clavus

“Y’all” is such a great word. It may be the South’s single greatest contribution to our society.

We don’t have a “you plural” in English. We’ve got no “ustedes” “You guys” is too informal for all occasions, and it excludes the women in the crowd. But “y’all” just rolls off the tongue, easy and friendly.

“Y’all” doesn’t discriminate. It addresses one and all: family, friends, pets, lovers, and adversaries.

My hat’s off to all y’all Southerners for bringing us such a great word.

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krwlz

I second Clavus's compliment to y'all down south.

Ratman

Don't forget the plural of y'all- all y'all. "Y'all are invited to my BarBQ, and all y'all better show up with beer!"

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kel

Y'all know it... makes me sound friendly when I use it... Hats of to Y'all

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uncle phil

all y'all enjoy...

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bundy

i too love this term.
its been creeping into my vocab, and i love it.

in return, i´d like to offer all of your wonderful people down in the south (well, its northeast from here), a favourite ocker term of mine...

´I´m as dry as a dead dingos donger.´ (which means i´m thirsty).

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Ohayo!!!

JTC

Stone the Crows Bundy!!!

It's almost Friday arvo and that means Beer O'clock.

Here's hoping ya'll are going to the local watering hole to sink some piss and have a good perv

Cheerio, it's time for me to Choof off

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Thraeryn

"y'all" has long ago taken its place with "dude" in my vocabulary as one of the most important and most-used terms. I think living in Georgia for so many years might've had something to do with it.

WhoaitsZ

I find it ironic I never used the term (not knowingly, at least) until I started participating here. dunno why

and i perfer to spel it yawl

just a little bit more silly!

mrquackers

Our pleasure! Now could y'all please come down here and repair all those buildings you burned down??

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collide

I like to use "y'all" because it makes it clear that it's a collective term, and leaves little room for confusion. In the English language, "you" is used to refer to both the singular and plural, and often times people take the form "you" personally, even if you mean to say "you" collectively.

For example:

Singular: You should pay more attention to details.
Plural: You (all) should pay more attention to details.
(As in, everyone should do this, not just you alone, so it's less personal and more general.)

Besides, it's fun to say, and it just rolls off the tongue. Yaaaaaaaaall.

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micah67

I had a southern girlfriend and NOTHING gets a rise faster than having a naked southerner reclining with that look as she drawls, "Y'all gonna fuck me now?"

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~micah

Anomaly_

Yeah, it's pretty strange that there really isn't an official second person plural form in English. This is an interesting article on the subject.

rogue49

y'all come back now, y'hear?

I've been sayin' that forever.

debaser

Interesting note:

Southern Appalachian dialects are the closest to middle English (the language Chaucer wrote in) of any surviving languages. Those hillbillies would be able to communicate quite fluently with a 16th century Englishman, though I can't understand a word of it...

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cliv

I sent an email to a group of friends, including someone who used to live in the south.

She responded to everyone and addressed us as y'all's

Is y'all's a correct form of y'all ?

Gortexfogg

I used to say "ya'll" a lot but it eventually got out of my system. Now when I visit family in Texas I can't stand hearing "ya'll" this and "ya'll" that... It's a nice word and all but sometimes you just get too much of it.

MichaelFarker

Y'all is a neat word. I believe here in Texas it's considered awkward to say y'all when refering to one person. Y'all's is acceptable as a plural possessive, though I hear your much more often.

I recently had the pleasure of coming across "you'ns", which is apparently common in the Carolinas.

JumpinJesus

As I'm reading this post, I'm asking myself, am I the only one who truly does not like that term?

No offense to anyone who uses it or enjoys hearing it, but it just grates my ears like the sound of a metal fork on a ceramic plate.

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ninety09

You're not alone. I hate it. *shudder*

phoenix1002

WhoaitsZ, you do realize that while "y'all" might be the equivalent of "you all", "yawl" is a 2 masted sailing vessel, where the second mast is shorter than the first, and located behind the steering post, right?

Another variant of "y'all" is "y'alls", which can either mean the same thing as "y'all", or, if spelled "y'all's" can be the possesive form of "y'all". It also has 2 apostrophes, which makes it that much more fun .

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World's King

I use it on a regular basis.


Y'all come back now... Y'hear?

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Apokx

Being southern,I prefer not to use the word thanks to stereotypes.

jimk

my mom has lived in chapel hill,nc for over 10 years, but still cannot overcome her yankee pronunciation. every time i hear her say to a southerner, "oh, .you all should come over to the house," or something, i wince.

