Only a true Texan can tell you the difference between "y'all" and "all y'all".
"y'all'd've"
"y'all'dn't've"
In Defense of Y'All
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Re: In Defense of Y'All
#72I 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…
> "you guys" is sexist is it though?
Maybe OP meant gendered?
As ‘guy’ is normally a male.
But sexist would imply that it degrades either women or men, which I don’t think it does in this case?
Re: In Defense of Y'All
#73Re: In Defense of Y'All
#74The new second person plural is "chat". I can't decide if I'm making a joke or not by saying that.
Is it second person though? It feels like most of the times I've heard it in person, outside of a real livestream, it's sort of been for asking a question into the aether as emphasis.
"Chat, are you seeing this?" to emphasize something stupid they're seeing. It's not really spoken TO the person doing the stupid thing, it's spoken to this imaginary crowd to emphasize that what the other person is doing is obviously stupid.
I guess it sort of depends on who you imagine in the conversation. If it was actually directed at a real twitch stream chat, it would be second person. So not sure how to square that circle.
Re: In Defense of Y'All
#75Midwesterner here - I use y'all all the time and nobody says anything about it. I live in an area where "yunz" is more popular (not quite yins) and I just hate the sound of that word. So y'all it is!
Re: In Defense of Y'All
#76Y'all forever. One of the few southern mannerisms I intentionally don't drop as a lapsed southerner in California. As an aside, I find it strange how many aspects of "the south" are labeled as "Texan" outside the south. I lived and visited all over the Deep South and y'all was standard vernacular pretty much everywhere. I'm not saying Texans don't say y'all, but they definitely don't have any unique claim to using it…
As a native Texan myself, "y'all" is one I've always hated, from my earliest youth. It just seemed excessively hokey and hayseed.
I unapologetically, unironically use "howdy", "a piece", "a ways", "over yonder", "get to goin'", and "fixin' to". But "y'all" is a bridge too far.
Re: In Defense of Y'All
#77omae-tachi
Re: In Defense of Y'All
#78> A New York Times columnist says it’s “much too slangy, regional or what you might even call ethnic to ever gain universal acceptance.” We couldn’t disagree more.
NYT columnist is the definition of “yankee with a stick up their ass.” It’s possible to agree with them on politics and recognize they’re wet blankets.
Re: In Defense of Y'All
#79Only a true Texan can tell you the difference between "y'all" and "all y'all".
Some sets have a canonical partition. If you're referring to a set of birds or a set of fish, then the correct usage is y'all because those sets canonically partition into themselves. But if you're referring to a set of birds and fish together, then the usage is "all y'all" because the canonical partition yields more than one subset (one containing birds, and one containing fish). The distinction helps differentiate…
It means "everyone with no exceptions".
All y'all need to come to my BBQ tomorrow. I can't eat 50 pounds of brisket by myself.
Re: In Defense of Y'All
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some sets have a canonical partition. If you're referring to a set of birds or a set of fish, then the correct usage is y'all because those sets canonically partition into themselves. But if you're referring to a set of birds and fish together, then the usage is "all y'all" because the canonical partition yields more than one subset (one containing birds, and one containing fish). The distinction helps differentiate…
Having never given much thought to it, your analysis rings true to my native Texan ears. There's another usage that comes to mind, though. One might argue that "y'all" borders on a second person plural inclusive of the speaker whereas "all y'all" marks a distinction between the speaker and the others. For instance, a peeved person would be more likely to say, "All y'all can kiss my ass," as opposed to, "Y'all can kis…
Hmm, interesting. I'm not from Texas but I have family who is. I'll listen for this one also.
I'm under the impression that the double negative is a relatively modern thing (early 1800's). Previously, repetition of the negative just reinforced it, like:
> I ain't never put syrup on my bacon on purpose
...just double-enphasized the negative, rather than letting the second negative negate the first. This feels similar except instead of stacking negations you're stacking separations.