my fellow Americans

former presidential speechwriter Peggy Noonan wrote just before the 2007 state of the union speech (in The Wall Street Journal): "Someone at just about this moment is suggesting changing the opening—'My fellow Americans'—to 'Fellow citizens.' And someone else is penciling in 'My brothers and sisters.' Down the hall someone is writing, 'Why don't we make it new, edgy—how about "Hey Dawg?"' Somewhere a speechwriter is screaming." Although "my fellow Americans" seems hallowed by familiarity and time, there are phrases that don't use the masculine "fellow": friends, neighbors, citizens; good people of America; brothers and sisters; my partners in democracy; women and men of America; compatriots. See also America/American.