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All y'all read this...

All y'all read this...

All y'all read this...

(OP)
Just a little tidbit I picked up somewhere last summer in the deep, dark parts of the South. Those of us who grew up north of the Mason-Dixon line (or elsewhere in the world outside of the southern United States) need to be educated on this issue:

Y'all is singular.

All y'all is plural.

xnuke

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RE: All y'all read this...

Actually, I think "Y'all" may be either singular or plural, depending on context.

"Y'all need s'mo sweet'ee" works for either an individual or a whole table full.

For those who have never visited the Southern US that expands to "Would you (you all) like another glass of sweetened ice tea?"

Of course if the waitress didn't know if you were drinking sweet tea or plain tea the exchange would go something like this:

Waitress:  "Y'all need m'o tee sugar?"

Diner:  "Yes'um"

Waitress:  "Swee or no?"

Diner:  "Swee."

Aren't regional dialects fun?

RE: All y'all read this...

Good thread.  This begs the question, what is "standard" English?  I vote for the dialect of the midwest, but then I am from Wisconsin.  When I was in college at the University of Illinois, someone said that midwest English is the most correct because that is how most of the people on television and in the movies speak.

DaveAtkins

RE: All y'all read this...

My opinion:
y'all is plural.
all y'all is roughly the same as y'all, except perhaps meant to emphasize that the sentence is applicable to everyone one of the members of y'all.

Give me an example of y'all used as singular.

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RE: All y'all read this...

"Y'all ain't from 'round here are ya?"

Works for an individual or a group.

"All y'all" is always plural.

Note also that all forms of "y'all" appear to be gender-neutral.

RE: All y'all read this...

You may be right but I just don't see it that way.

Out of curiosity, I would like to hear from a native southerner that uses the term "y'all", whether he/she considers it plural or singular.

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RE: All y'all read this...

Speaking as a southerner, I consider the term "y'all" to be a collective noun.  As such, it can be either singular or plural, based on its usage.  When the term is used towards a group of people, referring to the people as a single group, then it is singular.  On the other hand, when used to address a group of people, but each one individually, then it’s plural.

Consider the following.  A tour group has made reservations at a restaurant, but they have agreed in advance that everyone will get the order the same meal.  When the server approaches the table and asks, “What y’all having?” the usage is singular.  But if each one is to order individually, when the server asks, “What y’all having?” the usage is plural.

RE: All y'all read this...

"All y'all" is simply redundant.

RE: All y'all read this...

(OP)
Thanks for clearing all that up, y'all!

xnuke

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RE: All y'all read this...

"When the term is used towards a group of people, referring to the people as a single group, then it is singular."

But this useage refers to more than one person, right?  Call it plural or singular I don't care... I agree y'all can be applied to a group.

"But if each one is to order individually, when the server asks, 'What y’all having?' the usage is plural."

Not sure why addressing one person individually is considered plural.  

So far, I am just questioning the useage of the terms 'plural' and 'singular'.  That is not really that important to understanding the useage of y'all.  Here is a question I most want to clarify:  If you were in a restaurant by yourself, would you ever expect the waitress to ask “What y’all having?”

(my answer: no)

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RE: All y'all read this...

Merriam Webster says y'all is a variant of "you all"

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=you-all

Main Entry: you-all  
Pronunciation: yü-'ol, 'yü-"; 'yol
Function: pronoun
chiefly Southern : YOU -- usually used in addressing two or more persons or sometimes one person as representing also another or others   

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RE: All y'all read this...

To summarize, my belief is that Merriam Webster supports what CajunC has said.  

My belief is that Merriam Webster does not support support what was suggested by xnuke (y'all is singular) or MintJulep (Y'all need s'mo sweet'ee" works for either an individual...)

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RE: All y'all read this...

I once had the opportunity to visit the fine state of Alabama for 9 months in order to get a design into production. I, being from New York, was immediately given a lesson in southernese.

"Y'all" is used when addressing 2 or more people.

"Sweetee" is something you drink.

"Bad wrong" is when a plan goes awry.

"Corn pone and fried ocre (pronounced o-kree)" come with the bbq special.

It's pronounced pecahn pie not peecan pie. I was told a peecan is what you keep under your bed.

On the subject of my visit:
"Yankees are like hemorrhoids, if they come down then go back up, everything is fine. But if they come down and stay, then we got a problem".

RE: All y'all read this...

I was going to comment on the Atlanta speech patterns when I remembered that Atlanta is a Northern City.

RE: All y'all read this...

Down Under, you will often hear "youse" as the plural form of "you". For example, when a restaurant waiter approaches a table of diners, you may hear:

"Are youse ready to order yet?"

(Possibly spelt "yous" or "yooze" - I'm not sure. It isn't listed in my Macquarie Australian Dictionary, but it is in very common usage, nevertheless, and not just in restaurants.)

Somehow, it sounds perfectly at home in a classic Aussie Bush Pub, but it definitely jars when you hear it from a waiter in a 5-star restaurant. (And you do!)

RE: All y'all read this...

jmw
I think you might be confusing Atlanta (Georgia) with Alantic City (New Jersey)
Atlanta is in the South as far as I'am concerned "all y'all".

pennpoint

RE: All y'all read this...

Fair questions electricpete.

