The answer, it turns out, is that Uncle Sam had a much older and classier sister named Columbia, the feminine historic personification of the United States of America, who has since the 1920s largely fallen out of view.

Atlantic crossing The Solutrean hypothesis posits that a population derived from the Solutrean culture of Western Europe may have crossed the North Atlantic Ocean along the edge of pack ice that extended from the Atlantic coast of France to North America during the Last Glacial Maximum, before 17 kya.

Bering Land Bridge

Jennifer Joseph

Jenny Joseph

The origin of the term Uncle Sam, though disputed, is usually associated with a businessman from Troy, New York, Samuel Wilson, known affectionately as “Uncle Sam” Wilson. The barrels of beef that he supplied the army during the War of 1812 were stamped “U.S.” to indicate government property.

The word lady is a term of respect for a girl or woman, the equivalent of gentleman. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman.

If it’s just a group of girls you can say “you girls” or “you ladies” or whatever you prefer, but guys is acceptable. You cannot use “guys” generally to refer to women in all situations. For example, if you were to say “I went out to dinner with some guys from work” I would assume that it was a group of all men.

Just because your female friends or your kids are fine being addressed as “guys”, doesn’t mean your women colleagues will appreciate it. Similarly, if you know one or two colleagues well enough to be sure they’re fine with the phrase “guys,” it’s probably fine to use the phrase, Ms Annese says.