"Y'all" as a singular mode of address

In My Humble Opinion
21
  1. Yes
  2. N/A
  3. Yes
  4. When speaking to an individual, but refering to him/her as part of a larger group, eg “What do y’all do for fun around here?”
  5. Middle Tennessee, but raised in Indiana where “you’ns” was the preferred term.
22
  1. Yes
  2. See above.
  3. No
  4. See above.
  5. Mississippi

I’ve managed to corrupt several of my non-southern friends/colleagues (including one from Japan) into using y’all quite adeptly. I also despite, my English degree and tendency to hold speaking correctly quite highly, regularly include “fixing to” in my daily speech :).

23
  1. Yep, and I have also been guilty of the “all y’all”.
  2. I’ll also use the collective “you” or “you guys.”
  3. Hell the hell no.
  4. Hell the hell no, as even asking “how do y’all do it?” would be inquiring about a group, not about the single individual who I’m asking.
  5. Minnesota, Michigan, Virginia, Michigan, Virginia. Picked up the “y’all” during my first stint in Virginia and never managed to lose it.

I’ll agree with the people who say that West Virginia, Southern Virginia and Northern Virginia are all quite different from each other.

West Virginia tends to skew Appalachian hillbilly/coal miner pretty heavily. I’ll make clear this is NOT ALL OF WEST VIRGINIA - but it really skews that way. Some of the accents are so heavy they sound a bit like Welsh (“cow” pronounced “cae,” for instance).

“Regular” Virginia which I figure starts just south of Fredericksburg is schizophrenic. Used to be the Capital of the Confederacy, but far enough north that they’re kind of embarassed about it for the most part.

Northern Virginia is pretty much Washington DC Sprawl. High-tech, high-speed. People in Northern Virginia think the rest of Virginia is a drain on the resources they produce with their Big Brains and Intellectual Superiority. Southern Virginia thinks that the Northern Virginia people take advantage of “southern hospitality” to push their librull agenda.

Southwest Virginia might as well be Tennessee or West Virginia.

24

Q1. Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural?

A1. Yes

Q2. If not, what is used by youse guys?

A2. See above

Q3. Do you ever use y’all when addressing (and in reference to) an individual?

A3. Never in reference to an individual

Q4. If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise?

A4. See above

Q5. And finally, where are y’all from?

A5. New Orleans

25

I agree with most of those points about. Not to be mean or anything to you W.Va people, but my College Roomate’s father and family was from W.VA and when I met them- wow. Brilliantly smart man, Could BARELY understand him through his accent and mannerisms. He was really nice polite guy, but it took getting used to. Totally NOT the “southern” accent or anything close to it.
I’d consider myself a “regular” Virginian. I like the South, I like my State, but not a fan of the whole We were part of the Confederacy thing. Then again, I’m the first generation of my family to be born and raised here too.
Northern VA- they tend to have an air of superiority, in that they’re from “NoVa” and are a bit more High Tech, and on pace with the rest of the North. They have strong “Northern” identities, and tend to be more dismissive of the Southern parts of VA, and don’t really have the Southern Accents/Culture, but again- it’s as said above- they’re closer to DC, and going up there, it’s all suburbia and really really tightly crammed condos and houses stuck together, all to supply the massive populace of DC with commuters. So at my college in Williamsburg, when someone said they were from Virginia, you could always tend to tell what parts, but the NoVA kids just stood out because they seemed the “least” Virginian in their mannerisms. (While the kids from Lynchburg and the middle portions of VA had the heaviest Accents, and southern mannerisms. I’m nearer to the Coast, which helps “reduce” some of the Southern vibes, because the Coast does tend to have larger more populated cities in it as well, so it kinda spreads outwards depending on which border you are closer to.
Southwest VA- I’ve never met anyone from there, nor know anything about them. The poster above sums up my feelings on them really well suprisingly.

26

  1. Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural? Of course. One needs to be specific about whether one is addressing you (a singular entity, in quantity if not quality) or y’all (a plural collectivity of folks being spoken at, if not necessarily listeners).

  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? Hell no, I am educated!

  4. If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise? I dunno… maybe if I had reason to be in Queen Elizabeth’s presence and she said “We are not amused”, I might respond “Y’all need a better sense of humor”?

  5. And finally, where are y’all from? I don’t know about the rest of these folks, but I’m a New Yorker, transplanted from New Mexico, Georgia, and a handful of other prior places.

27
  1. Yes
  2. N/A (though “you’uns” is not uncommon around here, and sneaks in occasionally)
  3. No
  4. I might ask someone, “How’ve y’all been?” or something like that. In that case I’m not referring only to that one person, but to his family, his crew, etc., because if you’re acquainted with one you’re usually acquainted with all. We understand this.
  5. Kentucky (out in the sticks)

IME, the singular “y’all” is occasionally a Texas or Deep South thing, but it’s mostly a Yankee Trying To Sound Southern thing.

28

I have used y’all as you have described.

I would never use ‘youse’, for some reason it would make me feel like a illiterate hillbilly.

I am from Ontario, Canada. I picked this lingo up from the foreign students I housed with at University. They were from the West Indies.

I still use it from time to time. I like it, and I find it useful. Sometimes it raises eyebrows but I don’t care about such things.

29

1. Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural?
Somewhere between “regularly” and “all the time.”

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. That’s what, IMHO, distinguishes a Southern Belle from a southerner. That and crossing her sevens.

4. If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise?
Affectation of Southern Belledness.

5. And finally, where are y’all from?
Columbia, South Carolina.

30
  1. Yes.
  2. See above.
  3. Nope.
  4. Nope.
  5. Florida.
31

I have never ever heard a southerner address a single person as y’all. I hear it all the time when non-southerners are trying to imitate southerners. I grew up in North Carolina.

32

No. That’s “all y’all”.

Sure. The situation can arise pretty much anywhere, anyhow.

Houston, TX. All y’all come on down and visit, you hear?

33

Surely you’re joking.

34

1 - Often
2 - N/A
3 - Hell no!
4 - Exception: giving one person directions for a group. “Then ya’ll need to turn left when you get of the toll road”
5 - Just outside Dallas

35
  1. Used to but have lost the habit.
  2. Nothing special these day. “All of you” more often than not, I think.
  3. Used to but have lost the habit.
  4. No. Used to be any old time.
  5. Grew up in West Texas.
36

I think you’ve been reading too many humor emails.

37

Y’All typically plural, with the exception of individual being addressed as either an official or unofficial representative of a group, region, firm, etc.
You-ins was also popular where i grew up in eastern Tennessee.
Houston, TX - but only for 4 yrs, so I’m still grouped with those just getting off the plane at IAH.

38
  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, it just ain’t right!
  4. If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise? N/A
  5. And finally, where are y’all from? Jawja, y’all!

Also, seeing y’all spelled ya’ll really, really irks me. Y’all need to learn how to spell y’all!

39
  1. Yes, but mostly ironically,
  2. If I want to be super-humerous, it’s “yins”
  3. Yes, but again, ironically
  4. Y’all refer to #3.
  5. South Jersey, living in Illadelph
40

  1. Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural?
    Yes. Though I prefer “alla’ y’all”.

  2. Do you ever use y’all when addressing (and in reference to) an individual?
    No.

  3. And finally, where are y’all from?
    Northern Indiana.