[Vocabulary] is "reading up on someone" grammatically correct?

[adadadad]

Hello guys. We often come across this phrase, "to read up on something", meaning to read a lot about a particular subject because we want to know more about it. But how about "to read up on someone"? If i want to find out more about someone by reading, looking up on the internet etc, can this phrase be used with the same meaning? Is it grammatically correct? If not, what phrasal verb am i supposed to use? Thanks!

 

[GoesStation]

You can read up on something or someone. It means the same thing except for the target, which is a thing or a person respectively.

Remember to capitalize the word I every time you write it. Don't refer to unknown forum members as "guys". It excludes females.

 

[adadadad]

Thanks for the response, it helped. And i apologize for that Thanks again for clearing up my doubts.

 

[GoesStation]

Remember to capitalize the word I every time you write it.

And i apologize for that.

Remember to capitalize the word I every time you write it.

 

[andrewg927]

You can read up on something or someone. It means the same thing except for the target, which is a thing or a person respectively.

Remember to capitalize the word I every time you write it. Don't refer to unknown forum members as "guys". It excludes females.

I'm honestly confused about the use of "guys". Remember women use it too. It refers to both men and women, at least for most people. There is only a small number of people who insist saying "guys" means only men.

 

[adadadad]

Again!

Oops! My bad! I'm sorry, I apologize for this lol. Can't believe I'm so careless!! Thank you so much for pointing that out to me ��

 

[GoesStation]

I'm honestly confused about the use of "guys". Remember women use it too. It refers to both men and women, at least for most people. There is only a small number of people who insist saying "guys" means only men.

I wouldn't be surprised if the usage of "guys" is shifting towards gender-neutrality. However, I remember a very telling exchange on the subject that I read somewhere. An interviewer was asking a young woman whether "guy" was a masculine term. She said it wasn't, particularly, saying something like "girls use guys​ for each other all the time!" She rather weakened her position when she followed that up by saying "Guys do it, too!"

 

[Meja]

My English teachers often said something like "Hello, guys. How are you?" at the beginning of a lesson as a sort of a (friendly) greeting and there were more girls than boys in the classroom. Would you say that it's not a very appropriate way to address students?

(I'm a student.)

 

[jutfrank]

I wouldn't be surprised if the usage of "guys" is shifting towards gender-neutrality. However, I remember a very telling exchange on the subject that I read somewhere. An interviewer was asking a young woman whether "guy" was a masculine term. She said it wasn't, particularly, saying something like "girls use guys​ for each other all the time!" She rather weakened her position when she followed that up by saying "Guys do it, too!"

I'm happy to accept guys as referring to both a group of males and a mixed-gender group. A bit like how in French, male pronouns take dominance in mixed groups.

As a teacher of mixed groups, I use it every day in this latter sense as I think it's appropriate. "Hello, guys." Is there a more appropriate word to use? Possibly "Hello, people."

The problem for me is when the group consists entirely of females, in which case I usually say "Hello, girls", but this doesn't sound quite right if the women are older than me. One female colleague uses guys in this situation, too.

In any case, guys is appropriate enough for my liking on this forum.

 

[GoesStation]

My English teachers often said something like "Hello, guys. How are you?" at the beginning of a lesson as a sort of a (friendly) greeting and there were more girls than boys in the classroom. Would you say that it's not a very appropriate way to address students?

No, it's fine. It's just that, as jutfrank mentions in post #10, guy can mean "male person" or, in some contexts, just "person". When I see it in a forum post I tend to feel the "male person" meaning. Perhaps a younger person than I would not.

 

[jutfrank]

When I see it in a forum post I tend to feel the "male person" meaning. Perhaps a younger person than I would not.

Yes, I think this is likely an age thing. The female colleague I spoke of who uses guys for groups of girls is significantly younger than me.

 

[andrewg927]

I wouldn't be surprised if the usage of "guys" is shifting towards gender-neutrality. However, I remember a very telling exchange on the subject that I read somewhere. An interviewer was asking a young woman whether "guy" was a masculine term. She said it wasn't, particularly, saying something like "girls use guys​ for each other all the time!" She rather weakened her position when she followed that up by saying "Guys do it, too!"

There's more. Some people have started using "dude" to address women and some women seem to enjoy it. However, since its usage is not widespread yet, I would warn against any students on here from using "dude" that way. One exception: you know for certain that the person you are addressing has no problem with it or even prefer it.