"Y'all" is a highly intelligent contribution to the English language, which underscores the folly of having deprecated "thou". English has plurals engrained in

"Y'all" is a highly intelligent contribution to the English language, which underscores the folly of having deprecated "thou". English has plurals engrained in its DNA; it resists changes that make it a plural-free language. Only a few words lack plural expression, like the words fish and sheep, or words that are inherently plural like pants, scissors or people. Since thou has become severely archaic, invoked only in religious contexts or ironic contexts parodying religious speech, you has become a plural-free word like fish. And that don't sit well with them Texans and other such folk.