‘Survivor’ host Jeff Probst won’t say ‘guys’ anymore, and we’re way too woke
I’m always all for inclusion, and I definitely lean progressive when it comes to all social issues, and I believe in equal rights and blah dee blah blah blah and all that.
I really do, despite the blah blah thing above. I take a very dim view of people who aren’t progressive on issues of equality and such. In fact, I have a hard time understanding why anyone would care if someone is gay, black, transgender, Irish, Jewish, a pot smoker, whatever. Basically, I take an old Louis C.K. joke — I know, I know, not allowed to even say the guy’s name anymore — but I take an old joke of his and apply it to my daily life: Basically, if you’re not interfering in my life, why the hell would I want to interfere with yours? I couldn’t care less what you do, so long as it doesn’t affect me.
Are we clear? Good.
Having said that … sheesh oh man, I have had it with the looney progressive left taking every last no-thing and turning it into a major thing. I’ve had it with innocent, non-discriminatory language getting peeled and parsed to the point where I can’t say “hey dude” without first checking to make sure the person in question identifies as a male and isn’t offended by the word “dude,” which is shortened (probably) from “doodle,” which was shortened from “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” and so would probably be offensive to someone who isn’t ultra-patriotic.
Ya dig?
This was highlighted the other night when me and the family started watching the latest season of “Survivor” on demand. For those of you who don’t watch the show, for over 20 years the host, Jeff Probst, has been calling in contestants to every challenge with the phrase, “Come on in, guys!”
Guy, via Merriam-Webster: 1a)
Man, fellow; 1b) used in plural to refer to the members of a group regardless of sex
So yes. “Guys,” according to the dictionary, does not refer to a sex. “Guy” does, but “guys” does not.
“I love saying it, it’s part of the show,” Probst told the contestants. “But I too want to be of the moment. So my question to you is, in the context of ‘Survivor,’ is a word like ‘guys’ OK, or is it time to retire that word?”
My woke-o-meter perked up, but I was relieved the contestants basically said, “Nah, we cool.”
Until the next day, when a dude — a gay dude, not that it matters, but just to be clear — then spoke up and said he shouldn’t.
“I don’t think we should use the word guys,” Richard Foye said. “I don’t really agree with it. The reality is that ‘Survivor’ has changed over the past 21 years, and those changes have allowed all of us — all of these brown people, black people, Asian people, so many queer people — to be here simultaneously.”
And with that, Probst retired the word, and now calls the players in with a truncated, “Come on in!”
This is so, so, so, so, dumb.
It’s dumb because A) as pointed out above, the literal dictionary definition of “guys” is not gender specific, and B) because holy moly, how the hell did we get here?
Seriously: We’re not allowed to say “guys” anymore because it’s offensive to … who, exactly?
This kind of stuff gives regular ol’ progressive folk like me migraines. By nit-picking things like this, the ultra-woke weenies of the world do a tremendous disservice to middle of the road, reasonable progressive thought.
When we start saying the word “guys” is a pejorative, I promise you it’s only irritating the people whose minds we’re trying to change in the first place.
The backlash against this nonsense is coming, and I’m here for it. Let’s be kind to each other instead of arguing over innocuous words, m’kay?