Peter

Tickybox!

I grew out of 'boy' a decade or so ago, but would still hesitate to call myself 'man'; not so much due to a genuine doubt that I'm 'properly' grown up, more just because for most of my life 'man' has been a word for people in the generation above me.

Fortunately, of course, modern English is equipped with in-between words such as 'bloke' which don't carry a particular connotation of either maturity or the lack thereof. But I think I wouldn't even use those spontaneously; in contexts where any of these words might be appropriate I tend to use 'person' (e.g. I'm the kind of person who ...).

I suppose if gender was directly relevant to whatever point I was making, I'd go for 'man' before 'boy', and if somebody else called me 'man' I'd feel only a slight incongruity easily suppressed whereas 'boy' would give me worse cognitive dissonance. So I can't quite justify refusing to vote. But none the less, tickybox.

Depends whether it's singular or plural. I don't mind at all being one of a group of "boys" in contexts like "what do the boys think?".

I don't think I'd mind a third-party reference to myself; e.g. somebody asking "who was that boy you were with?". Referring to me directly as a "boy" however would be a bit odd, but whether or not it was offensive would depend on intent, it could be demeaning or it could just be jokey.

I can't think of any time where being referred to as a man would trouble me.

I wouldn't use "boy" of grown men, so much prefer not to use "girl" of grown women, and don't like other people calling me girl. I'd prefer it if other people didn't call grown women girls either. Except possibly when referring to your own children.

Technically I will accept people referring to me as girl though: I don't call people out for it. Notably I haven't told Mike not to call me "My girl" in affection. So, I could have ticked pretty much all of the bottom half of your second question :)

I'd prefer 'person' to all the gendered options. (I'll make an exception when I'm in a room with mostly men, and someone tried to identify me as the short blonde woman, where woman would be an important identifier.)

I quite dislike calling nominally grown-up people 'boys' and 'girls'. I may still do it - it's quite a common thing to do in our society, so I've probably picked up the habit, though I'm trying to train myself out of it. While I may not feel properly grown-up, I *am* an adult, and I feel that adults are not 'boys and girls'.

I have a female body and a non-gendered brain. I prefer to stay as far as possible from 'girl' and 'woman' as they both come with social baggage which doesn't fit me.