"Y'all" as a singular mode of address

In My Humble Opinion
1

After hijacking the recent thread on Dan Quayle, I figure this post deserves a thread of its own. My questions:

  1. Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural?
  2. If not, what is used by youse guys?
  3. Do you ever use y’all when addressing (and in reference to) an individual?
  4. If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise?
  5. And finally, where are y’all from?
2
  1. Yes.
  2. See above.
  3. Nope.
  4. Nope.
  5. Georgia.

My hypothesis? Y’all in the singular is a Texas thing. Prove me wrong.

3
  1. Yes
  2. See 1.
  3. Never. “Y’all” is a second person plural pronoun. “Y’all’s” is a second person plural possessive. Any other use is incorrect and a pretty good sign the speaker ain’t from around here.
  4. Nope. See 3.
  5. Kentucky
4
  1. Rarely, but I do. Though often I go into redundancy, and use “all y’all”
  2. “You” (I know, how descriptivist of me…)
  3. Well, yes.
  4. Usually when I’m addressing an individual as a representative of a larger group, often for rhetorical reasons.
  5. Well, I learned to talk outside of Toronto, spent from ages 5-18 outside Boston, and a small eternity in the south and the military.
    ETA: For those who will tell me that I’m using y’all wrong, I have to admit that’s part of the fun of using the word. :wink:
5

I never use y’all, but I have been addressed as y’all, even when all by myself. It always makes me want to look around and see who else the person is talking to. Many of the same people who use y’all for a singular pronoun use “all y’all” as the plural.

6
  1. No
  2. You
  3. No
  4. No
  5. Northeastern Illinois
7

  1. Yes, informally I frequently use “y’all” for second person plural.

  2. N.A.

  3. I rarely use “y’all” when addressing an individual.

  4. I might use “y’all” when teasing a fellow Southerner who would know that I was intentionally using dialect in a friendly way when I said something such as, “Y’all don’t rightly cotton to Hi-Wa-Yan shirts, do ya?”

  5. I’m originally from West Tennessee (the land of Bar-B-Q, blues, Tina Turner and Earle Palmer Halliburton), but I moved to Nashville forty years ago – the home of Ben the prison guard.

8
  1. Yes
  2. N/A
  3. Sorta.
  4. Only if I was referring to the individual and his larger group. For example, asking a Yankee about beer: “What do y’all drink up there?”. The use of “y’all” clearly indicates that I’m asking about the customs of a larger group of people, not of an individual.
  5. North Florida, although I now live in Texas and usage is the same.
9
  1. Yes.
  2. See above.
  3. No. All = more than one.
  4. Y’all- when you want to address more than one You’s in a group. (Y’all on the left do X, and y’all on the right do Y" but I also use it for just addressing groups of people).
  5. Virginia- the Yorktown/Williamsburg/Lynchburg area all my life.
10
  1. Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural?
    Yes
  2. If not, what is used by youse guys?
    n/a
  3. Do you ever use y’all when addressing (and in reference to) an individual?
    No
  4. If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise?
    No
  5. And finally, where are y’all from?
    Texas. I never used it growing up in Ohio, though. It was a foreign expression.
11
  1. Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural? Yes
  2. If not, what is used by youse guys? See above
  3. Do you ever use y’all when addressing (and in reference to) an individual? Yes
  4. If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise? n/a
  5. And finally, where are y’all from? West Virginia
12
  1. Yup.
  2. Nope.
  3. Um, I suppose there might be, but I can’t think of one right now.
  4. California, previously Ohio (back when I was a young’n). Some of my speech is affected by my grandparents (from Arkansas) and my aunt (general redneck from California)
13

Great responses so far, thanks! For question 4, I was interested to see that some of y’all do use it in a way that might confuse non-“natives”, e.g. “what do y’all drink up there” addressed to a northerner. He might not understand that you were taking him as a representative of his group.

But I can see from RoOshe and BaneSidhe response that there might indeed be some regional variation even within a few hundred miles.

14

Whoa whoa whoa. He’s from West VA. There’s a HUGE HUGE Difference between VA (North and South even just in the state) and then comparing us to WEST Virginia. Those guys are a whole 'nother matter.

15

[ol][li]Consistently. Far more than I use “you”. Also, I will sometimes use “all y’all” when talking to a large group.[/li][li]N/A. But my mom used to say “you 'uns”.[/li][li]Never. Y’all is plural and nothing but.[/li][li]Never. ETA: When I am speaking to a single person about his group or area or whatever, I will use “y’all” to refer to him and his group. “Well we don’t do that here. How do y’all do it?” to a single person is acceptable.[/li][*]27 of my 29 years I have spent in Florida. Born of Hoosier parents who brought me here when I was 2.[/ol]

16
  1. Yes
  2. “You” generally, but “youse” if I’m being a smartarse.
  3. Yes, when I’m being a smartarse.
  4. when I’m being a smartarse.
  5. Sydney.
17

Yes, but I meant that you are within some kind of geographical proximity, aren’t you? No more than 200 miles, from what I can garner from Google Maps. I think that makes the difference even more interesting.

Are there other ways that West Virginians stand out from Virginians in terms of dialect? Any difference in ethnic background?

18
  1. Occasionally
  2. Most of the time I say “you guys”
  3. Never for an individual
  4. N/A
  5. I lived a good part of my childhood near Atlanta, which is where I picked up the habit in the first place. It tends to come out when I’m around other people from the South.
19
  1. All the time.
  2. n/a
  3. Every now and then, to one person. Usually it’s as Bambi and RoOsh mentioned.
  4. I’ll have to think about it. I know I do, but very rarely.
  5. Mississippi, y’all. :wink:
20
  1. Yes
  2. See above
  3. Yes
  4. When I mean, “you and people like you”, or, “you and your ilk”; i.e., when I’m mad.
  5. I’m from (Ssshhh! San Bruno, CA) but I’ve lived a long time in Oakland.