(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

	mindset 2008-11-25 08:56 pm UTC (link)
	I love "y'all". Foreign language grammar made me realize there is a need for the second person plural, and I don't care how it looks with where I live. (Is there a word that means "anachronistic", only with location, not time?) I'm not sure what the difference is between "y'all" and "all y'all" is, though. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	issendai 2008-11-25 09:06 pm UTC (link)
	Hee! I use it all the time, and I'm a Yank. (Note to non-Americans: In the U.S., a Yank is a northerner.) My limited sense of Southern dialect suggests that "all y'all" is a) rarer than non-Southerners think and b) more inclusive. Kind of like the difference between the Northern "If you [addressing a group] want to come over..." and "If all of you want to come over..." (Reply to this)(Parent)

keri
2008-11-25 11:18 pm UTC (link)

I think

issendai got it, but 'all y'all' isn't exactly rare, it's just not used the way I always seem to hear it on tv or when people are affecting a southern accent, unless it's different in my neck of the woods:

Y'all is used when addressing a group of people (2 or more). "How're y'all doing these days?" "Are y'all going anywhere for the holidays?"

All y'all is used when speaking to one person but referring to many. "Are all y'all going to the fair, or just you?" The 'many' can be present, but they needn't be.

All y'all can also be used when addressing a particularly large group. I'd say more than you can count with a quick glance - maybe 6+? It's analogous to "all of you," I suppose. I've never heard it refer to less than 5 people unless it's a case of speaking to one with the others not present, or unless it's an outsider.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	artimusdin 2008-11-25 11:30 pm UTC (link)
	Yes, Ah do behleeve this is ah nahce descriptiuhn. =) Mah li'le Suthun Hahrt is just ahll ahfluttah. ~~... twitch Note to self: Never do that again.~~ (Reply to this)(Parent)

puipui
2008-11-26 01:30 am UTC (link)

You know, I've never really noticed that kind of usage before with "all y'all". Although, to be fair, I don't actually live in the South, I just have mostly Southern relatives, and a lot of them also use "y'ens" or "you'ens" in place of "y'all", and also I haven't really been paying attention.

In my experience, though, "all y'all" is basically "y'all" except with an intensifier, so it gets used when Grandma gets pissed off, like a sort of plural form of using your middle name. With younger members of the family, it's most frequently used with the word "fuck" as in "All y'all can just fuck off." And so forth. XD

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hallidae 2008-11-26 02:11 am UTC (link)
	I think whether one uses "all y'all" or "you'uns" can also be a matter of preference, since they can both fit about the same space. My grandmother uses the former, my grandfather used the latter. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	wankismyfandom 2008-11-26 03:43 am UTC (link)
	I've seen both the "big plural" use and the intensifier use. Either way, y'all and all y'all are perfectly useful and valid things to say. Ten bajillion times better than "youse guys." :P (Reply to this)(Parent)

	napalmnacey 2008-11-25 11:44 pm UTC (link)
	Here in Australia, we use "youse". "Hey youse guys!" Which is kinda funny, cause apparently there are areas of the US that use that word as well. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	misswitch 2008-11-25 11:54 pm UTC (link)
	"Youse guys" is huge in the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) area. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	napalmnacey 2008-11-26 12:04 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, I knew it was somewhere like that, I just couldn't remember the name. :) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	issendai 2008-11-26 03:44 am UTC (link)
	Out of curiosity, what was the nationality of the folks who founded that particular accent in Australia? I ask because certain languages seem to produce the same effect wherever they land--f'rinstance, there's a group of Italian-Americans in Louisiana who had no contact with New Yorkers, but their accent is almost indistinguishable from a New York accent. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	napalmnacey 2008-11-26 04:08 am UTC (link)
	Heh, I think it might have been the 'wogs' as the racist jerks here called them, the Italians, Greek, Macedonian and other Mediterranian places. A lot of bogans and okkas talk like that too, though, so I don't know the definite source. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	eilisliana 2008-11-25 11:55 pm UTC (link)
	Around here (Northern Illinois) y'all is singular and all y'all is plural. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	singe 2008-11-26 05:42 am UTC (link)
	Ah, in Georgia we'd never use 'ya'll' as singular. I so hate those Deliverance type shows that get that one little insignificant detail wrong. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	crickets 2008-11-27 05:21 am UTC (link)
	Thank you. That drives me nuts, too. It's like they just can't wait to use it, so they stick it in anywhere. Either that or a scriptwriter with a tin ear doesn't bother with researching details. Yes, it's a tiny detail, but ouch. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	singe 2008-11-27 10:58 pm UTC (link)
	Awww, Hillbilly Stu! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	naive_wanderer 2008-11-28 04:01 am UTC (link)
	What about my relatives in Pittsburgh who use "yins" as a second-person plural? Maybe it's just because I grew up with it, but it sounds better to me than "y'all," haha, even if it makes less sense. It took all of my willpower not to slip into using "y'all" when I moved down south. :P (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Read comments) -