john whicker wrote:
> That "y'all" is more common in Colorado is interesting since one state
> farther West in Utah "you guys" is used more often, at least in the
> Northern part of the state. I'm not sure about the Southern regions;
> they tend to exhibit a drawl similar to a Texas accent and may also
> use "y'all" regularly.
>
> John Whicker
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Cynthia Baird <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 9:37 PM
> Subject: Re: Y'all and you guys
>
> Finally! Something I can respond to! The induction/deduction
> posts have been, well, sort of interesting, but have left me int
> he dust messages ago. I've been hoping we could get back to
> something that everyone can relate to and now we have it!
>
> My mother was from Chicago (I grew up in southern Ohio) and her
> "you guys" was definitely a nothern Midwest thing. Now that I
> have lived in Colo. for several decades, I know that "you guys" is
> regional--my students and everyone else look at me like I am crazy
> when I use "you guys" so I have switched to the "y'all" to
> incorporate the "Texas drift" that southern Colo. experiences. I
> also remember my mother using "you'uns" but I never caught on to
> the plural/singular aspect.
>
> Isn't dialect fun?!
>
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> 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 - "you guys." It's used for both men and women
> (so the "guys" part doesn't have its usual masculine
> connotation) and, as kind of a clencher for the argument that
> it's acting as a unitary pronoun, the possessive in informal
> speech is "you guys's" (the last word sounds exactly like
> "guises").
>
> 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, "Y'all got all y'all's balls?" I knew I wasn't
> in Iowa any more.
>
> Dick Veit
> ________________________________
> Richard Veit
> Department of English
> University of North Carolina Wilmington
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ATEG Members,
David Crystal posits that "you'all" is a construction that had its
origins in Plantation English. It originally occurred only in those
places where there was slavery. In Kentucky, for example, "you'all is
generally confined to those regions where slavery existed. "You'uns"
occurs in the mountains where there were few slaves. Interesting theory.
I wonder how true it is?
Marshall
p.s. I once attended a gender equity meeting where the woman leading it
addressed a mixed audience with, "OK, you guys," and was referring to
both men and women. "You guys" has lost its gender significance, I suppose.
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