The Word "Man" Really Irks Me

[Lexxi]

Something dawned on me today. It's something that's always bothered me but I never knew why. It has to do with the word "man." Throughout my life I've always hated when someone would call me a man. Someone saying "oh man that's horrible" didn't bother me one bit because they weren't calling me a man. It was just an expression. But if someone said "you're a man so of course you'd know how to work on a car" I would get really irritated. Almost to the point of being mad.

Being called dude, homie, guy, lad, chap, sir, or fella never bothered me. But getting called a man drove me up the wall. Today it dawned on me why that's always bothered me. It's because I've never, not once, ever felt like a true man. I've always known that I was female on the inside, so I subconsciously resented being called a man.

Do any of you have any pet peeves like that? Chime in and let me know if you do.

Lexxi

[Lady Sarah]

I never felt as tho I ever progressed to the status of being a man, so being called one would throw me for a loop. Being called "sir" has always been more like fingernails on a chalkboard. I'd cringe every time I heard it.

Interestingly enough, to this day, guys resent when I call them "sir".

[Julia1996]

My brother has a habit of calling everyone "dude". He's careful not to call me that but he calls everyone else dude. For him it's just an expression but it does annoy some people. He will sometimes call my dad dude. He always says "I'm your dad, NOT dude"  And he accidentally called my grandma dude a couple of times and she yelled at him. Then he did again a couple of weeks later and this time she whacked him in the back of his head with a wooden spoon. 😂😂🤣  Before I transitioned one of Tyler's friends always called me "little dude". That grated my nerves. Once I told him to stop calling me that and he said "but you are little". It wasn't being called little that bothered me, it was being called dude! My brother just called me "smurf".

[CynthiaAnn]

Hi Lexxi, I saw your reply in the "dude" word topic  🙂 So here is my reply to the "man" word topic.

As a child of the 60's I heard that expression a lot, it's "man this" "man that", it did not mean an actual physical male person, it was an expression that used the same spelling and sound. I never gave it much thought until I started to transition, and then one day I realized I was becoming a little more sensitive to that expression, I did not want to be referred to in that way that even if it was used as an expression. Same with the word "dude" I did not want to be a "dude". So yeah, I don't use the word "Man" as an expression anymore, it's my own choice not to. Just one person, that has stopped using it, it's not in my vocab anymore...I think my word choices have evolved over time, I think I use more feminine language today, I read books by female authors, I immerse myself in "girl words"....

I find it interesting how words get used (especially gendered context) and how language evolves over time.

Have a nice day !

Cynthia -