# Question for men: Which noun do you prefer to be designated by?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-men-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636106>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 28, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-men-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636106 "2012-09-28T04:11:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-men-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636106/1 "2012-09-28T04:11:11Z")

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If you had to be referred to with a noun that specified your gender as an adult man (if you’re not adult yet, answer as if you were), how would you like to be designated?

The option “a male” here refers only to the word as a noun, not an adjective: the noun pluralized as “males.”

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**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-men-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636106/2 "2012-09-28T04:20:10Z")

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I selected most of them.

I left off “boy” and “lad” because I felt like they are usually reserved for adolescents. I left off “gent” because it is just so far from the common vernacular in this region, I’m pretty sure the whole room would stop and leer at someone who referred to somebody as a “gent”. Bloke just sounds kind of dismissive to me… Like it describes someone who may be of sub-par intelligence.

I could imagine pretty common occurrences for the rest of them… (yes, even “cat”).

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**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-men-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636106/3 "2012-09-28T04:29:03Z")

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I prefer “drink of water,” as in “Who’s that tall drink of water there?”

So far I have yet to be referred to as a drink of water, tall or otherwise, but you only asked what I prefer.

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**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-men-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636106/4 "2012-09-28T04:33:49Z")

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There is no “male” choice here in the poll, but your OP suggests their should be. Time for a redux?

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-men-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636106/5 "2012-09-28T04:51:04Z")

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whoops.  
yeah.

Mods, can we close this one for a do-over?

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**Author:** ![qualityleashdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/9f8e36/32.png) [@qualityleashdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qualityleashdog)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-men-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636106/6 "2012-09-28T04:56:49Z")

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Males? Makes us sound like breeding stock. No Ma’am, I am not a breeder, nor shall I ever be. Is that really what you would want to be called?

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-men-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636106/7 "2012-09-28T05:17:07Z")

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Oh, I didn’t realize this was multiple choice. I picked “guy.”