Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Today's topic is "What's with those people who talk weird?" Therapist grammar Native Atlantan here. Y'all is used to address more than one person. Period. If you hear someone say "you all", they are a Notherner trying to sound Southern. Y'all fills a void in the English language and I hear people all over the world using it. Not en masse but slowly and surely. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=19517#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=19517#Comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:46:44 GMT Omorose Panya grammar I am so glad you made this podcast! I get tired of people blasting others for not speaking the way they do. And the "ye" vs. "thou" is an interesting point. I wish English hadn't just combined them too. I am in Maryland and we say "y'all" all the time, I have never in my life heard "all y'all". At least I don't think... Short version: English needs to be more like Spanish and have an equivalent to "tu," "usted" and "ustedes". http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=18533#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=18533#Comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:57:44 GMT Marcia grammar Hi Grammer Girl. I just discovered your website, and I love it! I have to post on this issue because it is cause for a lot of mistaken down-looking toward Southerners. I am by no means a grammer expert. In fact, I'm sure some of you who are much better will find mistakes in this post. That said, I am college educated and have a doctorate degree. I was also born and raised in Alabama, by a family that has lived in the South for hundreds of years. I was born in the southern part of Alabama, lived there until I was six, and then moved to the northern part. Since then, I have lived and traveled to many places. I have to tell you what I have experienced. I have always heard, and am a very frequent user of, y'all. However, it only refers to two or more people. It is exactly what you see - a contraction of you all. That is plural. Additionally, it needs nothing else to be plural for a larger group. Y'all works for two people or a group of people numbering to infinity. You get the point. As with everywhere else, some people use word the wrong way. I'm sure someone has heard all y'all referring to a group or y'all referring to one person, but they are both wrong. Most people in the South know that. And most people everywhere know that we don't have a monopoly on our citizens butchering our language. So, don't look down at Southerners because we say y'all. However, feel free to think (to yourself) that someone is incorrect when they say all y'all when referring to a group, say y'all when referring to one person, or, the one that bothers me most, spell y'all "ya'll". We (Southerns who know which is correct) do too. Also, Southers who know which is correct also say soft drink, not coke. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=16490#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=16490#Comments Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:03:00 GMT protter42 grammar I recently moved to Alberta, Canada and discovered 'youse guys'...and 'youse guys's' and...'yours guys's'!!! Yes! 'Yours guys's'!! I've heard many a server in a restaurant say 'youse', but had never heard the others before. It is truly scary. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=16262#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=16262#Comments Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:34:58 GMT Bonzi grammar loved this video, also learned that parents can indeed affect regionalisms. For example, i live in cincinnati ohio and my parents tought that the word for "pop" was actually "soda" My mom was raised in california, as was my dad. I still call it soda because thats wat i was exposed to. I can slowly feel myself turning into a cincinnatian, beginning to say "pop" instead of "soda" Thanx for listening!!! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=13998#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=13998#Comments Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:45:57 GMT JulieT grammar Somehow I missed this episode the first time, and I just discovered it in the archive. I'm a native Kentuckian, who spent most of my childhood summers in Tennessee, so I'm qualified to comment on “y'all”. Grammar Girl has it right: "all y'all" generally refers to a larger group of people than "y'all", but it's not incorrect to refer to a larger group as "y'all". This is especially true if the group is cohesive in some manner (e.g. 100 Boy Scouts at the annual jamboree). In addition, "all y'all" can sometimes be analogous to "each and every one of you". This deliberately redundant use emphasizes each individual’s accountability within the group, even if the group is very small. For example, I could say, “All y’all are getting on my nerves.” to three tweens, who are giggling in the backseat while I’m playing amateur chauffer. - - - - - - We usually had two kinds of coke in my childhood home: Pepsi and 7-Up. Sometime in the late eighties or early nineties, the generic term “soft drink” came into fashion. These days, I rarely hear “coke” used to refer to anything other than Coca Cola. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=13777#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=13777#Comments Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:22:37 GMT Jen grammar As a born southern raised by parents from Ohio, I grew up using words like pop and oleo instead of coke and butter. In college, I majored in speech language pathology and fell in love with different aspect of the English language. In my unofficial research (asking and noting my southern friends usage of the words) I have found this to be true: ya-relates to one person (singular) y'all- a group of people (singular group, this group may consist of two or more people) all y'all- group of groups of people (plural groups) One friend asks another- "What are ya doin' on Saturday?" This person is asking one other person for their weekend plans. One friend asks a couple- "What are y'all doin' Saturday?" This question implies the couple will be together during the planned activity. one person asks a large room of people who are obviously in different conversations "Will all y'all come over here so we can start the races?" This person wants the individual groups of people to stop what they are doing and join together into one event. I hope this helps all y'all! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=13200#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=13200#Comments Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:53:52 GMT Jennifer Hinman grammar Y'all is the plural for all groups, and all y'all is a very country-sounding way of saying y'all. I have lived in GA my whole life, and I have found that y'all is considered better English than all y'all. All y'all is from more rural counties. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=12397#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=12397#Comments Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:47:48 GMT matgotdai grammar There are a bunch of interesting regionalisms on Guam. One that is the subject of much local humor is the tendency to use "coke" as a catch-all for a drink at a party. For example, "I'm going to get a coke - you want?" "Yeah." "What kind?" "Ice tea." (And yes, I wrote ice tea.) Or "color" to indicate flavor: "What color ice cream do you want?" "Chocolate." My personal favorites are: * "gimme have it/some" or "gimme try" * "still yet" ("The light is on." "Still yet?") * "Whose own is it?" (Reply: "It's my own." or "I don't know whose own it is.") * "flat" as a verb ("I'm going to flat (pop) your tire" or "He flatted my tire.") * "bushcutter" as a verb, substitute for mow ("He bushcuttered the lawn.") * "stroll" in place "drive" http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=12331#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=12331#Comments Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:19:07 GMT Patti Baldini grammar Mignon, I just listened to your broadcast "What's with those people who talk weird." You are absolutely right regarding the use of the word "ya'll". I was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, attended Forida State University and studied English, and am now an Auctioneer. Talk about butchering the English language. LOL. Anyway, in the South, we address a small gathering of people as "ya'll" and if we're trying to gather a large group, we may say "all of ya'll come this way". So, Mignon, you were absolutely right. I concur. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=11526#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx?commentid=11526#Comments Wed, 23 Jan 2008 04:53:05 GMT Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:46:44 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us