hypothesis

in certain gender-neutral usages of usually-masculine terms, the apparent neutrality is not because they don’t refer to a male entity

but because the male entity in question is not visible on this plane of existence

hypothesis:

the Dude you call upon sometimes when you mutter a baffled “shit, dude”

the Man you similarly call upon with a frustrated “Aw, man”

the Boy you’re addressing when you groan an apprehensive “oh boy…”

None of them are the physically present humans who hear you say these words

But they are all faces of the same incorporeal god

Perhaps even the same one you address when you cry out “oh, god!”

we could have centuries of theological conflict over this

and perhaps also over whether this god has a feminine aspect, as well as the masculine and the divine

we could fight holy war over whether the Dude and the Man and the Boy and the God are of one and the same being with the “Girl” and “Bitch” to whom some of the same believers pray