Guys and Gals

This musing relates, in some ways, to what I blathered on about on Monday. Similarly, it's something I've thought of several times in the past. It probably first occurred to me during a discussion of gender neutral language. There seem to be people out there, like the people who won't tolerate split infinitives, who aren't creative enough to write without the use of gendered pronouns. It really isn't that hard, but that isn't really what this post is about.

What it is about is my general frustration at a specific short-coming of our language. Perhaps a more visual representation will be illustrative:

Male.......................Female
Boy..........................Girl
Man.........................Woman
Martian...................Venusian
Guy..........................???

Now, I'm fine with referring to a mix-gendered group with a casual "Hey, guys." It may not be the greatest thing to happen to gender relations, but it isn't too bad in the grand scheme of things. What frustrates me is when I'm referring to a specific female whom the person I'm talking to doesn't know. For instance, "Yesterday, I saw this ??? I know in the Commons." The two ways to fill the blank ('girl' or 'woman') both seem inappropriate.

I think the general fall-back is 'girl', but in this day and age, it seems a little demeaning to call one of my female peers a 'girl' especially when I would never refer to a male friend as a 'boy'. However, 'woman' usually connotes an older woman, or at least one who is more mature relative to the speaker. Basically, they are analogues to 'boy' and 'man' and the problem is that there is no female analogue to 'guy'. The true analogue to 'guy' is 'gal' but somehow I just can't bring myself to call my female friends 'gals'.

Any and all suggestions or made up words which would obviate this problem are welcome. For now, I may have to stick to "female contemporary of approximately equal social standing."