1 & 3) I don't think a lot of people use "fella" anymore, but I live in the northeast U.S. When it comes to male to female, "buddy" or "bud" would be preferential in my opinion, the other ones you listed all have male connotations (though there are exceptions with everything, you could even argue "buddy" does as well). Not a lot of people in the U.S. use the word, "mate", either. That's more of a United Kingdom thing. Females address men as "dudes" all the time, but it usually doesn't happen the other way around. In fact, out of all the terms you listed, I hear "dude" the most often and use it myself the most often (because I'm around my friends most of the time). "Dude" is typically a word you use to address someone your own age, but keep reading for a disclaimer.

2) These words are typically not considered offensive unless you use them sarcastically in a negative situation, or if you would use the words to patronize or condescend to someone. With the English language, context is always important. I would never address someone I completely don't know as "dude", and would always defer to "sir" or "ma'am" when in doubt. You could always ask them what their name is too if you're just having a run of the mill conversation. Sometimes you'll get a response from a woman, if you call her ma'am, along the lines of "Please don't call me, ma'am. It makes me sound old", in which case you can ask the woman what she would prefer. Usually that's a stock response 50% of the time, and it drives me insane even though I know the woman is just going through the motions. Either way, they'll recognize you were just attempting to be as polite as possible. If they're offended and mad about that, then they are a shill of a woman and they don't deserve your time of day anyways.

I never realized how difficult this would be to explain til I began typing my half-baked and muddled response.

 

We don't really use those terms in the U.S. We use any obscure combination of words that end in either a body part or a gerund [a verb turned into a noun] and include at least one curse word. Like take the word "face" for instance. According to Webster it means the thing your nose is attached to. HOWEVER, add f***, d***, sh**, c**k, tw**, ***, etc in front of it and voila, now you've got a friend.

2) Let me ask, are you planning a trip to New York or Jersey any time soon? If so, you're good.

3) No. If you say it to women just make sure to smile bigger. If a woman says it to you it's time to drop your pants - good times ahead.

I don't have a "most common" one because I like to mix it up, so sometimes I'll change the second word to licker, sniffer, packer, goblin, balls, face, nose, or fart..... as long as the word pairing doesn't result in a compliment of course.

 

oh.... and "putz".

just by itself.

 

....or "stoopid", which is the endearing form of stupid.

 

In this instance it would be "detailed", since he already answered, its "past-tense"

 

....unzips

 

His answer was detailed. So you say "thanks for the detailed answer".

Saying "thanks for the detail answer" is incorrect grammatically.

 

Look at SICK... Showing he's got college.

 

No. He's got the google.

 

*Bing

 

Bing is your porn friend for work.

Seriously. It plays the videos in the searches results.

You're welcome.

 

Or how about bro (short for brother, but used for good friends....or brothers too)? "Sup bro, how you doing?".

Just don't overdo it like the Persians.

[video=youtube;QsyuG64LVsM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsyuG64LVsM[/video]

 

Or call every guy you see Monica.

 

I lol'd

 

Don't call me buddy, pal.

 

Im not your pal, guy!

 

Don't worry about tenses when it comes to adjective form. The adjective form of "something containing a lot of detail" will always be detailed.

 

Bro is a generic way of referring to any friend. Black, White, Asian, whatever. It is not race specific at all. It just means that you consider someone a good enough friend to call them brother. Just don't use "bro" on the ladies. :)

"Hey bro, did you see that final round of the US Open?"
"No worries bro, I'll do it myself. Thanks anyway"
"Thanks for getting me tickets to the Jay Z concert bro!"

 

Black guys can call anyone they want bro.
Calling black guys bro gets a little tricky though. Instead of saying "what up bro?", trying switching it to "homeslice" or "ma snizzle".... "or G-money".

If you wanna really be safe then just say "man" and give a slight head nod acknowledging their presence..... and don't look them in the eyes for more than 1.8 seconds but never less than .5 seconds. The former is a display of aggression, and the latter is a sign of weakness, both of which makes you about to get dropped. So I'd say a good 1.3 seconds to be safe.