Quote (electricpete):

"When the term is used towards a group of people, referring to the people as a single group, then it is singular."  But this useage refers to more than one person, right?
No, I don't think it refers to more than one person.  It refers to the group as a single entity, because the group is acting as one.  No distinction is being made for any individual in the group.  The "subject" is the one group.  Much in the same way, as when the Judge asks, has the jury reached a verdict?  (Have y'all reached a verdict?)  Is "jury" singular or plural?  I vote for singular because it is a single entity outside of the deliberations room.

Quote:

But if each one is to order individually, when the server asks, 'What y’all having?' the usage is plural." ... Not sure why addressing one person individually is considered plural.
This is because you are not addressing one person individually.  You are addressing everyone at the same time.  You are addressing each individual in the group, asking the question in parallel if you will.

In this second example, you talk of addressing one person individually, but that is really more likely in the first case.  It happens in the singular case, with the one person being the spokesman for the group, just as the Foreman speaks the jury’s single voice.

These are common confusion areas when dealing with collective nouns.

RE: All y'all read this...

Sorry electricpete, forgot to answer your question.  If by myself in a restaurant, I would not expect the server to ask "What y’all having?" -- nor would I be surprised to hear it.  However, I do agree, that the use of "y'all" would be wrong in that case.  Please do not interpret that to mean that y'all cannot be singular, but that it's inappropriate to use a collective noun outside of the collection.

RE: All y'all read this...

Nope, Pennpoint, Atlanta Georgia is referred to by the dwellers in the outlying areas as being full of "damn yankees" and regarded as a northern city.

This maybe a hangover from the Civil War, but none the less, out in Gwinnet for one, that's how they think of it. I guess the further from Atlanta you go, or the deeper into the mountains, the more this view prevails among rural folk. I have to say that some of them are catching on to the fact that there is now, or was recently, a significant influx of Californians who found the standard of living every bit as good as California but the cost much less. Whether this view holds up after an ice storm or two or in a long hot humid summer, i don't know.

RE: All y'all read this...

Help me out please.  What is "Pennpoint, Atlanta Georgia".  Where is it?  What exactly is Pennpoint?

RE: All y'all read this...

Pennpoint is the member who posted above saying i must be thinking of Atlantic city.
If he had been John Hancock I would have said, "Nope, John Hanncock, Atlanta Georgia....."

Atlanta is a city in Georgia. Gwinnet is a county to the east of Atlanta named for Button Gwinnet, a signatory to the declaration of independance (like John Hancock as in "put your John Hancock there.." meaning sign there please).

RE: All y'all read this...

Thanks jmw - my misunderstanding.  In any event, from where I am, Atlanta is north.

RE: All y'all read this...

I suspected as much from your handle, and that you are living in Arcadia. I guess you don't have too many carpet-baggers there?

RE: All y'all read this...

Not Arcadia - that is in Maine I believe.
Cajun Country is call Acadiana.

RE: All y'all read this...

I am a native of Pittsburgh Pa. and hereabouts there is a similar expression to Y'all. It is, "Youns", or "Yunz". My guess is that its roots are in the words "you ones", which would make it an even greater, and less understandable, perversion of the language than "Y'all". It is used to adress one individual, or several.

With reference to "Y'all"--I have a cousin who is a native of Florida and he has adressed me, individually,  as "Y'all". (Actually the first full sentence of one phone call I had from him was, "So, what Y'all up to good?)

Boring, but true anecdote about this topic:  Back in my college days my girlfriend, my best friend, and I went to Virginia to visit a friend of his. For several days we were adressed by everybody we met as "Y'all". My mom is also a native Pittsburgher, so you can imagine my reaction when we arrived home and the first words out of her mouth were , "So, what did you all do all weekend?"

RE: All y'all read this...

Hi digger.  Is it possible your cousin in Florida was asking about you and your family/friends?

My experience living in Texas for 10 years: y'all applies to multiple people.

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RE: All y'all read this...

MintJulep,

I've been down here in North Carolina for about seven years, and if one orders tea here, it's generally assumed iced and sweet.  Sometimes the waitress does ask but I'll usually volunteer what I prefer.  [I have probably surprised a lot of wait staff by requesting it half-n-half until I know how sweet the standard mix is.]

And if I'm at a restaurant by myself, I usually get called "sweetie" not "y'all", though by now I probably wouldn't notice.  On the other hand, I seem to remember (from a semi-Southern childhood) that once it was common for the store clerks to say "Y'all come back".  But that was another time, another place.

jmw,
Parts of the Triangle [as in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill] where I live, are very Southern; other parts are "Northern Containment Zones".  I can see where Atlanta, GA would be considered a Northern city by the natives of the area (those few who were born there).

jlg

RE: All y'all read this...

After hearing, "youse guys" from those above the mason-dixon line; us southern boys felt it gentler and kinder to say y'all.  Come see us now, y'all hear.
Alpharetta

RE: All y'all read this...

sqdjlg
In the parts Georgia known to me, "Y'all come back, now y'hear" was/is common among the locals. So to is the greeting of all with "Hi how y'all doin today?" and has the wonderful benefit of being a natural expression of the people and not the false bonhommie of the shop girls "Have a nice day". Getting a bit diluted with all those northerners and Californians moving in though.

Of course, i have to struggle to understand my cousin after he moved up into the hills and appeared to revert a couple of generations, much given to homilies like "That thar knife wouldn't cut a stick of hot butter."

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