Southern 2nd-person plural double genitive

[Nancy Elliott]

It was the -r in "your guyses" (OK, "your guys'") that amused me.
Nancy

> From: Mark Odegard <markodegard at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 02:25:36 -0500
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Southern 2nd-person plural double genitive
>
> Actually, "you-guyses'" is correct. Guy is countable, thus
> 'guys'. The plural possessive is thus -- guys' --, or if you
> insist, -- guyses'. But few would add a second s after the
> plural of guy, to make it a homophone of guises. But I
> remember times at Rock Bottom on 86th St at 4th Ave where "you
> guys's" is heard.
>
> A guy is any male or female co-worker. Not complicating the
> plural possesive by simply making it a final apostrophe solves
> a lot of aesthetic problems.
>
>> And then there's "your-guyses," which I hear all the time...
>>
>> Nancy Elliott
>> Southern Oregon University
>
>