"y'all"

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  • Beastette
    Beastette Posts: 1,497 Member
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    Yankees, please remove y'allselves from this southern thread. :wink:

    TEXANS ARE SOUTHWESTERNERS! Please note the turquoise and terra cotta!! You can't even cook grits properly! ARRRRGGGHH!!

    :laugh:
  • TheFitHooker
    TheFitHooker Posts: 3,358 Member
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    Most other languages have a plural you; English doesn't. So the southerners kindly made one up for us.

    Wasn't that Just so sweet of us!

    I say y'all a lot. I write it here sometimes because it reflects how I talk. I also write/say 'ya' instead of 'you' sometimes. I would never use either in formal writing though. And I will never ever ever say or write ain't. I've worked very hard to keep that atrocity out of my vocabulary!

    Another colloquial where I grew up is fixin' to. As in, 'I'm fixin to go to the store - do ya need anything?' :p

    I say "fixin to" all the time! My husband makes fun of me every time though. I also say used to could (usedtacould). Ex: "can you do a handstand? No, but I used to could." Another phrase my husband makes fun of.

    I also use "Fixin to" and my husband also picks on me about it, he say's "What are you fixin?" lol. I use the word "ain't" as well Yeah that's a word that usually brings up a hot topic. "ain't " isn't a word. It is in my book :P mean's isn't, aren't :D
  • gatorgirlyyy
    gatorgirlyyy Posts: 349
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    Yankees, please remove y'allselves from this southern thread. :wink:

    TEXANS ARE SOUTHWESTERNERS! Please note the turquoise and terra cotta!! You can't even cook grits properly! ARRRRGGGHH!!

    :laugh:

    Lmao! :)
  • Beastette
    Beastette Posts: 1,497 Member
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    Yankees, please remove y'allselves from this southern thread. :wink:

    TEXANS ARE SOUTHWESTERNERS! Please note the turquoise and terra cotta!! You can't even cook grits properly! ARRRRGGGHH!!

    :laugh:

    Lmao! :)

    Bet y'all never had a decent boiled peanut in your lives. I'll give you this, you've got the gun thing down pat.
  • CountryBoy65
    CountryBoy65 Posts: 908 Member
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    My sister in in Tennessee and she tells me that "y'all" is singular and "all y'all" is plural. As in:

    How y'all doing? (meaning one person)
    or
    Will all y'all help me pick up this couch? (meaning group)

    I've occasionally heard all y'all used, but I've mostly heard y'all for singular and plural.

    That is interesting, but we don't use 'all yall' here in SC. Its singular or plural here....
  • Beastette
    Beastette Posts: 1,497 Member
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    My sister in in Tennessee and she tells me that "y'all" is singular and "all y'all" is plural. As in:

    How y'all doing? (meaning one person)
    or
    Will all y'all help me pick up this couch? (meaning group)

    I've occasionally heard all y'all used, but I've mostly heard y'all for singular and plural.

    That is interesting, but we don't use 'all yall' here in SC. Its singular or plural here....
    Untrue. We do, in fact, say all y'all. "*kitten* ALL y'all", for example.
  • sdrawkcabynot
    sdrawkcabynot Posts: 466 Member
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    My sister in in Tennessee and she tells me that "y'all" is singular and "all y'all" is plural. As in:

    How y'all doing? (meaning one person)
    or
    Will all y'all help me pick up this couch? (meaning group)

    I've occasionally heard all y'all used, but I've mostly heard y'all for singular and plural.

    That is interesting, but we don't use 'all yall' here in SC. Its singular or plural here....

    This - my family in Texas used to call us when I was a kid, just to hear me talk. Texas and Tennessee have different accents but like using similar words.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    I think i'm getting a feel for this dialect :glasses: thanks... y'all!

    so what do u think people who dont use it say in its place? for example ahem... canadians?

    Northern dialects say "you's" or "you guys" but that's like country northern. I don't know about Canadians.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    Most other languages have a plural you; English doesn't. So the southerners kindly made one up for us.

    Wasn't that Just so sweet of us!

    I say y'all a lot. I write it here sometimes because it reflects how I talk. I also write/say 'ya' instead of 'you' sometimes. I would never use either in formal writing though. And I will never ever ever say or write ain't. I've worked very hard to keep that atrocity out of my vocabulary!

    Another colloquial where I grew up is fixin' to. As in, 'I'm fixin to go to the store - do ya need anything?' :p

    I say "fixin to" all the time! My husband makes fun of me every time though. I also say used to could (usedtacould). Ex: "can you do a handstand? No, but I used to could." Another phrase my husband makes fun of.

    I also use "Fixin to" and my husband also picks on me about it, he say's "What are you fixin?" lol. I use the word "ain't" as well Yeah that's a word that usually brings up a hot topic. "ain't " isn't a word. It is in my book :P mean's isn't, aren't :D

    I thought both "ain't" and "y'all" had been inducted into Webster's dictionary?
  • YouAreTheShit
    YouAreTheShit Posts: 510 Member
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    The use of the word "yous" is just messed up! LOL

    Those New Yorkers speak a whole different language. And they act all High Falootin' too...

