[🇺🇸] As a man, how do you feel when another man calls you "hey man/man/my man"?

I hate buddy because it gives me the impression they’re talking to a child (which I technically am, but that’s besides the point), man is pretty much synonymous with dude/bro for me.

It's so common I don't think about it. No feelings one way or the other.

Assuming all of these are from a stranger: "Hey man" sounds completely neutral to me. "Hey dude" sounds kinda casual, but I wouldn't mind. "Hey bro" sounds like it's probably going to be aggressive. "Hey buddy" sounds like it's *definitely* going to be aggressive.

I personally don’t mind it. I think “buddy” feels like something you more often say to a child, so if someone calls me that, it can feel like they’re looking down on me (it’s context-dependent though). But what I like most is being called by my name. It makes me feel special somehow haha

I’m not a man but I’m chiming in anyway 😜 in Australia we call everyone mate- male or female but in reality the word is probably used more by men than women. Buddy would annoy the hell out of me. I could deal with “my man” (if I was a man) only if it was used with tongue in cheek.

Its the most casual greeting ever for friends or even anyone "Hey man" "What's up dude?"

There are contexts where it shouldn't be used, but *usually* "hey man" is acceptable as an attention -getter or greeting. 

"My man" sounds overly close, like a stranger is about to ask me for a favor. Unless they just saw me do something cool and are congratulating me. "Man" is fine. I would expect it most when somebody is trying to de-escalate a fight in a movie. "Hey, man, let's just all calm down, lemme buy a round, oh no a fight scene." "Buddy" is what I'd expect a stereotype of a Canadian to say.

Hey man = neutral Hey dude = also fine, even more casual Hey bro = instantly tense, probably don't like the person addressing me

I don’t like buddy, boss, or jefe. But for some reason, Man, guy, and fella are better. But my preference is: none of the above. Just talk to me.

I love it! It not only makes me FEEL like one, but I feel a BROTHERLY connection, especially when another guy says it to me. Or "bro," "dude," etc... that's why we say it! Lol. Conversely, I HAVE heard other girls say it to each other 😂 and to me, it's just...🤭 ...not good. More suitable and the opposite for them would be "sis" "gurl" "doll" etc...

After reading most all the comments here. I'm actually quite mixed in feelings (well... really disappointed) at HOW being called "man" FEELS NEUTRAL to them. 🤔 I suppose it becomes a cliché word to them. But what's even more weird is that some of you said "bro" and "dude" ALSO felt neutral. I don't know how that could possibly be... considering these are all MASCULINE pronouns/titles. Imagine we stopped using these masculine titles toward one another and now started using our names or other terms of endearment instead of those masculine titles. I wonder how different society would view bro, dude, and man afterward. 👀

"buddy" feels demeaning but all the rest are totally neutral.

I prefer, "Greetings, fellow human".

I also live in Southern California and I don’t really notice when people call me that, unless they do it in a way that strikes me as demeaning or insulting

Context is important because it can come off as overly familiar or impolite in some scenarios. In general though, for a casual conversation with a friend or something, I feel as if it's neutral. I have no strong feelings about it in any particular way. If it's being used by someone I don't know, it may be mildly irritating at worst.

It's mildly annoying if a stranger does it. There's a degree of implied familiarity that I'm not ready to allow. The same goes for bro, bruh, etc.

It's normal to use in the US. Until the late 80s, it was more common than "dude."

It’s about as neutral as can be

Pretty neutral. It's probably what I'd say to a stranger I'm an informal setting. I think this might be regional, but in my experience "buddy" is a diminutive. You would only call a child or someone you considered inferior buddy. But I have heard it used seemingly in a more friendly way, even in a professional environment.

I’ll sometimes use buddy with really close friends in an almost endearing way.

Do not care in the slightest and have never once thought about it. It's friendly. I know some people have an issue with 'buddy', however. This is because it's used with children and pets (mainly dogs), which is why it can sound condescending when used with people, however this is really case-to-case and I don't see a reason to believe that everyone using it has bad intentions.

I don’t mind it usually except in customer service situations. I worked at a grocery store in college and I really hated the dudebros that would come in and call me anything and everything except sir (context: I’m from the south and that’s a standard address for all adult male presenting strangers) It’s wildly informal and feels just kind of disrespectful as an employee. Like we’re not friends and I don’t know you from Adam okay, please don’t talk to me like we’ve known each other for years. I know it’s probably not meant impolitely, but it just feels weird given the power imbalance between customer service employees and customers. And tbh, I also wouldn’t really appreciate being addressed as bro/dude/man by strangers in any situation. A simple hey/excuse me/hi/sir (in my specific situation) would be much better. I know the rest of the country isn’t so much in on the ma’am/sir thing as we are in the south, but it’s just how we politely address adult strangers. Other words just feel rude and too familiar to use with someone I don’t know. Buddy/pal/etc and the other words that you might use with a child are of course pretty belittling and I would immediately dislike the person addressing me that way.

No feelings whatsoever so very neutral.

I grew up in California, so all variations of "man" and "dude" and "bro" or so normal to me that I barely notice them. What I don't like being called is "boss", it's awkward. 

Lots of people have their own mannerisms. It's not something I think about

I don't mind any of those. In fact I prefer to hearing any of them over "sir." That makes me feel old and it makes me feel like I'm not a person that they feel comfortable around.

I say it so I feel like it's fine.

It was the standard neutral masculine identifier when I was growing up. I neither like nor dislike it.

Hate buddy, but man is very common. I’ll also mention that using man tends to imply equal standing; I’d never call a work supervisor man in that way unless they used it first.

I'm neutral about it. It hardly registers to me. However, I've stopped using it as I work with and am friends with a ton of people who are various flavors of trans/genderqueer and I don't want to accidentally misgender someone. I've adopted the British "mate" instead.

I like it. It's friendly

Why would anybody be bothered by that?

You could be an adult and not use any of them. "You" or their actual name works every time. If you don't know the person well "man", "dude" or "bro" sounds like forced familiarity and is cringy as hell. It's death in a professional context. In my humble opinion.

I'd be unfazed

Since you're in LA you should start using "sup foo" a lot more lmao. What's up foo? Foo's out here asking for advice lmaoo Mad respect to my angeleno friends 

To me, "my man" in particular feels overly familiar when coming from a stranger - it gives me the impression that the speaker is some mixture of smarmy and sketchy.

I don’t think about it whatsoever

It comes from the Black community, as a reaction against the once-common practice of white people calling black men "boy." It made its way into the jazz/beatnik/hippie community in the 50s and 60s, and became part of the mainstream American vernacular in the 70s. It's somewhat obsolete, but I definitely still use it. When someone addresses me as "man," I take it as an informal sign of respect.

A man is a man. If you are a man, feeling unhappy is your personal choice. However, a bro is your brother and a dude is a camel's foreskin, so getting unhappy would at least follow some logic.