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 |    Not for the faint of art. |
| I thought y'all would want to see this. I use "y'all" as a second person plural, a part of speech that English otherwise lacks. And it can't always be inferred from context. Southern Living magazine once described “y’all” as “the quintessential Southern pronoun.” It’s as iconically Southern as sweet tea and grits. I like grits, but sweet tea can kiss my... ass. “Y’all” fills that second person plural slot – as does “you guys,” “youse,” “you-uns” and a few others. "You guys" is considered sexist these days, "youse" is still pretty much limited to a small area in the Northeast, and I'm not sure about "you-uns." I think Pittsburgh uses "yinz." I’m interested in “y’all” because I was born in North Carolina and grew up saying it. I still do, probably a couple dozen times a day, usually without intention or even awareness. I use it too, but more intentionally. I thought I used it more, but a quick search of this blog of over 2,000 entries only yielded 64 entries with "y'all." This would be #65. Back in 1886, The New York Times ran a piece titled “Odd Southernisms” that described “y’all” as “one of the most ridiculous of all the Southernisms.” Damyankees. Like the Southern dialect in general, the use of “y’all” has often been seen as vulgar, low-class, uncultured and uneducated. As someone noted in Urban Dictionary, “Whoever uses [y’all] sounds like a hillbilly redneck.” The only way to change this perception is to use it with intention. The etymology of “y’all” is murky. So is the etymology of a lot of other words. My examples push “y’all” back 225 years before the citation in the “Oxford English Dictionary,” and they show that the word appeared first in England rather than the United States. I think it’s important to point out that it originated in a more formal context than what’s commonly assumed. There are none of the class or cultural connotations of the later American examples. Now, I can't be arsed to research this right now, but I think older versions of English made a distinction between second person singular and plural. That's how we got "thee" and "thou" and other constructions that are now associated with the KJV and maybe Shakespeare. Or something like that; like I said, not looking it up now. Still, there it is, in an English poem written in 1631. Not long after Shakespeare, really. Y'all Brits invented the language; we just perfected it. “Y’all means all” – that’s a wonderful phrase that seems to be popping up everywhere, from T-shirts and book titles to memes and music. Sounds good to me. Now, how about we come up with a first-person plural that distinguishes between "us, including you," and "us, not including you?" Like if I said, "We're going to a party," does that mean you're invited? No. No, it does not, and now I'm embarrassed because you inferred that it did. |
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