So, is the use of...

[prospero63]

y'alls appropriate? As in, "all of y'alls stuff". If so, should it be "y'all's"

 

[Jdvn1]

It is what I refer to as a double apostrophed word. Also, "y'all're."

Though I'm in Texas, I don't use "y'all" or forms thereof, but I do think they're funny.

 

[hafrogman]

Actually, I find it interesting that other languages do actually include a plural 2nd person pronoun. English doesn't have one, and so people invented one.

y'all is pretty informal though, so I'd say it was vosotros over ustedes.

 

[bento]

It is what I refer to as a double apostrophed word. Also, "y'all're."

Though I'm in Texas, I don't use "y'all" or forms thereof, but I do think they're funny.

I thought y'all're is a color, as in "I like them yaller flowers."

 

[Hypersmurf]

Actually, I find it interesting that other languages do actually include a plural 2nd person pronoun. English doesn't have one...

Of course it does. It's 'you'. What we're missing is a singular second person pronoun, ever since we got rid of 'thou', so we use the plural to cover both.

-Hyp.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I thought y'all're is a color, as in "I like them yaller flowers."

ya'ller (accent on first syllable) is a color.

yall'er (accent on second syllable) is a contraction of "Y'all are".

yaller' (accent on third syllable) means you started a sentence with y'all, then forgot what y'all were going to say next.

Got that, y'all? And used properly, y'all is both singular and plural. What's this "you" Hyp is talking about, anyway?

Irony: I use y'all quite often, but though I've lived most of my adult life in various parts of the southern US, I grew up in Southern California, and adopted y'all before ever setting foot in the South. In SoCal, y'all takes quite the backseat to "dude", which is an entire language all by itself (up there with "hooah", but that's a whole 'nother story, dude).

 

[Bullgrit]

Be careful who you take advice from on understanding the Southern dialect.

Y'all = contraction of "you all"

Y'all's = possessive; "you all's stuff"

Y'all're = "you all are"

I'm a true Southerner, and even better, I'm a Southern writer---meaning, I know how we talk, and I know how to write how we talk. (And I know the proper ways to talk and write standard American English, too.)

As for "all of y'all's stuff": that is the proper way of writing it, but in speech, the "of" would probably be dropped: "all y'all's stuff."

"We don't have an accent; God talks like we do."
-- the late Lewis Grizzard

Bullgrit

Total Bullgrit

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Be careful who you take advice from on understanding the Southern dialect.

Y'all = contraction of "you all"

Y'all's = possessive; "you all's stuff"

Y'all're = "you all are"

I'm a true Southerner, and even better, I'm a Southern writer---meaning, I know how we talk, and I know how to write how we talk. (And I know the proper ways to talk and write, too.)

As for "all of y'all's stuff": that is the proper way of writing it, but in speech, the "of" would probably be dropped: "all y'all's stuff."

"We don't have an accent; God talks like we do."
-- the late Lewis Grizzard

Bullgrit

Total Bullgrit

As a fellow Southerner I support Bullgrit he's got it right. Just so happens my own accent was thoroughly beaten out of me by my Welsh grandmother luckily I never picked up hers or NO ONE would understand me over here.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Be careful who you take advice from on understanding the Southern dialect.

Y'all = contraction of "you all"

Y'all's = possessive; "you all's stuff"

Y'all're = "you all are"

I'm a true Southerner, and even better, I'm a Southern writer---meaning, I know how we talk, and I know how to write how we talk. (And I know the proper ways to talk and write standard American English, too.)

As for "all of y'all's stuff": that is the proper way of writing it, but in speech, the "of" would probably be dropped: "all y'all's stuff."

"We don't have an accent; God talks like we do."
-- the late Lewis Grizzard

Bullgrit

Total Bullgrit

This is my understanding as well.

I'm particularly fond of y'all'd've, which is (basically) you all would have.

I don't have much of an accent any more, living in Yankee country, but I occasionally slip into it on a difficult call.

Brad

 

[crystal]

rotflmao, This is so funny. I am from Texas, and I have a heavy accent. I never knew it till I was in Chicago a few years back...I opened my mouth, and every one shut up and stared at me...so emberrasin....I actualy heard my self for the first time...Though I know nuthin bout spellin words, I do know how we say them....well I say them all.....lol....