Here in Pittsburgh (Western PA), some locals refer to themselves (orally and
on bumper stickers) as "yinzers" - derived from the use of "yinz" for the
plural "you." This feature of the local dialect ("Pittsburghese") is viewed
by locals with humor and a kind of self-deprecating pride, as in "we think
it sounds awful, but this is who we are." Some local sociolinguistics have
done interesting research on Pittsburghers' attitudes toward their own
dialect.

There are various Pittsburghese "translation" websites (e.g.,
www.pittsburghese.com), one of which translates John Kennedy's famous line
as: "Ask not wah yinzes country can do fer you n'at. Ask wah yinz can do fer
yinzes country."

I don't know if yinz is the same as Warren's "y'uns." Perhaps "y'uns" is
more common in rural areas in Western PA?
Amanda


On 9/25/07 4:38 PM, "Warren Sieme" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> My Mom was from Western Pennsylvania. She would never think of
> referring to the plural you as "you all," or as "y'all." To her, if
> more than one of you were going somewhere, it would be, "Are y'uns
> goin' dawntawn?" If it was a really big group, it would be "y'unses"
> 
> 
> Warren
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Veit, Richard <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 1:57 pm
> Subject: Y'all and you guys
> 
> 
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> I had the reverse experience from the one
> Bill Spruill quoted:
> 
>  
> 
> As
> a native Southerner, I was amused (but not very surprised) to notice
> that my
> students in Michigan
> have their own plural version as well ­ ³you guys.² It¹s
> used for both men and women (so the ³guys² part doesn¹t have
> its usual masculine connotation) and, as kind of a clencher for the
> argument
> that it¹s acting as a unitary pronoun, the possessive in informal speech
> is ³you guys¹s² (the last word sounds exactly like ³guises²).
> 
>  
> 
> As a freshly transplanted Northerner in Wilmington, North
>   Carolina, thirty years ago, I was invited by my chair
> to play tennis. Some confusion arose about which tennis balls on the
> court
> belonged to whom, and when the student on the adjacent court asked me,
> ³Y¹all
> got all y¹all¹s balls?² I knew I wasn¹t in Iowa any more.
> 
>  
> 
> Dick Veit
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Richard Veit
> 
> Department of English
> 
> University of North Carolina Wilmington
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Amanda Godley, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
English Education
University of Pittsburgh
5111 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
412-648-7313

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