    There should be a ban on any transplants from New York to other states in order to keep the dialect clean elsewhere. Haha

    Where do they teach you to talk like this? In some Panama City "Sailor wanna hump-hump" bar, or is it getaway day and your last shot at his whiskey? Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here!

    So you're not denying that you people are crazy up there then, huh? I gotta tell ya... an honest crazy is the best kinda crazy there is! Who knows... if you play your cards right, we might open up Missouri to your kind!
  • kapeluza
    kapeluza Posts: 3,434 Member
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    A Southern "thang". I'm from the North and live in Texas and I hear it everyday. Drives me insane.
  • nerdyandilikeit
    nerdyandilikeit Posts: 2,185 Member
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    Canadian here, and we don't really say anything different, maybe "You guys." Instead of "y'all". I've actually heard people say, "Yous" like "use." Which sounds ridiculous.

    I've heard that here in the states too. To me, it just sounds uneducated. It's not a word.... but even more so, it's not a word accepted by the community such as y'all. :)

    Y'all or ain't didn't start out as 'words' either, til you guys used it long enough.

    I don't find either terribly educated-sounding.I say ain't casually if I'm being silly, though. It just sounds like you got your delicate southern feelings hurt by the big bad yankees. *rolls eyes*
  • rbrannock
    rbrannock Posts: 169
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    I am from and grew up in Upstate NY...I now live in NC where I've been for 16 years. In NY we said "you guys" (NOT yous guys...just you) which meant the same as what we say in NC which is y'all. :) I have a friend down here who is from PA and they say "youins"....that sounds dumb IMO!
  • JanieJack
    JanieJack Posts: 3,831 Member
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    Y'all is singular AND plural.

    hehehe yes but the true plural of "y'all" is "all y'all" :laugh:
  • stephabef
    stephabef Posts: 936 Member
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    I say it at work (I work at a bar in Atlanta) to make people... feel more comfortable? It wasn't a conscious decision. It's like how some people use a higher voice on the phone or something! I'm a New Yorker originally, but I've lived down here for a while. I'd never use y'all in conversation outside of work... strange.
  • luvJOJO
    luvJOJO Posts: 1,881 Member
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    I'm from NC and I ALWAYS say y'all lol
  • TheFitHooker
    TheFitHooker Posts: 3,358 Member
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    Most other languages have a plural you; English doesn't. So the southerners kindly made one up for us.

    Wasn't that Just so sweet of us!

    I say y'all a lot. I write it here sometimes because it reflects how I talk. I also write/say 'ya' instead of 'you' sometimes. I would never use either in formal writing though. And I will never ever ever say or write ain't. I've worked very hard to keep that atrocity out of my vocabulary!

    Another colloquial where I grew up is fixin' to. As in, 'I'm fixin to go to the store - do ya need anything?' :p

    I say "fixin to" all the time! My husband makes fun of me every time though. I also say used to could (usedtacould). Ex: "can you do a handstand? No, but I used to could." Another phrase my husband makes fun of.

    I also use "Fixin to" and my husband also picks on me about it, he say's "What are you fixin?" lol. I use the word "ain't" as well Yeah that's a word that usually brings up a hot topic. "ain't " isn't a word. It is in my book :P mean's isn't, aren't :D

    I thought both "ain't" and "y'all" had been inducted into Webster's dictionary?

    It might have been, but people still argue with me about it lol.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    Canadian here, and we don't really say anything different, maybe "You guys." Instead of "y'all". I've actually heard people say, "Yous" like "use." Which sounds ridiculous.

    I've heard that here in the states too. To me, it just sounds uneducated. It's not a word.... but even more so, it's not a word accepted by the community such as y'all. :)

    Y'all or ain't didn't start out as 'words' either, til you guys used it long enough.

    I don't find either terribly educated-sounding.I say ain't casually if I'm being silly, though. It just sounds like you got your delicate southern feelings hurt by the big bad yankees. *rolls eyes*

    Really, bron! Are we going to argue now about who really should have one the big war?? LMAO!
  • Roadie2000
    Roadie2000 Posts: 1,801 Member
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    Every time I hear someone way "yous" it makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

    I believe proper grammar is just to use "you" but since it's tough to differentiate whether it is singular or plural "y'all" is generally just easier.

    Plus it's more fun to say.
  • chelsea_thatsme
    chelsea_thatsme Posts: 138 Member
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    It's a Southern thing! I didn't realize how much I said it until I got onto this site and was throwing "Y'all's" all over the place. I bet some people get annoyed but I honestly can't help it! lol.

    same here. i use it all the time!!! and being from and living in Texas, its just a common word we use all the time. its only when i am around people who are not from the south that i realize how much i use it. lol.

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