Second person plural pronoun

[Parmandur]

Thanks for the posts so far. I hadnt considered "you all" or "yall". In my contexts I dont really come across it. It might work. Heh I actually do come across "you lot" on occasion, but somehow only when people are in trouble. "You ones" seems the most neutral, and shows up in some dialects as "youuns" or "yinz", but as I mentioned I was getting too many "ones". THIQ is precisely what I mean, but I need the pronoun to sound natural. It happens frequently and needs to be as least distracting as possible. I checked the Wikipedia article before coming here. It conveyed a clear sense of the issues, but didnt help me decide which pronoun to go with. I came here because I figured, correctly, the audience here would offer useful comments.

So far, I leaning between "you all" and "you folks". The first is more regional but without contraction seems neutral enough. The second is a more polite version of "you guys".

Y'all is historically regional, but is spreading pretty rapidly in usage: my own dialect us not one that would use "y'all" historically, but it is pretty normal in everyday conversation.

For formal propriety, though...just "you". Sort of a "Royal You" of respect.

 

[Yaarel]

I would say "All of you", or "Everyone", but sometimes "Y'all" still slips in even after being out of the South for 30 years.

I dont use the term. But when spelling "y'all" out as "you all", it seems "dignified" enough, while also being clear and natural enough.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Where I'm from, y'all is the formal form. Y'uns is the informal form you only use with family and friends.

 

[J-H]

Texas: "Y'all," or "All of you" if I want to be more formal. There's also just "You" when addressing a group. People know from context that it's for all of them rather than just one individual.

"All y'all" is redundant and too colloquial.
• you ones - this is weird-sounding to me, and I have never heard it.
• you guys - it's okay but pretty informal. Not a fan.
• you folks - This is also an odd one. Folks is also pretty informal.
• you lot - This sounds like someone's in trouble, like a sports team or a group of trainees.
• yous - This sounds like a New Jersey/NYC slang thing to me. Yous gonna pay on time, every week, or yous got a problem with the Manchini family, capiche?

 

[el-remmen]

Yinz.

But I’ve been living in Pittsburgh for nearly 6 years and visiting here regularly since I met my wife (who is from here) for the last 16.

 

[J.Quondam]

Definitely. I have a DM who constantly uses 'you guys' when having NPCs address the party regardless of who is speaking and it always sticks out.

I'm not too proud to admit my most influential cultural touchstone on this topic is:

Spoiler

 

[DEFCON 1]

Probably the best way to decide would be to write out a standard sentence that can use the various options and see which one looks / sounds / feels the most appropriate. Plus important to remember that if this is meant for a written document rather than one spoken out loud, it might change which one is preferred.

You guys find yourselves in a cavern.

Yous find yourselves in a cavern.

You all find yourselves in a cavern.

You ones find yourselves in a cavern.

You lot find yourselves in a cavern.

Y'all find yourselves in a cavern.

You folks find yourselves in a cavern.

All of you find yourselves in a cavern.

Does one speak to you more than any others? They all have their uses, so the context of your use will matter. I know that for me personally as a person who lives in the Northeastern United States... if I was selecting one to use written out within like an adventure module... 'You all' wins this hands down. 'Y'all', 'You folks' and 'You guys' are too informal, 'Yous' just sounds silly, 'You lot' is more derogatory in American English, 'You ones' is not really American usage at all, and 'All of you' could work but depending on the context it might feel better to have the pronoun come first in the sentence rather than the group size identifier.

EDIT: I see that @J-H has posted before me making many of the same points.

 

[el-remmen]

I'm not too proud to admit my most influential cultural touchstone on this topic is:

Spoiler

View attachment 396057

pretty sure that was a riff on this older cultural touchstone

 

[Ruin Explorer]

You all find yourselves in a cavern.

All of you find yourselves in a cavern.

These are the only two which wouldn't make me go "Oh my, that's a bit weird!".

 

[Charlaquin]

I used to use “you guys” pretty much all the time, and never really considered “guys” gendered, but for the past several years I’ve gotten more conscious of the fact that, just because I don’t think of it as gendered, doesn’t necessarily mean the people I’m talking to won’t take it that way. Now I tend to use “y’all,” “you folks,” “you all,” or “you” in ascending order of formality.