How old were you when you stopped calling people of your age “boys” or “girls”? Or do you still do so?

18 comments

1. I still do in my first language. The girls in my closest friend group are 32-45 and boys are 36-47 🤣

   In english, I guess I use girls and guys? Only because there isn’t a female form of guys and saying “men and women” sounds too formal for me.

2. I’ll only do it now during a work meeting if people won’t stop talking, you’d be surprised how quickly an “alright boys and girls let’s settle down” with a hand clap gets people to be quiet lol

3. 17

4. Around when I was 18/19

5. Lol I still do it in some context. Mostly because I don’t want to admit my youth is slowly disintegrating like a forgotten biscuit in the wind

6. [removed]

7. I’m 51 and I still vacillate between girls/boys and the gender-neutral “dude”.

8. My sister still asks me about “boys”. We’re 26 and 29. I usually say men or guys.

9. I’m in my mid 30s and if I were referring to one of/a group of my friends to someone else I’d say “one of/the girls”. I don’t say boys as much but that’s because locally we just have a different word for it. It wouldn’t feel natural to me to say “the women/the men” about a group I know. If I am speaking in generalities about a gender I will say women or men where appropriate though

10. I still use ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ and I’m 38!

11. Does “boys” and “girls” mean the same as homies?

12. 18-20

    When I was 20 years old, my mother asked me if l “did ugly things with boys”.

    I simply have no words

13. My closest friends can always be boys and girls. I know them too well to think them adults. Everybody else deserves to be respected as an adult until proven otherwise.

14. Around when I graduated from college. I noticed super quickly that “girl/s” was often used to refer to women at my workplace, while men were always just called men. I hated it so made a point to never use girl when referring to an adult woman.

15. Some time in junior high, I think. I can’t remember not hating being called a girl.

16. Speaking in general, probably by age 20. Speaking of my particular friends, I really still haven’t (I’m 51).

17. Until someone is 18 years old

18. lol I always refer to grown men I crush on as “boy/s”

    Don’t know why.