Y'all should read this.

[travels_in_time]

This.1. It's PLURAL, dangit

Comments

[executrix]

If I were talking to, e.g., Lou, Jean, Bobby, and Matt, I might say "Are all of y'all goin' to the game?" in order to find out that, say, Lou and Bobby are going but Jean and Matt aren't.

And I absolutely consider "guy" to be a neuter noun, e.g., "Claire is our best Linux guy, but she's not very diplomatic"

[travels_in_time]

Yes, exactly. You might have a group, and there might be sub-groups within that group, and then you have to use "all of y'all" to specify who you mean!

My grandmother--who had over twenty grandchildren--used to address any grouping of us as "boys", even if there were only girls involved.

[hamsterwoman]

I find "y'all" to be very useful because the fact that standard English lacks a second person plural that's distinct from the singular is annoying -- Russian has that distinction, and that's what my brain is wired for, so it feels compelled to specify "you-singular" and "you-plural". I do use "you guys" a lot, too, but it feels a bit silly when everyone I'm addressing is female, so I'm likely to use "y'all" then. But I always feel a little weird about it, especially if I'm doing it with people who are actually from the South -- like I'm appropriating the regionalism, you know? But I'm really not, I'm just mapping a translation.

[aeron_lanart]

standard English lacks a second person plural that's distinct from the singular

Standard English does, yes but Scouse doesn't (aka the Liverpool accent if you didn't know). The pural of you is youse, though it often sounds more like 'yuz' or 'yiz' depending on what area of Liverpool you come from.

I don't say youse when typing, I'll use the eponymous you guys or you lot but if you heard me speak, it'd be there right left and centre. Apparently it's the fault of the Irish.

And I think it might also be in use in Australia, but I'm not sure of that.

[linda_joyce]

standard English lacks a second person plural that's distinct from the singular

Standard English does, yes but Scouse doesn't

I was about to say exactly the same thing about Wenglish, the dialect of the South Wales valleys I grew up speaking, we use yous with the s as a slightly hissed silabant. I put that down to the construction of Wenglish which is a mix of mostly English and some Welsh vocabulary with mostly Welsh grammar but it looks like it could be a general dialect way of pluralising you.

[aeron_lanart]

Maybe it's a Celt thing?

[sarahetc]

Absolutely it's plural!

And the apostrophe. Oh my. Every time I see "ya'll" I also get an urge to punch. How's that supposed to work? People say "Ya all"? Not likely.

Thanks for the link!

[travels_in_time]

Well, we probably DO say "ya all", but that's not how we write it. :D

[donutsweeper]

oh lordy, even me, who couldn't get more Northern, knows it's y'all. Like you said, otherwise it doesn't make sense.

[travels_in_time]

We'll forgive you for being Northern, as long as you use it properly. :D

[donutsweeper]

We'll forgive you for being Northern

*phew*

[travels_in_time]

We know that not everyone had the good luck to be born in the South. It's not your fault!

[phoenix64]

I not only know it's "y'all", I use it what seems to me a surprising amount considering I'm not southern, nor is my family. It just works. hamsterwoman put it very well.

Though I have little trouble with using "guys" as a non-gendered term.

[travels_in_time]

"Guys" does seem to have become fairly non-gendered. Which may present a problem when we need a term for a group of males who are too old to be "boys" and don't seem to have the maturity necessary yet to be "men". *ponders*