Posted on 02/20/2005 7:45:38 PM PST by bayourod
In a June appearance on NBC's Today Show, singer Marc Anthony made an unusual but, according to some linguists, not-so-surprising word choice.
When co-host Matt Lauer asked Anthony how he'd spend the upcoming weekend, Anthony said, "Y'all know I don't talk about my personal life."
A New York native of Puerto Rican descent using "y'all," a distinctly Southern term?
Linguists Guy Bailey and Jan Tillery would say Anthony is exhibit A in a national trend that is spreading the uses of "y'all" beyond the South. The two, who teach at the University of Texas at San Antonio, wrote an article in 2000 called The Nationalization of a Southernism, in the Journal of English Linguistics.
After conducting a national poll by telephone, the team concluded that the spread was dramatic and recent, most likely in the past 50 years as younger non-Southerners were significantly more likely to use "y'all" than older non-Southerners. Those regions bordering the South and Texas, like Kansas and New Mexico, were most likely to adopt it, as well as the Rocky Mountain region, which, they argued, had cultural similarities with the South.
As for why non-Southerners might use a markedly Southern term, the authors cite geographic mobility Northerners moving to the South adopting it and Southerners moving to the North retaining it. But ultimately, the authors argue, it's a matter of addressing a "hole" in the English language.
Ever since English lost the second person singular "thou," it has relied on the pronoun "you" to act as both singular and plural. English speakers have improvised ways to avoid ambiguity in the plural: in the Northeast, "youse" or "youse guys"; around Pittsburgh "yunz" or "yinz," a contraction of "you-ones"; in the South, "y'all," a contraction or "fusion" as Bailey and Tillery say of "you-all"; and finally "you guys."
But "you guys" feels awkward to certain segments of the population, says Joan Houston Hall, chief editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English. A term that gained popularity in the 1960s, it still sounds inappropriately familiar to some elderly ears, she says, and some women are uncomfortable with the masculine gender implied by "guys." "Y'all" elegantly resolves all these concerns.
Others argue that "y'all" is spreading for a much simpler reason: Both culturally and numerically, the South is on the rise. But more important, "y'all" is standard in what linguists call African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), the lingua franca of rap and hip-hop.
Well, I will be glad to tell you the difference. If you are around a southern woman having a hissy fit...back off a few paces.
If she is having a conniption fit...run for your life out of the house.
The line seems to run through North Carolina, dips southward in Tennessee runs pretty much down the Mississippi. No proper sweet tea in Texas.
If your waitress (scuse me, server) does not say "what y'all want?", then you are not going to get any sweet iced tea. LOL
Whatever. Not everybody in New York speaks the same and I'm no English professor either.
Oh my. When I was first stationed at Fort Ord, CA with the Army, my Texas roots would rarely show, since I've never really had a strong dialect in my speech. But one of the last leftover expressions I retained for a few years was "fixin' to".
"I'm fixin' to go to the store."
"I'm fixin' to eat now."
Well, I've been in California for almost 15 years (stayed here when I got out of the Army), and I've long since lost the "fixin' to". I do still have the "y'all" sometimes.
But I've picked up some things here which are even worse. I catch myself constantly saying "like" and "dude", in totally bizarre and gratuitous parts of a sentence:
"I was like 'Dude, no way', and he was like 'Yes way'..."
"I was wondering like when you were going to be finished with that..."
"Dude, that's like so cool."
Or even just "Dude!" as a standalone expression.
God, I'm so embarrassed to admit this. But acknowledging that I have a problem is the first step to beating it...
Whenever someone addresses one person as "y'all" it's a sure giveaway that the speaker is faking it and isn't a true southerner. We never say "y'all" unless we're talking to two or more people.
"Ya'll" sounds cowboy. "You guys" sounds gay.
As to the first point: Why would you ask? It would be as pointless as asking if you'd like butter and salt in your grits. Duh, of COURSE I would!
In the South, tea is made in its drinkable form. Just sweet enough to no longer be bitter. It should never be saturated with sugar (but, sadly, it is sometimes done). Coincidently anywhere there is good Barbecue, there is also good sweet tea.
As to BBQ: I have always noticed that the pig on the sign(there is nearly ALWAYS a pig on the sign) is an indicator as to how fancy the BBQ joint is. If the pig is wearing overalls and a straw hat, the food will be good and the atmosphere will be "rustic." If the pig is wearing a tuxedo and tophat, the atmosphere will look nicer than the food will taste.
And often the desert menu consists of just two items: your choice of homemade banana pudding or peach cobbler.
Anything more would be too fancy. Anything less wouldn't be neighborly.
That would explain the duct-tape-and-hefty-bag windows on the first Borg cube.
Nah...that's from someone who is TRULY Southern--someone who realizes the South isn't monolithic. In some parts, Y'all is singular, and the plural is All Y'all.
"you guys"
Isn't it "Y'all will be assimilated"?
All y'all. LOL!
I guess I'm going to have to conform and start typing it as y'all instead of ya'll (ya all...do ya all want to go?).
LOL! that's a classic, 4CJ.
As a Southerner moved North (a very long time ago), "You all." (pn "yewal.")
Interestingly, though, I've come across this lack of distinction between the 2nd person singular and plural in several languages, not just (modern) English.
---Isn't it "Y'all will be assimilated"?---
if I had been thinking. actually, I thought "all Y'all's base are belong to us" was the prize winner.
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