Is addressing a guy as "guy" rude?
I think Kris' comment is correct in saying that 'guy' as a "term of address" is not polite.
There is a lot of subtle nuance with terms of address. For example, "lady" is a term of respect, and it's perfectly fine to say someone is a lady, but as a term of address, e.g. "Lady, there's nothing I can do about it." it comes across as impolite, a sort of passive-aggressive use of the term of respect, turning it into one of contempt.
"Guy, can you help me out?" has a sense of condescension, because a "guy" (and similarly "fellow") is almost by definition anonymous. It implies that "I don't know who you are, and I don't care who you are, you are just a guy, and thus I'd rather not deal with you if I could avoid it, but I can't, so..."
Even "dude" isn't as grating to me as "guy". Maybe this is because "dude" is so informal that it dispenses with all pretense of politeness, and both parties will understand that. Also, it is not as anonymous as "guy". You could address your friend, who of course you know by name, as "dude" -- "Hey dude, long time no see!", and the same goes for buddy, pal, etc. But if someone said to me "Hey, guy, long time no see!" I would immediately suspect that he has forgotten my name and is trying to cover it up.
"Hey, can you help me out?" is enough. Adding "guy" isn't really rude; it's mostly just weird. People just don't use it for direct address for some reason. Here are some thing people do use commonly:
"Hey, you..." (Probably rude, definitely at least curt)
"Hey, mister..." (Just a bit old-fashioned)
"Excuse me, sir..." (Formal and polite. "Sir" is more common in the southern US.)
"Excuse me..." (Still polite, but less formal)
"Pardon me..." (Pretty much interchangeable with "excuse me")
"Hey..." (Ranges from informal to rude, depending on tone of voice)
"Hey man..." (Familiar or aggressive, depending on how you say it)
"Hey, bro..." (More familiar)
It is now sort of neutral informal used to refer to:
(Informal): A man; a fellow
a man or youth
Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Guy
The following may help understand the evolution of the term:
What is the origin of "guy"?
Now here's an interesting question, and one with a special resonance for me (aside from the fact that I am quite a guy myself, of course). Way back in my eighth grade English class, our teacher, annoyed at our constant vague references to "this guy" and "that other guy," announced that if any of us knew the true meaning of "guy," we'd never use the word. We all, of course, immediately decided that there must be some secret salacious meaning to the word, and spent the rest of the term snickering at every "guy" we heard.
What our teacher meant, however, was that although Americans use "guy" to mean just "fellow" or "chap," to call someone a "guy" in Britain was, at one point, equivalent to labeling him "grotesque" or "weird-looking." And we had no idea that "guy" was an eponym, a word formed from the name of a real person.
The person in the case of "guy" was the infamous Guy Fawkes, ringleader of the Gunpowder Plot. In 1605, Fawkes and his co-conspirators concealed 36 barrels of gunpowder beneath the House of Lords, their goal being to blow King James I and the entire Parliament skyward. The plot was foiled, Fawkes and most of his pals were captured and executed, and November 5, the day of the planned Big Boom, became known as Guy Fawkes Day in England.
Guy Fawkes Day eventually became the British equivalent of the American Halloween, with effigies of Fawkes being burned in the streets or carried door to door by children begging for pennies. These grotesque effigies became known as "guys," and by 1836, "guy" was being used in Britain as slang for anyone exhibiting bizarre dress or behavior.
- In America, however, the story of the Gunpowder Plot was not well known, and by the mid-19th century we were using the British "guy" to simply mean "a man." By the early 20th century, our "regular fellow" usage had percolated back to Britain, and "guy" no longer means "weirdo" in the U.K.
Source:http://www.word-detective.com/091400.html
I know this is an old thread but a friend and I was having this discussion today. I thought it would be OK to call someone you didn't know, like for instance a bartender or equivalent "hey guy" or just simply "guy".
I had heard it a in a tv show, King of queens actually. I found one of the episode scripts here:
http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=the-king-of-queens&episode=s06e01
First time a friend says it to another friend and the second time Doug says it to a gas station clerk.
Could it maybe be more acceptable in let's say New York than a other state?
Maybe it's because I'm not native English but Danish, but I don't think it sounds that bad or even condescending.
Anyway that's my take on it!