student asking question

What does the word "men" indicate? Does it refer to "mankind"? Or a "male"? Since they have the same spelling and pronunciation, it's hard to tell the difference!

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Good question! The first time Maui says, "hero of men" he refers to all "mankind". Then suddenly, he changes his response and says "men and women" as he's afraid that he would be excluding "women" if he said only "men". When he says this, the meaning of "hero of men" changes to only "males". Finally, to be even more inclusive, he says "hero of all". This is interesting to note because it shows how language can change over time and has different nuances. In the past, people didn't think twice when using the word "men" to refer to "mankind". But now, there is an awareness that language can exclude people. For example, people are now using the phrase "hey, guys" less as an informal way to greet a group of people because the word "guys" can be considered exclusive. Ex: Man has found a way to ruin the planet. => humankind Ex: All the men I know treat me well. => males Ex: Hey guys! = Hey, y'all! = Hey, everyone!

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