• TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I call everyone baby. Young? Baby. Old? Baby. Man, woman, black, white, purple with green polka dots? “What’s up, baby? How are you?” I’m a middle aged white guy.

      There’s a 60-odd year old black guy that comes to one of the bars I frequent. I always greet him with “What’s up, baby?” He always says “Same old, baby, how you doin’?” I have no idea how that became normal because it feels so weird explaining it but it feels super normal saying it.

        • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Nope. It may be because of the tone. I don’t do an Austin Powers thing. I say it the same way I’d say buddy or friend.

          Thinking harder about it, generally if I’m meeting someone for the first time I use their name because I’m trying to get the hamster that runs the wheel in my brain to put their name somewhere I’ll remember it. By the time we’ve interacted a while it’s very likely they’ve seen me say it to half a dozen of my friends.

    • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 months ago

      I gave someone some somewhat joking advice to use “dogs” as a gender neutral alternative to “guys”. I ended up trying it just for fun and it stuck.