You people!!

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Thank you for your answer.

Maybe it was a mistake on my part to use my job as an example.

But like I said to ASS-P, I have heard people question this before where I have work (not just me) and so I have looked into seeing what the reaction would be for myself. The reaction is normally that the recipient would stop in their tracks.

This is where my questioning comes from.

I do apologise if I did not make my question clear in the first instance. but thanks for all of your help.

You're welcome.

I don't know what other context you could use besides your job, even with what you're saying above, it's still about your job (other people where you work) so I assume you're still speaking about other people who cold-call and use the same basic tactics. Can you give an example? I can't think of another place where people use "you people" when it's not against race, disability, etc. as you said but where it could seem to be derogatory...? An example would be really helpful.

It depends how you use it. I sometimes say you people either neutrally or degratory

ASS-P makes a good point that the English language lost the universal European practice of having two kinds of "you"- the formal (which is also the plural), and the familiar (which is also the singular).

If you're addressing a crowd you say "usted" in Spanish, or addressing a high status one person you say "usted". You would call a friend or family member "tu" . Four hundred years ago "you" was the English language equivalent to "usted", and the equivalent of "tu" was "thou". Hense the Quaker practice of calling everybody "thou" (to show that everyone is equal). But except for Quaker Fundies "thou" dropped out of the language completely. Now everyone is "you". The up side is that you dont have to worry about rank, or familiarity, (the Pope, your boss, your kid, your spouse, are all "you"). The downside is that English no longer has a plural "you".

In the north east USA in the Boston/New York area they reinvented the plural "you" -or rather immigrants from Ireland and Italy and Poland all assumed that there MUST be a plural version of 'you' (like in their own languages) . So today blue collar guys in that region will address a pair of folks as "the two o' youse" ("I want da two of yas to do this task, and then youse guys do that task").

But in the Southern USA they independently ALSO reinvented the plural "you" with "Youins", or "Ya'll".

Though Non New York, non Southern North Americans will sometimes say "you all" we usually just say "you". And that can cause confusion on the telephone. Have had a boss lady get angry at me when I meant "you the company" and not "you as an individual" like she thought.
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But I dont know why you're upset about "you people". If it bothers you then why dont you ask the person "which group of 'people' are the 'you people' that you are pigeonholing me into?" You know darn well that it has nothing to do with race, but you play dumb and pretend to be offended by the person being racist! I dont see the point of that at all.

I am so sorry. I completely neglected that part:

Yes, the term "You people" can be seen as derogatory.

Whether they address me as "you people" or you guys is kinda rude especially if I'm not at fault of something..

Yes, it is derogatory.

I think that when the word 'you' is used generically in this expression, it is often derogatory. By 'generically' I mean 'you' as in a type of person, in other words we're getting into stereotypes.

When it is used of specific persons, it is often nothing of the sort, for example a boss may say to his/her staff: "You people have worked exceptionally hard this week. I really appreciate that."

I think it's great that you enjoy your job, and you're entitled to enjoy it for whatever reason you want! The job obviously suits you, well, so, good on you..

You feel a person is entitled to enjoy upsetting other people?

Please stop judging. She did not indicate that the people she is calling, know that she enjoys what she is doing, and she is not TRYING to annoy anyone. She just happens to enjoy the fact that she does. It is nobody's business as to WHY she does. She is the perfect person for the job. In addition, please go back and read the original post and her additional posts. You are inventing your own story in your mind. You are making false allegations. What you are doing is NOT right. You don't have to like how she thinks, and you don't need to spew your judgement all over this topic that she created!

Actually, she did say that she knows exactly how she is annoying other people AND that she enjoys it, and that it's the part about annoying people that she specifically enjoys:



That seems pretty clear to me.

But again, even ignoring logic, suppose I decide to agree with you that she "just happens to" enjoy annoying people, but she isn't "trying" to, I'll repeat my question: you feel a person is entitled to enjoy upsetting people? Whether she was "trying to" or not. It was just a question.

My personal opinion is that it is NOT an entitlement to enjoy upsetting people, indeed it seems indicative of a deeper problem (which would seem to be confirmed by the poster's own words, that she is "getting (her) own back." That's only my opinion. I know my opinion. I was asking yours.

Last edited by NowhereWoman on 25 Oct 2015, 11:33 pm, edited 6 times in total.

No, you people is also used when people are talking about all employees in a company or similar. You are lucky wherever it is you work at...I worked at a major airline for years and we would've been fired for saying what you say. We were always taught to understand that to a customer WE, whoever answers the phone, IS the company...that's how the customer sees it, so don't take it personally.

See now, that (the underlining above, which is mine, not whatamess's) is how I would have taken it, which is why I was not seeing it as derogatory even if it was said in anger. I took "you people" to mean cold callers who were intrusive or perhaps even that exact company - IME, telemarketers will call back dozens of times unless you actively scream at them and slam the phone down (and sometimes they won't even stop then! In fact, I have told specific companies "please make a note to NOT have ANYONE at your company call again" and had them call again anyway...I've repeated the directive and it happened again...same company...etc.) or update your No Call or whatever that thingie is called (can't remember, but I always forget to do it). We don't have much information from the OP on the specifics but it's just as possible the angry person was speaking about telemarketers or even the actual company (in fact at the very least the former would seem logical) in which case the person was objecting to a set of actions she was already experiencing, from the specific person she was speaking to as well as the group to which the specific person belonged, among whom others had already done the same thing - not making an unfounded, generalized judgment.

So for that reason I can't see the use of "you people" in the (only) example given by the OP as derogatory (unless the person said "you people are all child molesters and thieves" or something crazy like that, which I kind of doubt). It would be like someone saying to me, my husband and children, "You people all have last names that start with an 'H'!" Well, yes, we do. Not derogatory but factual, whether said in anger, in happiness, neutrally or what-have-you.

And in fact an actual judgment isn't even stated in the OP but in fact the caller was stating how she felt: "I'm fed up with you people." That isn't a judgment, much less an actively derogatory one, so........??

It may have been angry but in the context the OP couches it in, I don't see it as derogatory.

With all due respect, perhaps, you would benefit from taking a nice swim in the ocean, or go for a hike, or a walk or whatever you enjoy doing, to ground yourself and just relax. Focus on the positive.

Nowherewoman did answer my question but she seems to take offense at my choice of employment. There is very little I can do about that.

I suppose we just have to beg to differ.

Thanks everyone...