4 ms·

W'all have got y'all for plural you.

thechao 6mo ago
You, y'all (small close group), y'all all (larger, further group), and "all y'all" — Southeast Texas (coastal) dialect form that showed up about 25 yrs ago. I suspect it might've been there all along, but only became acceptable at that point? Another 100+ years, and this'll be some solid grammar.
- gibspaulding 6mo ago
  Don’t forget you’uns or yinz! I struggled with this when I was a school teacher. English lacks a good way to clarify you are addressing a group vs one person, which comes up a lot in a classroom. “Class, you…” is clunky, “You guys…” has obvious issues, and y’all or any other contraction is generally considered bad grammar. I generally went with y’all. Kids would laugh about it, but that seemed to help get their attention.
  - dfxm12 6mo ago
    Surely, you knew all of your students' names and if you were addressing one person, you could've used their name. Addressing the class as merely "class" seems adequate as well. I'm having a hard time thinking of a situation where you are forced to use "you" ambiguously.
    - madcaptenor 6mo ago
      What if you're addressing part of the class, though? Like "y'all in the back, you need to get back to your work".
      - dfxm12 6mo ago
        "You in the back" has the same level of specificity. Other options include (again) naming names or calling out a more specific location "You in the back row".
        madcaptenor 6mo ago
        No, because "you in the back" could refer to just one person in the back, instead of several. So "y'all in the back" is more specific. (Of course names are an option in this context.)
        dfxm12 6mo ago
        (Of course names are an option in this context.) Yes, this is a case where you aren't forced to use "you" ambiguously in that context. No, because "you in the back" could refer to just one person in the back, instead of several. If you meant to address one person, you'd have said that one person's name, instead of voluntarily introducing ambiguity to the situation. Context & body language also makes this obvious. If you meant one person, you'd be making eye contact with one person instead of a group of people, etc. Students also know if they're paying attention or not. "The back" is not a specific area.
    - teddyh 6mo ago
      “Now, chat, settle down.”
- AndrewKemendo 6mo ago
  That has to be more than 25 years I grew up in Houston saying all that in the 80s
  - pessimizer 6mo ago
    It's probably closer to 250 years than 25.
  - thechao 6mo ago
    Same here, frankly. I just didn't want to make an aggressive generalization that I couldn't support. I've got video of the usage from 2001.
madcaptenor 6mo ago
Before I moved to the South I (a non-Southerner) did not feel comfortable saying "y'all". But "you guys" seemed sexist. I have since spent a decade in the South and I have not picked up much of the dialect, but I definitely say "y'all" now. "W'all" would be nice to have. I guess it's not a thing because it sounds too much like the things that separate rooms.
- saltcured 6mo ago
  Have you yet progressed to y'all being singular and all y'all being plural?
  - madcaptenor 6mo ago
    No. As far as I can tell, singular "y'all", when it exists, is an implied plural. What you might hear as singular "y'all" is, say, when you go into a restaurant and say "do y'all have Coke?" to the server - that doesn't refer to just the server but to the restaurant as a whole. But I'm not a linguist and also I don't spend much time among people with heavier Southern dialect, so you shouldn't believe what I say.
    - pessimizer 6mo ago
      No, you've got it right. A lot of people trying to be cute and make southern language seem more alien than it is are over-"correcting." When southern people say y'all to one person, they're really addressing you and your family (even though you might be the only one there.) If I ask "how y'all doing?" I want to know how you and yours are doing.
      - macintux 6mo ago
        > If I ask "how y'all doing?" I want to know how you and yours are doing. I just want people to stop asking me how I'm doing if they don't care. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that "How's it going" is a greeting, not an interrogative, and I want that change undone forever.

You, y'all (small close group), y'all all (larger, further group), and "all y'all" — Southeast Texas (coastal) dialect form that showed up about 25 yrs ago. I suspect it might've been there all along, but only became acceptable at that point? Another 100+ years, and this'll be some solid grammar.

gibspaulding 6mo ago
Don’t forget you’uns or yinz! I struggled with this when I was a school teacher. English lacks a good way to clarify you are addressing a group vs one person, which comes up a lot in a classroom. “Class, you…” is clunky, “You guys…” has obvious issues, and y’all or any other contraction is generally considered bad grammar. I generally went with y’all. Kids would laugh about it, but that seemed to help get their attention.
- dfxm12 6mo ago
  Surely, you knew all of your students' names and if you were addressing one person, you could've used their name. Addressing the class as merely "class" seems adequate as well. I'm having a hard time thinking of a situation where you are forced to use "you" ambiguously.
  - madcaptenor 6mo ago
    What if you're addressing part of the class, though? Like "y'all in the back, you need to get back to your work".
    - dfxm12 6mo ago
      "You in the back" has the same level of specificity. Other options include (again) naming names or calling out a more specific location "You in the back row".
      - madcaptenor 6mo ago
        No, because "you in the back" could refer to just one person in the back, instead of several. So "y'all in the back" is more specific. (Of course names are an option in this context.)
        dfxm12 6mo ago
        (Of course names are an option in this context.) Yes, this is a case where you aren't forced to use "you" ambiguously in that context. No, because "you in the back" could refer to just one person in the back, instead of several. If you meant to address one person, you'd have said that one person's name, instead of voluntarily introducing ambiguity to the situation. Context & body language also makes this obvious. If you meant one person, you'd be making eye contact with one person instead of a group of people, etc. Students also know if they're paying attention or not. "The back" is not a specific area.
  - teddyh 6mo ago
    “Now, chat, settle down.”
AndrewKemendo 6mo ago
That has to be more than 25 years I grew up in Houston saying all that in the 80s
- pessimizer 6mo ago
  It's probably closer to 250 years than 25.
- thechao 6mo ago
  Same here, frankly. I just didn't want to make an aggressive generalization that I couldn't support. I've got video of the usage from 2001.

madcaptenor 6mo ago

Before I moved to the South I (a non-Southerner) did not feel comfortable saying "y'all". But "you guys" seemed sexist. I have since spent a decade in the South and I have not picked up much of the dialect, but I definitely say "y'all" now. "W'all" would be nice to have. I guess it's not a thing because it sounds too much like the things that separate rooms.

saltcured 6mo ago
Have you yet progressed to y'all being singular and all y'all being plural?
- madcaptenor 6mo ago
  No. As far as I can tell, singular "y'all", when it exists, is an implied plural. What you might hear as singular "y'all" is, say, when you go into a restaurant and say "do y'all have Coke?" to the server - that doesn't refer to just the server but to the restaurant as a whole. But I'm not a linguist and also I don't spend much time among people with heavier Southern dialect, so you shouldn't believe what I say.
  - pessimizer 6mo ago
    No, you've got it right. A lot of people trying to be cute and make southern language seem more alien than it is are over-"correcting." When southern people say y'all to one person, they're really addressing you and your family (even though you might be the only one there.) If I ask "how y'all doing?" I want to know how you and yours are doing.
    - macintux 6mo ago
      > If I ask "how y'all doing?" I want to know how you and yours are doing. I just want people to stop asking me how I'm doing if they don't care. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that "How's it going" is a greeting, not an interrogative, and I want that change undone forever.