Hey, man, bro, GIRL?

If you're learning to speak any second language, you want to sound natural in conversation with friends and other people you meet. Nothing makes you sound out of place more than speaking textbook English, or textbook Farsi, or textbook whatever language it is that you're attempting to master. A lot of people try to sound natural by learning how to swear in a second language. Chances are, people who cheer when you swear a lot are people you should avoid, A-V-O-I-D. Typically, all cursing does is make a few people laugh and the rest uncomfortable at best.

Setting aside swearing, what are some of the other words or phrases that you can use to sound more natural in English? There are several ways we refer to other people that will help you to fit in if you use them in the right contexts. By far, the most common is the word "guys." "Hey you guuuuuys!" We use it all the time in the U.S., and it doesn't matter if we're talking to actual guys, or to girls (nobody says "gals" anymore). It's so common that, well, you all probably know how to use it already. It can be used in a neutral way to refer to, or talk to, a group of people, and it can also be used to show you're not happy with that group, particularly if you're a high school teacher trying to clear the halls after morning break. "Guys. Okay, that was the bell. Guys? Thank youuuu!"

Still fairly common, but a bit more generation-specific (read: for someone on his way to his midlife crisis, not already past it), are "bro," short for "brother," and it's Hawaiian equivalent "bra," short for "braddah," both of which are a bit more familiar than "guys." "Familiar" here means that you use it with people you know casually, not, say, just a student in your class. Actually, quite emphatically, NOT with a student in your class, our vice-versa. While a teacher might call his or her students "guys," calling them "bros" doesn't sound natural to me even though both are used for males, aka dudes.

"Bud," "buddy," and "bub" are for people in the second halves of their lives, more or less what "bro" is to people in their first halves, though there are also some regional preferences. "Bro," West Coast, and beaches all went together at one time, but as we become increasingly interconnected, those regional lines are getting blurry. These are also usually used with men/boys, but when I was a teen and twenty-something, a handful of friends even the girls greeted each other with a slow, drawn out "heeeey, bud!" I'm not sure where that came from.

Last on the list, not because it isn't a well-known appellation (name), but because it seems to be used in fewer contexts, is "girl," as in "ooh, giiirl, doesn't he look fiiiiine!" This came from parts of the Black American community, and when it is used with some intonation, it's considered "sassy", and is used primarily by women and gay men. It can also be used with less intonation to mean something like "bro." In general, the more intonation there is, the more familiar it is (in the sense used above), but that makes sense, right? We're usually more expressive with our friends and family. Still, I'm going to recommend that people learning English as a Second Language listen for it, but avoid using it until they have a strong sense of when and with whom it is used appropriately.

Now ya know, bub!