Originally Posted by BearX220
Lehava, it has to be initiated by the women. I live in a town/culture where using the term "girls" to refer to female employees can literally lead to legal action against the man who said it. It all depends on the attitude of the women; there's no predicting it, and no rulebook. That's why men, at least, freak out. I am very cautious about calling women co-workers anything except "my colleague," even those I've known for years and consider myself on good terms with!
When people get up tight about the usage of words like "girls", it seems that some people go about looking to be offended. If no offense is intended, then no offense should be taken. I think the term "girls" is used commonly as the opposite word for "guys" because the word "gals" has gone out of common usage in many areas of the country.
On the contrary, in many places South America, they refer to each other with nicknames in the workplace that explicitly describe physical attributes such as sex, race, color, weight, etc. and there is no offense taken. In fact, it is usually considered friendly.
If all people are equal, as they should be considered, why take offense when no offense is intended?