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In Defense of Y'All

texasmonthly.com

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Re: In Defense of Y'All

#261

Post by shagie »

zdragnar wrote: post #207
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We also have that in some parts of Canada, rural & northern Ontario especially.

Rural Wisconsin too, though mostly the older generations.

The Dictionary of American Regional English (I first heard about it in A Way With Words - https://waywordradio.org/johnny-on-the-spot/ )

https://www.daredictionary.com/search?q=yous&searchBtn=

While I don't have a subscription to it (I haven't justified $50/year for that to myself) you will see that "youse" comes up with an "explore more" for Great Lakes, North Midland, and Northeast and "youse-all" shows up as Middle Atlantic.

Re: In Defense of Y'All

#263

Post by shagie »

richardfontana wrote: post #140
gregw2 wrote: post #11

I tease non-Texans that Texan English is actually superior to normal American English because it supports second-person plural via "Y'all" exactly as mentioned in this article... "you guys" is, to some ears, sexist, and "youse guys" (a New York-ism) is a little too old-school Italian. English lost its second person plural when we switched from Thou (second person singular formal + Thee=second person singular informal…

I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone use "youse guys", but "youse" without "guys" is indeed a now-archaic New Yorkism. However, it doesn't have any particular connection to Italian-American New York other than the fact that "youse" was a native New York dialect formulation that US-born children of Italian immigrants, along with many other ethnic groups, adopted naturally. I understand that "youse" is prevalent in a nu…

Linked in another comment... The Dictionary of Regional American English https://www.daredictionary.com/search?q=yous&searchBtn=

Re: In Defense of Y'All

#264

Post by [deleted] »

fat_cantor wrote: post #209
yCombLinks wrote: post #153

Y'all gives way to my favorite word, Y'all'd've (You all would have). It it fun to say and wraps up so many grammatical concepts into a neat package. Example usage "It's too bad Y'all didn't come to the party, Y'all'd've had fun"

Never heard anyone pronounce the v in that one, it's always Y'all'd'a, as distinguished from y'all'odda (you all ought to). Similarly we have y'ontu? (do you want to?). Jeff Foxworthy has a bunch of these examples

[deleted]

Re: In Defense of Y'All

#265

Post by spondylosaurus »

cpburns2009 wrote: post #230
parpfish wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a native midwesterner, I get more annoyed and defensive than I should when people complain that “you guys” isnt gender neutral. Where I come from, everyone is “a guy”. It can mean “male person”, but that’s only if you use it in specific contexts that brings up gender (like saying “guys and gals”).

I don't think people outside the midwest understand just how ubiquitous "you guys" is here. After a previous time this discussion occurred on HN, I had to chuckle to myself when I heard my sister address a group of little girls as "you guys". It's our version of "y'all".

Midwest? I thought it was just a West Coast thing! (Also extremely ubiquitous in SoCal.)

Re: In Defense of Y'All

#266

Post by troyvit »

cpburns2009 wrote: post #230
parpfish wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a native midwesterner, I get more annoyed and defensive than I should when people complain that “you guys” isnt gender neutral. Where I come from, everyone is “a guy”. It can mean “male person”, but that’s only if you use it in specific contexts that brings up gender (like saying “guys and gals”).

I don't think people outside the midwest understand just how ubiquitous "you guys" is here. After a previous time this discussion occurred on HN, I had to chuckle to myself when I heard my sister address a group of little girls as "you guys". It's our version of "y'all".

Even as far west as Colorado we used it the same way when I was young. Then I got a job at an NYC company and the gendered-ness of it was frowned upon. I actually switched to "ya'll" and it worked great. All the New Yorkers just thought that's how Coloradoans talk. So, thanks Texas.

Totally unrelated but this Blaze Foley song talks specifically about getting back to a place "where the people say ya'll." It's beautiful:

https://blazefoley.bandcamp.com/track/clay-pigeons

Re: In Defense of Y'All

#267

Post by troyvit »

HelloMcFly wrote: post #237
gregw2 wrote: post #11

I tease non-Texans that Texan English is actually superior to normal American English because it supports second-person plural via "Y'all" exactly as mentioned in this article... "you guys" is, to some ears, sexist, and "youse guys" (a New York-ism) is a little too old-school Italian. English lost its second person plural when we switched from Thou (second person singular formal + Thee=second person singular informal…

I think it's a bit of a stretch to say "y'all" somehow belongs to Texas, it's roots are almost certainly in other areas of the South and Appalachia where it is still used just as frequently as it is in modern-day Texas.

My friend from North Carolina gave me a t-shirt that's just an outline of the state, and "Ya'll" on the front. So I think you're right.

Re: In Defense of Y'All

#268

Post by brrrrrm »

"y'all" a particularly popular term in NYC (I use it frequently and have lived in NYC most of my life) - so it's kinda bizarre to see "texas monthly" responding to "new york times" as if there is any cultural conflict beyond some random linguist's op-ed.

there was a heatmap published in the past (seemingly only saved by paywalled news organizations) that showed the prevalence of "y'all" in different areas.

Re: In Defense of Y'All

#269

Post by seandoe »

fat_cantor wrote: post #209
yCombLinks wrote: post #153

Y'all gives way to my favorite word, Y'all'd've (You all would have). It it fun to say and wraps up so many grammatical concepts into a neat package. Example usage "It's too bad Y'all didn't come to the party, Y'all'd've had fun"

Never heard anyone pronounce the v in that one, it's always Y'all'd'a, as distinguished from y'all'odda (you all ought to). Similarly we have y'ontu? (do you want to?). Jeff Foxworthy has a bunch of these examples

Widjadidja?

Re: In Defense of Y'All

#270

Post by otterley »

shemtay wrote: post #260
gregw2 wrote: post #11

I tease non-Texans that Texan English is actually superior to normal American English because it supports second-person plural via "Y'all" exactly as mentioned in this article... "you guys" is, to some ears, sexist, and "youse guys" (a New York-ism) is a little too old-school Italian. English lost its second person plural when we switched from Thou (second person singular formal + Thee=second person singular informal…

Thou and Thee are nominative and objective cases. Same for You and Ye. The formality/informality distinction is between You/Ye and Thou/Thee. Plural 2nd person used to formally address a single individual came to English from French, thanks to the Norman Conquest. French, I think, inherited it from Latin, and the custom of addressing the emperor with the plural. After a while it became rude to address people with the…

In response, Prof. John Dyer recently created the "Y'all" version of the Bible: https://yallversion.com/
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