Hey linguistic dorks:
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Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith my Mom is from Southern Ontario and has said it all her life.
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Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith I use it IRL (PNW/western Canada), because it feels like a queer thing to me here. It's more gender-inclusive than "you guys."
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Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith
It's interesting (to me anyway) that users of singular 'they' have pointed to 'you' as an example of a pronoun with the same form for singular and plural, and 'y'all' is becoming more common as a plural 'you'. -
@ZachWeinersmith weirdly, when I lived in the South for school I didn't use "y'all" because it came off as ... unearned in a way
I only started using it later. And probably more online than IRL
part of that may well be because my IRL linguistic community in my current location understands "hey you guys?" to be genderfree whereas some of y'all will interrogate that assumption
@catmisgivings @ZachWeinersmith it's funny, people kept trying to tell me "you guys" was gender neutral all throughout the 20-teens
Not only did it make me feel excluded when I thought I was a woman, I still feel like I'm on the outside of it as something much closer to "guy."
I dunno, maybe it's because I grew up in a musical theater household (with Guys and Dolls)
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@ZachWeinersmith I use it IRL (PNW/western Canada), because it feels like a queer thing to me here. It's more gender-inclusive than "you guys."
@WizardOfDocs @ZachWeinersmith speaking as someone who feels less included in "you guys" than she used to be; hard agree
I picked up "y'all" when I lived briefly in Florida and never let it go because it's actually great.
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@mayintoronto It's funny--my wife is from Ohio and says folks as if it's precisely synonymous with people. That is, it's totally neutral. But for me, saying "folks" is strictly for non-professional contexts. Like I wouldn't say "folks who work in accounting."
@ZachWeinersmith I use y'all and folks on hoity-toity business professional stages. I refuse to let stigma hold us back from great gender-neutral words that's already in the collective vernacular.
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@ZachWeinersmith I use y'all and folks on hoity-toity business professional stages. I refuse to let stigma hold us back from great gender-neutral words that's already in the collective vernacular.
@mayintoronto @ZachWeinersmith If I remember correctly, Loony Tunes ended with "That's all Folks" which is a good enough recommendation of Folks for me.
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@WizardOfDocs @ZachWeinersmith speaking as someone who feels less included in "you guys" than she used to be; hard agree
I picked up "y'all" when I lived briefly in Florida and never let it go because it's actually great.
@brooke @ZachWeinersmith I did my linguistics undergrad in Pittsburgh, and briefly considered picking up "yinz" but decided it was too location-specific. If I'd stayed there, I definitely would have.
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Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith I hear it fairly commonly in Northern California, though usage seems to correlate with youth.
That said, I'm not a fan of it, preferring the heftier "you all" I picked up from my Kentucky-bred grandparents.
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Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith I live in Pittsburgh where the local vernacular calls for Yinz as the specific plural you, but I frequently use y'all thanks to some family from the South and the broader intelligibility outside Pittsburgh audiences.
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Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith I do find it easier to type y'all than to speak it. I think it's because it doesn't flow in the new england accent
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@brooke @ZachWeinersmith I did my linguistics undergrad in Pittsburgh, and briefly considered picking up "yinz" but decided it was too location-specific. If I'd stayed there, I definitely would have.
@WizardOfDocs @brooke @ZachWeinersmith I did my postdoc in Pittsburgh just before covid and barely heard "yinz" – but it is true I was mostly frequenting academics, who came from elsewhere. And maybe local want to spare me when they hear my French accent. But I did get the sense it was disappearing.
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Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith
Normal in North American dialects of English perhaps, definitely not very widespread elsewhere. -
@ZachWeinersmith I'm from Germany and have a strong second-person-singular-plural-distinction. You vs. y'all fits nicely when I want to make sure all are adressed. Also, feels better than "you guy" or smth.
@krono @ZachWeinersmith english had the same, it just got lost and coming back slowly now
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Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith I (Canadian) have intentionally adopted y'all to try to stamp out my use of "you guys" for mixed-gender groups. But it's easier to be intentional about that in writing. And even when I don't slip and say "guys", I'm maybe more likely in speech to go for a clearly enunciated "you all".
But I do hear & use y'all sometimes in speech here now, and not just with a faux Southern accent in stock phrase "y'all come back now, you hear". It's slow transition, but it's becoming accepted as standard usage.
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@Catelli @ZachWeinersmith Same. I don't have an American accent so it sounds too weird but I'll use it online for emphasis.
@drgroftehauge @Catelli @ZachWeinersmith try it!
"Y'all" rhymes with "ball" in my book. A single syllable. -
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith Depends on the location, I think. Using it in the Chicago area will get you looks.
It will eventually be more accepted as spoken, regular English over time, though, because no phrase is more satisfying to say than "fuck all y'all".
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@ZachWeinersmith I use y'all and folks on hoity-toity business professional stages. I refuse to let stigma hold us back from great gender-neutral words that's already in the collective vernacular.
@mayintoronto @ZachWeinersmith
I always assumed it was the contraction of You All, meaning all you people.
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Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
I use it but I picked it up from my husband, who grew up in Georgia.
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@catmisgivings @ZachWeinersmith it's funny, people kept trying to tell me "you guys" was gender neutral all throughout the 20-teens
Not only did it make me feel excluded when I thought I was a woman, I still feel like I'm on the outside of it as something much closer to "guy."
I dunno, maybe it's because I grew up in a musical theater household (with Guys and Dolls)
@WizardOfDocs @catmisgivings @ZachWeinersmith
I am forcing myself to stop using the "gender-neutral guys" but it's hard. Mostly because it was my default email greeting for multiple people. "Hey folks" is doing okay but there's something indefinable that I like a little less about it, but that's less important than not making people feel excluded.
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