The Southern Gentlemen

[buffcoat]

I imagine they were something like this:


PT 1 The Three Stooges In Uncivil War Birds

[Jason from Huntsville, AL]

By less than a minute in, they had already committed that linguistic mortal sin which is a tell-tale sign of a fake Southerner: Using "y'all" to refer to one person. "Y'all" is plural, y'all.

I expected nothing better out of that lot.

[yesno]

I thought the plural form was "all y'all."

[Jason from Huntsville, AL]

I thought the plural form was "all y'all."

"All y'all" is a super plural, referring to more than one group of people.

[yesno]

Analysis:

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2009

[buffcoat]

You are all correct, and I should know: I served as linguistic consultant to John Schneider and Denver Pyle on the Dukes of Hazzard from 1979-1981 and 1983-1985.

Help Coy and Vance?  GOOD DAY, SIR!

[Jason from Huntsville, AL]

Analysis:

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2009

Interesting reading.

I can personally attest that the only time I've heard anyone use "y'all" in a singular sense is someone on TV pretending to be Southern. I have never heard this in the wild in its natural habitat (my mouth being part of that habitat.)

[yesno]

I think the "implied plural" notion accounts for the instances I may have heard from youse Southerners.

Maybe the same weird forces that made "you" singular in the first place will do their work on "y'all." 

Further discussion of this latter point at the bottom of this page: http://etymonline.com/columns/do-be-thee.htm

[dave from knoxville]

Analysis:

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2009

Interesting reading.

I can personally attest that the only time I've heard anyone use "y'all" in a singular sense is someone on TV pretending to be Southern. I have never heard this in the wild in its natural habitat (my mouth being part of that habitat.)

I have to admit, "hey ya'll"'s been a standard greeting in my workaday vocabulary since I was a boy.

[Boogdish]

I was born in Alabama and raised Texas, and I've always heard "y'all" used as second person plural.  I think it's interested how English doesn't really have a standard for the second person plural and different regions have made up their own words for it, "ya'll" in the south, "yinz" in western PA, "youse" in the east.  I'd be interested in hearing what the other English speaking regions of the globe use for this like in Australia, England, South Africa, etc.

[cavorting with nudists]

In England, there's "you lot," right?

[Sarah]

In Lubec, people say "you" and count on context.

[buffcoat]

In Lubec, people say "you" and count on context.

Then murder each other in the Clamfields.













Too soon?

[fonpr]

Dave,

Perhaps the script should be written right here>

After the RateMyProf submissions.  It seems fool-proof.

Three itinerant "hobos" (they work) meet on the caboose of the Alabama Comet heading towards New Jersey...

[Sarah]

In Lubec, people say "you" and count on context.

Then murder each other in the Clamfields.













Too soon?

Hey, that was never proven.