If you don't say "Y'all" what do you say?
The South will rise. . . Yo!
Nor do I.
All y'alls are belong to us.
"You muthaf***as."
I don't like this linguistic dispersion of "y'all." Only Southerners can say it correctly, putting the necessary inflection and drawn-out drawl in the word.
Next thing you know, y'all will be stealing our "don'cha know" phrase and start calling it your own.
But y'all should know that we Southerners - when conversing with family, friends and business associates from the Midwest and North make an effort to say "you guys".
When it is a formal/semi-formal business discussion it is rare (and perhaps a slip) if we say y'all.
Sure, we slip back into our natural accent and terms when we relax. However, we observe that more Southerners are saying "guys" - so perhaps there is a blend.
Reminder: We practically NEVER say "you-all" (except older people.) Y'all - when spoken to an individual - is NEVER meant as a singular term. Someone else (family, group, etc. is included.) And one of the harshest sounds to a Southerner is the dropping of "g" from the "ing" in movies/plays.
It immediately becomes apparent that the actor/actress is not from the South, nor is the director. Southerners don't say "Anythin".
To conclude on "Y'all"; it does have a warmth and informality to it. And warmth, informality and instant superficial friendship is what Southerners are know for. :o)
Now can we move on to discussions of why Bostonians can't pronounce "Peabody" correctly? :o)
fine with me.
i know people in the ol business in texas. and i've learned to say burn-it, not bur-net.
abouta month ago some "intellectual" called into klbj early in the morning and started out laughing at sheriff sam, one of the hosts:
"i looked up the word 'redneck' in my dictionary and it describes you." click.
i thought it was rude and stupid. sheriff sam has more on the ball than the caller.
a friend of mine got fired in austin for speaking with a texas accent among liberals in the media business. they were constantly correcting his english.
But y'all should know that we Southerners - when conversing with family, friends and business associates from the Midwest and North make an effort to say "you guys".
When it is a formal/semi-formal business discussion it is rare (and perhaps a slip) if we say y'all.
Sure, we slip back into our natural accent and terms when we relax. However, we observe that more Southerners are saying "guys" - so perhaps there is a blend.
Reminder: We practically NEVER say "you-all" (except older people.) Y'all - when spoken to an individual - is NEVER meant as a singular term. Someone else (family, group, etc. is included.) And one of the harshest sounds to a Southerner is the dropping of "g" from the "ing" in movies/plays.
It immediately becomes apparent that the actor/actress is not from the South, nor is the director. Southerners don't say "Anythin".
To conclude on "Y'all"; it does have a warmth and informality to it. And warmth, informality and instant superficial friendship is what Southerners are know for. :o)
Now can we move on to discussions of why Bostonians can't pronounce "Peabody" correctly? :o)
Posted on 02/20/2005 7:45:38 PM PST by bayerod
In a June appeareence on NBC's Today Show, singer Marc Chattanooga made an unusual but, acco'din' t'some lin'uists, not-so-surprisin' wo'd choice.
When co-host Matt Lauer axed Chattanooga how he'd spend th' upa-comin' weekend, Chattanooga said, "Y'all knows ah doesn't talk about mah varmintal life."
A Noo Yawk native of Puerto Rican dexcent usin' "y'all," a distinckly Southern term?
Lin'uists Guy Bailey an' Jan Tillery'd say Chattanooga is exhibit A in a nashunal trend thet is spreadin' th' uses of "y'all" beyond th' South. Th' two, who larn at th' Unyversity of Texas at San Antonio, wrote an article in 2000 called Th' Nashunalizashun of a Southernism, in th' Journal of English Lin'uistics.
Af'er cornduckin' a nashunal poll by tellyphone, th' team corncluded thet th' spread was dramatic an' recent, most likely in th' past 50 years as yo'nger non-Southerners were significantly mo'e likely t'use "y'all" than older non-Southerners. Them regions bo'derin' th' South an' Texas, like Kansas an' Noo Mexico, were most likely t'adopp it, as fine as th' Rocky Mountain region, which, they argued, had cultural similarities wif th' South.
As fo' whuffo' non-Southerners might use a markedly Southern term, th' autho's cite geographic mobility — No'therners movin' t'th' South adoppin' it an' Southerners movin' t'th' No'th retainin' it. But ultimately, th' autho's argue, it's a matter of addressin' a "hole" in th' English language.
Evah on account o' English lost th' second varmint sin'ular "thou," it has relied on th' pronoun "yo'" t'ack as both sin'ular an' plural, ah reckon. English speakers haf improvised ways t'avoid amtrimenjusuity in th' plural: in th' No'theast, "yo'se" o' "yo'se guys"; aroun' Pittsburgh "yunz" o' "yinz," a corntrackshun of "yo'-ones"; in th' South, "y'all," a corntrackshun — o' "fushun" as Bailey an' Tillery say — of "yo'-all"; an' finally "yo' guys."
But "yo' guys" feels awkward t'sartin segments of th' populashun, says Joan Hoeston Hall, chief edito' of th' Dickshunary of South Car'linan Regional English. A term thet gained popularity in th' 1960s, it still soun's inappropriately familiar t'some elderly ears, she says, an' some wimmen is uncomfy wif th' masculine junder implied by "guys." "Y'all" elegantly resolves all these corncerns.
Others argue thet "y'all" is spreadin' fo' a much simpler reason: Both culturally an' noomrically, th' South is on th' rise. But mo'e impo'tant, "y'all" is stan'ard in whut lin'uists call African-South Car'linan Vernacular English (AAVE), th' lin'ua franca of rap an' hip-hop.
Is there something else? I'm from Georgia. If you don't say Y'all, we know you ain't from these parts.
I started using Y'all about the third day in the Army. It's contagious when there's so many southerners that join the military. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
I grew up in Southeast Missouri. Everyone there said "You all". No one ever said "Y'all" unless they were using a fake southern accent.
"you".
We needed to a study to come up with this?
It has to do with the spread of ebonics among several ethnic groups in the north. White people in New York say "Ant" for Aunt. Latinos say "awnt" largely because they have a tendency to ape black speech.
My favorite is still down in New Orleans" "Where Yat?"