I liked this post overall. Minor nitpick: I found the use of “guy who VERBs” to be a little jarring. Saying “person who VERBs” would be more inclusive.
That’s a good point, and you’re right. I wish “person” didn’t feel so formal though. I’m having trouble thinking of a gender-neutral word that conveys the same casualness of “guy.”
Perhaps I phrased my template too formally. Though as I search for examples, I notice that different uses of the word “guy” would require various replacements (“person,” “someone,” or “the one”) in order to sound natural.
Really, I begin to think it would be simpler to alter our culture so that nobody expects “guy” to imply “male”.
I liked this post overall. Minor nitpick: I found the use of “guy who VERBs” to be a little jarring. Saying “person who VERBs” would be more inclusive.
That’s a good point, and you’re right. I wish “person” didn’t feel so formal though. I’m having trouble thinking of a gender-neutral word that conveys the same casualness of “guy.”
A form like “the one who acts” sounds perfectly natural to me.
That sounds even more formal than “person” to me, actually.
Edit: how about “someone who acts”?
Perhaps I phrased my template too formally. Though as I search for examples, I notice that different uses of the word “guy” would require various replacements (“person,” “someone,” or “the one”) in order to sound natural.
Really, I begin to think it would be simpler to alter our culture so that nobody expects “guy” to imply “male”.
That’s simpler to say, but not at all simpler to do.