# Wildest Bill and Others: Why Do Y'all Say "Ya'll?" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 15, 2001, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wildest-bill-and-others-why-do-yall-say-yall/54538 "2001-02-15T02:41:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2001, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wildest-bill-and-others-why-do-yall-say-yall/54538/21 "2001-02-15T21:17:01Z")
Phil, Moutbreather-can I just say that yinz kick serious ass? I never say, “y’all.” I say, yinz. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2001, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wildest-bill-and-others-why-do-yall-say-yall/54538/22 "2001-02-15T22:32:31Z")
**Modian** , what source were you quoting there? You didn’t name it. **Wildest Bill** , it’s spelled “y’all.” Any other spelling is wrong. I know you said “ya’ll” makes 50% of the people happy, but c’mon now: you don’t want to make _me_ unhappy, do you? I’ve always felt the distinction between _y’all_ and _all y’all_ has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2001, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wildest-bill-and-others-why-do-yall-say-yall/54538/23 "2001-02-15T23:53:09Z")
**Five** , why is that spelling correct and _ya’ll_ incorrect? It’s not like the spelling of **ain’t** is regular, apostrophically speaking. _Ya’ll_ looks better than _y’all_. Amn’t I right? -fh ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wildest-bill-and-others-why-do-yall-say-yall/54538/24 "2001-02-16T01:43:22Z")
Okay, I stand corrected, it’s second person plural. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wildest-bill-and-others-why-do-yall-say-yall/54538/25 "2001-02-16T01:55:04Z")
y’all seems spelled correctly. ya’ll seems like it would not only be an improper contraction (since the apostrophe doesn’t replace the missing letter(s)) but it would actually be pronounced differently. Not “yawl” but “ya-awl”. Anyway, being a yank I’ve never liked it. Any time I hear it used I invariably interrupt the conversation and ask, “If you all is y’all, is we all w’all?[pronounced, of course, as “wall”]” Never fails to receive dumb looks. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wildest-bill-and-others-why-do-yall-say-yall/54538/26 "2001-02-16T13:29:49Z")
**mouthbreather** , yeah, I spent the bulk of my life in the Greater Cleveland area, so I ran into more than my fair share of Pixburgers. I’ll take you up on that offer, but can I get a Genny Cream Ale instead of an Arn City? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wildest-bill-and-others-why-do-yall-say-yall/54538/27 "2001-02-16T13:44:30Z")
[rant] It’s a contraction, fer chrissakes! Don’t y’all remember contractions from elementary school english? You put the apostrophe where the missing letters are. Sheesh. And it’s not a contraction of “ya all” (who would say that?), it’s a contraction of “ **you** all”. “Ain’t” works the same because it’s a colloquial contraction of “am not”; besides, “ain’t” ain’t a word! [/rant] Phew, I feel better now. ---
**Author:** ![Modian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Modian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Modian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wildest-bill-and-others-why-do-yall-say-yall/54538/28 "2001-02-16T15:14:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Modian, what source were you quoting there? You didn’t name it. Sorry, got it from [http://www.dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com). Entered “ya’ll” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wildest-bill-and-others-why-do-yall-say-yall/54538/29 "2001-02-16T19:10:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aynrandlover \* > \*\*“If you all is y’all, is we all w’all?[pronounced, of course, as “wall”]” > > Never fails to receive dumb looks. \*\* Yeah, I bet it gets dumb looks. Here in the mountains of Virginia (at least my section) we say, “we’uns” pronounced ‘wee-yuns’. Works for me. > [@](#): > > _Southern Accents, by Tom Petty_ > > There’s a southern accent > Where I come from > The young’uns call it country > The yankees call it dumb FTR I spell it “y’all” but there is certainly a strong minority who spells it the other way. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wildest-bill-and-others-why-do-yall-say-yall/54538/30 "2001-02-16T19:26:52Z")
Genny Cream Ale … yummm!! Can anyone send me some Genny Winter Brew? For some reason we didn’t get it down here this year. :(:(☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wildest-bill-and-others-why-do-yall-say-yall/54538.md?page=1)