids' too in hungarian for the same reason. I think the problem lies with people who get offended by it. Sure, we use this word for a long time now, but that doesn't mean we have to change it to something else just because some people started having problem with it. Hell, whenever I talk to my friends they use 'guys' too, even the female ones. We (or at least me) use 'guys' for translation simply because that's the norm and there are only a few other options to address a bunch of people and this is the one everyone (or almost everyone) can understand.
@jhadred@urzu_se7en@SuperOniichan
I think in the context of 'hey guys' & 'you guys' in American English, people mostly think of 'guys' in a default/neutral term. Yes, this may have potential contentious cultural/historical origin and may not come off as inclusive as some might like.
This is not something that someone can just unlearn on a whim, especially as interaction with social groups and consumption of media will still reinforce this notion. Word meaning and perception changes over time, so maybe we'll have a better catch-all term gain traction as time passes.
The singular 'they' as a gender-neutral way to refer to someone seemed to have gained a lot of adoption last year.
@urzu_se7en Well, in the case of my native language, the problem here is that the gender accent in the Russian language is usually very strong. To such an extent that even inanimate objects in it have their own gender. Of course, this is a very sensitive moment for Russian feminists, especially if you pay attention to the fact that most Russian names of professions and hobbies are male. And the funny thing is, the many literary female variants are usually perceived negatively, since they are historically perceived as a term for wife of man with such an occupation. For example, the Russian word "генеральша" is more likely to be translated as "general’s wife" rather than "female general".
@Filepool Well, I could say that for me it seems too excessive, but I think it is normal, since each language has its own logic and psychology. For example, I got used to the variations of "... in love" for a very long time, because compared to Russian romantic vocabulary, this is a rather complicated construction.