Re: Proper y'all usage

[Dave Paris <dparis () w3works com>]

Gary,

This is, quite possibly, the penultimate explanation I have ever seen - 
and dead-on accurate.

There's only one notable exception that I could possibly think of.. 
"made".  I simply cannot understand where the derivation comes from - 
but primarily used with reference to photographs, in sentences such as 
"All ya'll's fixin ta get yer picture made?" - where "made" is used as 
"taken" or "picture made" would be "photographed".

So, uhh.. nex' time youz finds youzself in Roch., NY, mebbe we'z could 
has a beah?  YaknowwhadImean?  ;-)

In Hilarity,  # read twice, that is *NOT* "Hilary"
-d :)

Gary Warner wrote:
> Dave Paris wrote:
> > Just to ensure proper Southern grammar:
> >
> > ya'll - singular
> > all ya'll - plural
> > all ya'll's - plural posessive
> >
> > .. hey, my wife escaped from Alabama, what can I say? ;-)
>
> Dave,
>
> As a former Yankee, who is a CURRENT resident of Alabama, I felt that a
> deeper explanation was probably needed.
>
> y'all
>  - a contraction of "you all", which is a reordering of "all of you".
>  - proper usage:
>
>       Y'all should come over for lunch after church.
>
> compare with the Chicago version of my youth:
>
>       Youse guys should come over for a drink after the game.
>
> Unfortunately many in rural Alabama, which includes the majority of the
> older population, improperly use this as a singular pronoun, as Dave
> mentions.  Even their children, who are better fed, better educated, and
> even go on to college and a real job, often retain the linguistic
> patterns of their youth, so that even professionals and business people
> betray their heritage by using the improper form of the word.  Instead
> of being used as "you all", it is frequently used to replace the word "you".
>
>    Jim Bob:  Hey Bubba, How y'all doing?
>    Bubba:    Jes fine, Jim Bob. How y'all?
>
> When I'm feeling especially Yankee and I'm greeted in this manner, I
> reply in a smart-ass way, to help keep the concept of "the damned
> Yankee" alive and well:
>
>    Jim Bob: Hey Gar, How y'all doing?
>    Gar:     All of us are fine, Jim Bob.  How are all of you?
>
> Of course this means that I am less often invited to lunch at Full Moon
> BarBQ, where the sign proclaims "You can smell our butts for miles!".
> But that's ok, I prefer sushi anyway.
>
> It is also frequently further contracted with the word "what", so that
> the phrase "what are you doing?", which is contracted to "what're you
> doing?" or even "watcha doing?" in other parts of the country, here is
> contracted to "watchall doing?"  (What are you all => watchall).
>
> Those who use "y'all" as a singular then faced the fact that they could
> not tell the difference between the singular and plural pronouns, and so
> they developed the phrase "all y'all".  (However, y'all is freely mixed
> as singular or plural in most scenarios.  The use of "all y'all" is
> considered "more rural" than the typical interchangeable use.)
>
>    Bubba:     Emma Sue, y'all wanna go hear some music tonight?
>    Emma Sue:  I cain't, Bubba.  I'm fixin' to go to church with my cousins.
>    Bubba:     That's ok, all y'all could come after church.
>    Emma Sue:  Hmmm.  We might could at that!  Could you carry us?
>    Bubba:     Great!  What time is all y'all's church over?
>
> (Helpful notes:
>
> "fixin'" is used as "about to", but has its roots in
> "preparing to" or "getting ready to".
>
>     I'm fixin' to go to bed.
>     American Idol is fixin' to start!
>     We was jes fixin' to eat.
>
> "Might could" is roughly the equivalent of "Might be able to" or "could
> possibly".
>
> "Carry" means "to provide a ride".
>
>     D'y'all think you might could carry me home after work?
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