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On walkways around Penn's campus, I'm hearing bro more and more often. Especially common, or at least especially striking, is a monosyllabic response meaning something like "You're kidding!"
A: So then they [blah blah]…
B: Bro!
…which I'm hearing as often among groups of female students as male students (though I admit that the added surprisal in that context might leave me with a false estimate of frequency).
More traditional vocative uses — "See ya later, bro" — are also common among all-female student groups.
No students seem to be using sis, even among sorority members.
See also "Gender-neutral 'bro'", 9/26/2020, and "Brose", 3/25/2025
April 15, 2026 @ 6:31 pm
· Filed by Mark Liberman under Slang, Sociolinguistics
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