I used to use “man” in a gender neutral way a lot. Like “hey man” or “what’s up man”. Probably a '90s kid thing. But here’s the thing, it’s not about how I feel about the word. It’s about how the person getting called that word feels about it. So I’ve made a conscious effort to stop using it. It’s really not difficult to not be a selfish asshole.
These days, the only person I still say “hey man” to is my weed guy.
I used to use “man” in a gender neutral way a lot. Like “hey man” or “what’s up man”. Probably a '90s kid thing. But here’s the thing, it’s not about how I feel about the word. It’s about how the person getting called that word feels about it. So I’ve made a conscious effort to stop using it. It’s really not difficult to not be a selfish asshole.
These days, the only person I still say “hey man” to is my weed guy.
Whenever anyone says “hey man” to me I respond with, “no, not anymore” and they tend to get really confused.
I used to say “dude” and “man” to everyone. It was pretty easy to give up “dude”, and I just kinda seamlessly switched “man” to “fam.”
That’s like their formal title lol. My last dealer (4 years clean now) was a woman and I always said “hey man” to her.