[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Apache

My father was in the military, and I grew up all over the place. My mother was from Northwestern Illinois, and we used to visit whenever possible. I would hang out with my cousins and their friends. The groups were usually a mixture of boys and girls. I thought it was strange that they would always use the term guys when referring to everyone in the group.
Apache

I didn't know the usage went back that far.

I do think that there are a lot of regional usages that are strange and confusing to people from elsewhere.