Y'all and No?

Natalie Maynor maynor at CS.MSSTATE.EDU
Thu Mar 29 17:15:29 UTC 2001


Douglas Bigham:

> Does anyone know if, in the 'lects where this is 2nd person plural, has "y'all" has taken on a more polite meaning than "you"?

That has been suggested, but I'm not yet convinced of it.  The only times
I ever hear "y'all" used to a single person are institutional or
associative uses -- which are perhaps related to politeness, of course.
   --Natalie Maynor (maynor at ra.msstate.edu)



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