 

LOL. No worries bro, the mods will see it was a mistake. If I get banned don't worry abo

<This message is incomplete. User Banned!>

 

I agree with most of the things that Invid said. Almost no one born and raised in the US will say "mate". Its a UK thing (and maybe Australian?). Pal and Fella are both more terms used by older generations. My grandparents used those types of terms more often. I think that "Buddy" is probably more regional. While I wouldn't be suprised to hear someone use it, I don't myself. Often, I hear it when someone is angry with someone that they don't know. Such as they cut them off in traffic or bumped into them on the street.

I use "Dude" when I'm either talking to a young guy in an informal setting, or talking about someone else. IE, "that dude is awesome at football!".

More often, if Im talking to a friend, I'll use "man". "Hey man, whats up?" ect.

In a professional setting, or when talking to an older person, I always default to "sir".

With any woman other than my wife or daughters, I always, always either use their name or "miss" or "Ma'am" if I don't know them. Anything comes off as tacky at best, IMO.

 

I use "darlin" a lot but I say it with the same respectful tone as "miss" or "ma'am". In my experience, too many women in today's age aren't always a fan of being called ma'am or miss b/c now it can be viewed as much as a reminder of age as it is a display of proper respect. For women in their 60's+ I'll use ma'am, unless they look hip, modern, or seem jovial. Then again I'm 39 and closer to their age range than a 25 year old, so most women are flattered by innocently being called darlin' paired with a soft smile of acknowledgement. For instance, if I'm holding a door for a woman and she says thank you, I get a significantly more positive reaction back when I say "You're welcome darlin" than "You're welcome ma'am", as the latter can be perceived as you holding the door out of respect for their age, whereas the former lends the impression you're holding the door specifically for them, irrespective of age.

Lost track how many times I've heard an older woman respond, "aww you've made my day" after calling her darlin'. Contrarily, I don't how many times I've heard a woman either tell a guy "I'm not that old" or rhetorically ask "how old do you think I am" when called ma'am. Bottom line is- it's nearly impossible to offend a woman when you're flattering her, and today they care as much or more about flattery than . If it's a situation that demands respect or involves women who seem traditional I'll use ma'am. And when in doubt, you can never go wrong with just "thank you", "no thank you", or "yes please", "excuse me", "pardon me", etc without ma'am, miss, darlin' or whatever.

 

You're right. It can be easy to offend when you're trying to be polite sometimes. Its a minefield!

 

Always gotta over-complicate stuff.

 

Why do you bother "re-zippin" anyway? Seems like a total waste of time :confused2:

 

1) I lol'd at this

2) dramatic effect, its like a drunk man falling out of a car.

 

yeah except when your zipper is open, nothing falls out. lol

 

That's because I always wear a cup around you because you like to tapsies.

 

it's just so darn cute I can't help it. like pinching a baby's cheeks.

 

I use "mate" a lot, even though I was born and raised in this country.

 

[video=youtube;vWbF1zqIzjI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWbF1zqIzjI[/video]

 

A lot of it has to do with where you are from. There is a guy at my job from Detroit and he says buddy a lot. In my area its "man/bro/dude".

With girls if you're friends down here its "yo" a lot. Which sounds weird. Kind of like "Whats up yo". Some girls dont mind being called dude in a friendly way but some do.

Its all slang and you can pretty much use whatever you feel comfortable with. Plus it also depends on social status. Im not going to say "Whats up dude" to a college professor or "Whats up yo" to a female lawyer or something.

 

His answer was detail is incorrect in English in any tense. When you say something like "his answer was ____" you have to be careful. There are two ways it can be interpreted.

1) You are relaying what his answer was

2) You are describing the answer.

In your sense you are trying to describe what his answer was. When you say "His answer was detail" the only way it makes sense is the first way I posted. The only way it works is if you asked someone a question, their answer was literally the word "detail" and you are relaying that to another person.

Others have already stated the rules of why, Im just trying to explain why from a non-rule oriented standpoint so that maybe you understand the concept better. Hope it helps some.