Re: CHAT: Epicene man (was Re: ...y'know)

Eric Christopherson wrote:
>
>> PS - in SW London, this use of 'man' has become epicene among the younger
>
>> generation; female students even use this mode of address when speaking
>
>> among themselves.  Does this occur elsewhere?
>
>
>
>Yes, it does, although I haven't heard it as often as with males here in the
>US.
My impression (as part of the "younger generation") has always been that it's
more of an expletive, on the order of "jeez" or "gosh" or maybe better "whoa"
or "wow", than a vocative giving the name "man" to the listener. "Man, that was
a good movie!" makes perfect sense for one female to say to another, but "Hey
man, come over here!" doesn't.

sam