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askchapo @hexbear.net

blight [he/him] @hexbear.net

10mo ago

how gendered is the word “buddy”?

asking for a buddy

32 comments

I would say it is gender neutral to male coded, diminutive in nature.
You call a child "buddy." It is male coded, but because it refers to children it becomes more androgynous in nature.
I've been in social contexts where in the local dialect it was gender neutral and status neutral, but in other contexts it is not so much male coded as it was to belittle.
- Honestly, I hate when people use the word buddy—whether it's directed at me or not. It's such a pejorative to me.
  
  I’ve been complaining on here about similar things recently. Unless a dear friend is calling me that I’m taking it as a jab.

I thought it wasn't but I have never heard it used for anyone but dudes.
- Same, one of those not actually gendered but gendered in practice words.

I'd be more concerned about inflection cuz "buddy" can either be the most affectionate OR the most aggressive thing to call someone lol
- It's always 'bud' in the vocative usage for me unless I'm trying to fight someone
  
  I'm also a fan of "listen, PAL..."

Buddy is puppygender

goddammit if ya'll take buddy or homie away from me for the times on chapo dot chat where i want to broadly express gender neutral affection but "comrade" feels too formal/cringe/performative so help me god.....

Most of the fem-coded equivalents (sis, girlfriend, galpal, etc) are a bit too gum-smack anyway. Let’s feminize buddy.
- (Buddy backs away slowly…)

Have heard buddy (or more often bud) used for women frequently. Gender neutral. I call all my friends bud.
- It was my grandfather's affectionate nickname for my grandmother, and she loved it.
  
  CUTE!
  
  Plz tell me she called hin sport or something like that.

I'm Canadian so I'm allowed to say it

How gendered is the word "fuckface"?
- fuckface is only a permissible pronoun for bottoms

It’s neutral, but I only hear it being used towards guys. Might be different if your from the Midwest. When I hear girls saying it it’s usually towards a pet or child lol

It's Canadian gendered

Oh I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I really feel like "Man", "Buddy", "Guy", "Fellow", "Fella", "Dude", "Bro", and more all have varying amounts of masculinity behind them ranging from lots to almost none at all and I feel an impulse to try and rank them...
- What about "Dawg"?
  
  Gut feeling says "Dawg" is less masculine than "Dude" but more masculine than "Buddy".
  But I have no idea why, and I'm certain this would be ordered differently for everyone, so what do you think?
- All things my partner and I call each other… and our cats.

The buddy system does not discriminate on gender.

2

32 comments