A defense of Y'all

[linniec]

The word Y'all, a collective pronoun, is perfect grammer.

Y'all is a contraction of You all, much as the word can't is a contraction
of can not.

Y'all is used either:
1. in referring to two or more people, one of whom is addressed.
2. addressing two or more people.

Y'all is plural you. People in the southern United States do not, as is sometimes believed, use y'all to mean both the singular and plural you. Sometimes a non-southerner, upon hearing a southerner saying Y'all when speaking to only one person, mistakenly thinks that the word y'all is a substitution for the singular you. It is not.

A single person may only be addressed as y'all if other persons are implied.
Thus:
"Did y'all have dinner yet?" [which refers to you and others]is correct.

"Y'all have a stain on your shirt shaped like road kill" is not.

"I want y'all to be an absolute dictator" is wrong.
"I want y'all to win this bloody sectarian conflict."[which refers to you
and others] is correct.

Y'all has its possessive, y'all's

Confusion comes from dialectical redundancies such as "All Y'all,"
"All y'all's"or "each of y'all" . I, a Southerner, am guilty of using these.


Of course, like any other word, the word Y'all can be used incorrectly.
No self-respecting Southerner would ever use it as a singular pronoun. We have no control over it once it escapes from us.


Now, do y'all understand?
[which, of course, refers to the present reader and others who may read this.]


Linnie
(Besides, It's my favorite contraction)

[sweetspirit]

Thank You very much from another southerner who uses All the southern contractions. I surely appreciate it!

[LIZARD]

Great explanation, Linnie! :D

I am a military brat who spent age 12 through age 28 living in the south (SC, VA), and now I'm in New England. I am constantly trying to make people up here understand this, but it's amazing how many get confused. Oh, well...You (sing. or plural) do what you can do, and if y'all can't grasp it, we wash our hands of it. ;)


LIZARD, who thinks everybody sounds funny! :D

[WanderingScholar]

Hahahahahaaa..I love this post..Texas born and raised here, so Y'all is as natural to me as breathing..

[BEM]

Y'all is sweet.

How about YOUS....? YOUSE GUYS......?

Irish origin I think?

Pops up in the US in many places. Makes up for the lack of a plural YOU in English, so an innovative improvement. Still sounds funny though............

Danish singular: du, dig, De, Dem. plural: I, Jer, De, Dem....
English equiv.: you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you.
Less to remember, but can be irritating when you want to distinguish.

Y'all are very sweet.

birte

[AllUpInMyHead]

There's also the ubiquitous "Yunz" (pronounced "Yinz"), seen roughly in a line from Youngstown, Ohio through Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (the home of Yunz) all the way across to Baltimore, Maryland.

As for me, I'm a Southerner... y'all better get used to it.

[michael178]

most of the grammar we learned in school came from a few centuries ago, when they tried to impose latin grammar onto english, and it doesn't really work well, languages are like living things, they change and evolve all the time. And y'all is an example of that.

[BEM]

It is I. It was I. Not I.

Correct, but we all say: i'ts me. It was me. Not me??

And the silly law against split whaddayacall'ems.........

[lor]

Do you like BrainTalk? Youse guys know what I mean? It's that thingy on the computer, the whatchamacallit. Yall come back now hear, to visit Ellie May Clampet too (do yall remember that one?)

[Nana4&cntn]

When I was in the USAF I was stationed in TX, LA, SC, and GA, I also married a southerner, so y'all has been in my vocabulary for a long time. This is much to my mom's chagrin. I was born and raised in California. She is finally fetting over it.

Just my 2 cents
Kathy

[Ponyguy]

After spending a good portion of my younger life in the Navy, sailing the seas, I've come to think that a Y'all was one of these:

http://www.sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk/uploads/87/1main_shot.jpg

At least that's what we called one of these boats...

Whateverrr... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/ponyguy/Shrug.gif


Much love and
Regards from,