gals

1. According to my dictionary, the word "bannock" is also used in Canada and New England.
2. Does anyone around here use the words laddie or lassie anymore?

The deal on "dude":

Girls can call each other "dude" and, obviously, can refer to guys as "dudes," but one usually doesn't refer to a girl as "dude." I admit I do use the term with friends and close acquaintances, but I don't address females with "dude,...." It just doesn't fit.

Good evening,

I enjoyed my bannock (actually I didnae have one as we havenae got any right now! . ..I had a piece of chocky cake instead...naughty but nice).

Ok...you asked Jordi! A bannock is a large(ish) sort of unsweetened cake made from oatmeal, in a round shape or rectangular according to your fancy, and sort of flattened then baked on a griddle. They are nice eaten still warm and with butter or, like me, with some jam spread on them. I like them for breakfast sometimes, with a wee bit of marmalade spread on them. The best marmalade (jam made from oranges) is made in Dundee. The best bannocks come from the Borders (the area of southern Scotland betwen Edinburgh and the English border..especially round a town called Selkirk.

BTW: I am getting paid by the Scottish Tourist Board for this wee bit of an advertising plug....

Och, Random, I do ken....first of all, could your Sassenach throat manage the "ch" sound? Balloch.....Auchtermuchty...Ballachulish....?
If yes, then we'll begin. If no....here endeth the first lesson. ;-)

Yes, Damian, I can pronounce the "ch" sound (including the one at the end of "Sassenach") without any conscious effort. I have been pronouncing "loch" and "Bach" the correct way for years.

"Gal" is the female equivalent of "guy". You can't call one girl a "guy".

I thought so, too. But I've actually heard a young woman, speaking to other young women, say, "Are you guys ready?". And I'm told it's not that uncommon. "Guy" is becoming, at least in some contexts, gender-neutral.

These days it's common for a male to address a group of females as "you guys" if he is speaking to them casually. It's just that one never refers to a group of women as "those guys over there." As CalifJim said, "you guys" has become somewhat 'gender-neutral.'

Many a girl would call herself a guy and it's normal for men to addressing a crowd of girls as "guys" but I'd say it'd sound wierd for me if they were addressed as "dudes"