I would walk through fire for the women of DU, my wife, my daughter, my mother, every woman I know.

[Lucky Luciano]

51. Actually I am not sure about that.

I have never referred to a 20-something guy as a "man." I always thought of them as "guys" or "dudes" - I would even say, "Yeah that kid is..." If I were to say, "I was talking to this man at the party..." when in fact it was just some 20 year old dude, it would seem out of place or weirdly formal. If a male looks like the age at which he has kids and a career, then I think that is when I say "man," though I don't think there is a real rule to it. Kids/real career are what make someone serious enough to be "man" or "sir." The carefree youth has been fully extracted by then. All that said, yeah - I never call them boys.

Similarly, I never thought of a 20 something female as a "woman" so much either for much the same reason. I have referred to 20 something females as girls many times. What is the equivalent of "dude" for females? The word "kid" only works on guys I think of that age. A female in her late 20s or 30s - yeah, I pretty much always say "woman."