guy - non-animate things?

Guest   Wed May 28, 2008 11:51 pm GMT
Can 'guy' be used to refer to non-animate things? All of my professors refer to things as 'guys' but I've never head anyone else say it. For example, the professor writes an equation and says 'this guy here is used for calculating...' or pointing to a piece of equipment 'we used this guy to measure the gravitational field....',,, etcetera. Is this normal or is it scientist slang? If it is scientist slang, is it widespread?
Guest   Thu May 29, 2008 12:48 am GMT
LOL. I had a professor who said the same thing. I thought it was because he was Russian. I didn't know other professors did it.
Skippy   Thu May 29, 2008 12:49 am GMT
This is the same usage of "guy" as one would refer to their pet. It's not so much typical usage as it is ironic and is not used frequently.
Guest   Thu May 29, 2008 1:08 am GMT
It is seriously like an epidemic in the science department. I've heard it said by computer scientisits, mathematicians and physicists. But never anyone outside the science department... strange to say the least!

I didn't know there was profession related slang , as opposed to jargon...
Bill in Los Angeles   Thu May 29, 2008 11:38 pm GMT
I don't use it but I've heard others use "guy" to refer to inanimate objects from time to time and like the other posters, it seems to be mroe prevalent in the science community.

That being said, if a person who's a non-native speaker of English uses it, I think it will reflect positively on the speaker because it shows a good understanding of our use of slang or irony.