Y'all

Sure enough we've all heard this word once or twice prior to now. When a classmate of mine used it today, I asked him if there were first and third person contractions for it. He replied, "I'm not a reader." Still, our little conversation got me wondering why I've never heard w'all or th'all in any southern drawl. Is it just because the word "you" can be used to describe an individual or a group of people as well? And wouldn't that mean southerners aren't really lazy speakers, but just way more specific then the rest of us?

I never quite understood it but I have caught my self using it when I lived in mississippi for 6 months I think it might just be a type of accent thing

It's not any worse than some of the east and west coast slang I've heard.

Hmm...I think it sounds nicer than "you all"...if you say it over to yourself after a while, you can see how it migth be pleasant...

Youse guys > Y'all

I'd guess that "w'all" and "th'all" never evolved as expressions because "we" and "they" already denote plurals, while "you" is usually used as a singular.

This happens to be a pet peeve of mine. Actually two pet peeves. Since "y'all" is plural, it's just wrong to use it when speaking to one person -- unless you mean "the entirety of your body" or something, which is pretty unlikely.

The other pet peeve is when people put the apostrophe in the wrong place. It's "y'all," not "ya'll," since it's a contraction of "you all." I think some people put the apostrophe there simply because it seemingly follows a visual pattern from words like "you'll" and "we'll," but all of those contractions use "will" as the second word, not "all," so the pattern doesn't apply.

Since an apostrophe, when used in a contraction, generally stands for missing letters, adding it in the middle, "ya'll," misses the spot where the missing letters would go. There aren't any missing letters between the "a" and the "ll" -- the missing letters are "ou," which come after the "y" and before the "all."

*pulls the giant stick out of his ass and relaxes*

there is Y'all to speak to a small group of people, or a single person, for a larger group of people you use "all of y'alls"

I'm in S'th and I want some s'p!

I say it all the time. And I get made fun of for it.

I believe the only times I've ever heard anybody say "youse guys" were in TV shows and movies. Like in the Simpsons, that caricature of early-20th century Brooklyn kids: "Hey, youse guys wanna play stickball?"

I don't know what's with all of you crazy people. I grew up around a lot of people, without the southern accent, but from the south that say ya'll. Then I moved to California and people are like, "Ya'll?" I reply, "Yeah, you all."

... nevermind, I guess it doesn't make as much sense as I was thinking.

It's habit.

Well, I'm from Georgia so I've heared it more than once or twice.

Actually English speakers are lazy. Well, the language is. I think there used to be a plural "You" in Old English.
Spanish has "tú" for the singular informal, "usted" for formal singular, and "ustedes" for the plural (both cases).

You all.
Y'all.

I use the word all the time.

I say it so much that I have a hard time thinking what could replace it. I know I could say "You all", but that just sounds so unnatural to me. For a long time I didn't realize that not everyone said it. I visited my friend in California, and her friends thought it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard.

yeah, when ever I go back to Cali, I get clowned nonstop for saying this...but I can't help it...it just flows so much easier...

The second person plural is "you", same as the the first-person singular. So I think "y'all" is a fine contraction, a lot better than "You guys" which is the informal second-peron plural where I'm from.

[Edited on Sep 14, 2005 by stockula]

The important question is "How do you pronounce 'measure'?" My family and I say "may-zure". My wife makes fun of me, because she says it like "mehzure".

Visit northern Michigan some day, particularly the upper peninsula.

Haha , yeah, there are alot of words like that. Wash or worsh? On or own? BTW, I'm a "mehzure" girl myself.

In Pittsburgh, I've heard the second-person plural expressed as "yinze", like "Alla yinze."

It's a colloquialism that's also a real, actual contraction. A couple entries from Merriam-Webster:

I'd guess if you've ever seen it in print as "ya'll," it can almost certainly be chalked up to one of three things -- sloppy writing/editing; intentional misuse, perhaps meant to be humorous; plain ol' typo.

A quick search of the web reveals that whenever the expression is used in a professional media outlet, it's always "y'all" (Cincinnati Enquirer, Dallas Morning News, MSNBC, USA Today, NewsOK.com, etc.). Hell, even the Brits get it right.

Every page that uses "ya'll" appears to suffer from a lack of editorial oversight -- although even then, most non-professional pages still get it right and spell it "y'all."

I like the entries from the Urban Dictionary, like this one:

Whenever my grandma says the word "glass" it sounds like she's saying something along the lines of "glice". Drives me nuts, but hey, she's my grammy.

I find it useful in customer service for that reason; it's gender neutral so you don't risk putting off a group of women or mixed-gendered people by calling them all 'guys' (even though that's generally accepted). It's smoother. However, you do risk putting them off by implying you're from the South.