Comment by leptons 2 days ago
"Bro" is the furthest thing from "gender neutral". Not sure how you could think it's gender neutral. It originated from male behavior and is definitely not gender neutral. You can address women as "bro" and they might even respond to you but they'll think you're absolutely weird.
I'm about 95% sure that if I ask my two school-age daughters if it's weird to address girls and women as "bro" or "bruh" in informal circumstances, they'll say no. Since I hear them do it with some regularity.
>> You can address women as "bro" and they might even respond to you but they'll think you're absolutely weird.
>I'm about 95% sure that if I ask my two school-age daughters if it's weird to address girls and women as "bro" or "bruh"
I'm 100% sure I said women, and not "school-age" girls, who if they weren't your daughters would probably describe you as "creep" because that's what teenage girls do. But sure, go ahead and move the goalposts anywhere you want. If citing teenage girls helps you think you're making some kind of point, then the mic is all yours.
No, the female and non-binary people in my life both give and accept "bro" or "bruh" without complaint. I once asked one of my non-binary friends directly how they felt about "bro", "dude", etc and they consider those words to be gender neutral. They are like the word "man" now ("IDK man").
> They are like the word "man" now ("IDK man").
That's actually how it was originally, because in Old English "man" just meant a gender-neutral "person."
Gendered versions were "wer" and "wif", so you could have a "wer-man" and a "wif-man", the latter changing pronunciation to become "woman". I suppose this also means that there are both "werewolves" and "wifwolves".
"bro", "bruh", it's more of an exclamation of surprise than a title conferred to the person being addressed, but even then, I don't know, people call folks "auntie" and "uncle" who aren't actually their auntie and uncle. language is flexible. it may reference the kind of fraternity between brothers but that feeling is not limited to the male sex.