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MikeyChalupa

In New York we prefer "Yous" our "Yous guys". Although since I've spent pretty much all 8 of my years in the Navy in the south, I've started using "Y'all".

I hate my life.

-Mikey

johnnymysto

My wife's from a small town in TN near KY, and they all say "you'ns", pronouned YUNZ. But I prefer "y'all".

I love it when Jackie Chan tries to say it in "Rush Hour".

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Bill O'Rights

O.K....it's gonna be a long, long time before I can get that image outa my head. And I don't mind one bit.

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bernadette

i grew up in the midwest where we said "you guys" which i thought was kinda weird when talking to a group of women.

my friend from georgia got me using y'all. but the funny thing is i never speak it, only write y'all. when i speak "you guys" still rolls off my tongue.

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crow_daw

Damn straight we do, I was just about to mention that.

I mean we say y'all too, but a whole lot of people in my town say Yu'uns(thats just how I spell it, there of course is no true way)

Out of curiosity, what town is your wife from johnny? If you don't mind, cause my tiny TN town is directly on the KY border.

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mml

My mother was from South Carolina, and even though she spent 40+ years in Arizona she never lost the accent. I grew up in a household where we said y'all and I still use it occationally. I used to get a lot of grief about it when I was younger, so it sort of faded from my vocabulary, but every now and again it slips out and I always seem to get a reaction.

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Liquor Dealer

I don't think the two go together at all! Ya'll know that there is meaning in the term y'all! Dude tend to be an oxymoron - Y'all can agree or disagree but that's the way i see it.

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bundy

another american regular term that i like is ¨GUY¨

we use the term ´mate´, so it just sounds strange when you´re talking to an American and they say ´see you later, guy´...or ´hi guy!´

mikey, ´yous´ is a term some people use down here... mainly people from western sydney.
for instance, Jeff Fenech (great aussie boxer) is famously said, ¨i love yous all¨...

sadly, the terms, ´guy´ and ´yous´, will not work their way into my vocab.

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Ohayo!!!

angela146

Also used among drawl'n folk'

y'all'r (pronounced "yaller"): second person plural present tense form of the verb "to be", including personal pronoun.

Example: y'all'r gitt'n on ma' nerves.

Reese

In Kentucky it's Ya'll, but my family is from Tennessee, West Virginia, and Ohio, so some of my Family says 'You Guys,' some say 'Ya'll' and I rarely hear 'You'uns.' Its mostly used when an elderly person is addressing kids..

I use Ya'll instead of Y'all because I think that 'you' is first shortened to 'ya.' For Example, You say, "How Ya doin?" singular, and "How Ya'll doin?" for plural. I'm just trying to prove the dictionary wrong...

Y'all's or Ya'll's is just wrong(to me)... It's either pluralized twice(or 3 times if you consider 'you' to be plural) or it's using "is" instead or "are" (ie: "You all is stupid", vs, "You all are stupid.")

However the english language is always evolving so who's to say what's right and what's wrong.

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oblar

I actually had an English teacher who used it while in college. She said it was ok to use in papers since it is so widely used in speech, however, she did make a big deal about spelling it correctly. "Y'all" is a contraction of you and all so the contraction would be y'all that is basically all she told us.

Personally I don't like to use the word and have to seriously think hard to even say it. I prefer saying something with "guys" attatched, since in my thoughts and speech guys is very unisexual and doesn't necessarily mean girl or guy, but rather either all male, or a mix of the two (have to say ladies if it is all girls though, otherwise the chances of getting lynched in the area I live in are high!)

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bobart

I spent many years living in the deep south,
Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana,
and Y'll is very natural, There.
"Y'll pick me up a RC and a bag'a peanuts." For example.
But it dosn't fit everywhere. It is regional dialect.
Ain't, is another regional dialect word, not heard everywhere
but used extensively in some part of the country.
I live in California now and Y'll and Ain't are ony heard
from persons coming from other regions of our country.

clavus

That's OK with me. My cousin is FINE...

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rockogre

I associate it with good, laid back folk that take care of their neighbors and look after their wimmen folk with door openin and such. Ya'all just don't understand.

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frogger27

My friend makes fun of me for saying y'all. I'm from Kansas...so is he, so whats his problem, its part of out language...lol

glasscutter43

"y'all" kind of reminds me of "don't got". As in "Y'all don't got no grammer in them thar skools?"

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