Second person plural pronoun

[jayoungr]

"Y'all" has not become standard usage in all parts of the US. It still sounds southern to me (I'm a midwesterner).

I agree that for formal writing, "you all" or "all of you" is the way to go. Or something like "You and your companions." ("You and your companions find yourselves in a tavern.")

 

[Charlaquin]

"Y'all" has not become standard usage in all parts of the US. It still sounds Southern to me (I'm a midwesterner).

“Y’all” used to sound almost comically southern to me, but has grown more and more neutral to my ears, seemingly in direct correlation with “you guys” falling out of favor. Not only did the former used to be my default, but it was what I was most used to hearing from other people. Now I hear it only very rarely, and I hear “y’all” almost as often as I used to hear “you guys.” And I’m from Colorado, which is generally considered to be the reference point for a neutral American dialect.

 

[Zaukrie]

I've asked my trans kid, and they are good with you guys.... In informal settings, I use y'all and all y'all, and I'm from the north....

 

[Gradine]

My N'Awlins-born grandma taught me that "y'all" was singular and "all y'all" was plural

 

[payn]

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.

For awhile now, "you guys" has bugged me. Mostly becasue when I hear it im reminded of two things and stop taking the person seriously.

Then, I got a bit more gender conscious of the term and was already one foot out the door so change came easily.

I do hear it frequently, if not every workday during meetings by both men and women. Its just become a thing that I dont think folks put much thought to.

 

[J.Quondam]

pretty sure that was a riff on this older cultural touchstone

Definitely! We heard it first as kids watching Electric Company, too. That's what made the bit in Goonies extra funny!

 

[Yaarel]

For the possessive form, which would you all go with?

• your all seats at the table
• your all's seats at the table
• you all's seats at the table

 

[Charlaquin]

For awhile now, "you guys" has bugged me. Mostly becasue when I hear it im reminded of two things and stop taking the person seriously.

See, I don’t hear that unless the “you guys” is proceeded by “hey”.

Well, Matt Stone and Trey Parker are also from Colorado. The use (some might say over use) of “you guys” in South Park is just… accurate to the setting. Or at least it was in 1997 when the show first started airing, and remained so probably up until like the mid 2010s. For being so over the top, South Park actually captures the feel of living in suburban or semi-rural Colorado incredibly accurately. Or at least it did when I still watched it, I haven’t kept up with it in recent years.

 

[Charlaquin]

For the possessive form, which would you all go with?

• your all seats at the table
• your all's seats at the table
• you all's seats at the table

All your seats at the table, or all of your seats at the table if you want to be especially formal.

 

[FrogReaver]

I was reading this article.

I didnt realize that "you" originally was plural. The singular used to be "thou"/"thee", and the plural "ye"/"you". But to indicate formality and distance, the plural "you" came to be used as an honorific term of address. Eventually, "you" became universal for both singular and plural. "Thou" and "thee" went extinct except in a few local dialects, despite grammar books spending over a century insisting on them.

Now the same thing is happening with "y'all", in the same way for the same reason. Many people in the South are using "y'all" for the singular when wanting to sound more polite. Heh, so the disambiguated term that sometimes happens for the plural is, "all y'all".

Interesting. I’ve never heard of all y’all. At least in my area it doesn’t exist, other than as someone trying to mock southern speech.

In fact I’ve never heard y’all be used as a singular either. Maybe a regional thing. Or maybe mockery.