Possessive form of Y'ALL

[Dennis R. Preston]

This is a case of "you all" not being "you all" at all (just like
every "white FISH" is not a "WHITE fish"). If you scan the verse, you
will see that stresses are assigned as follows (to the line is
question):

SO, good NIGHT unTO you ALL.

People who don't even know what what grits are can say "you ALL"; the
bisyllabic southern expression is "YOU all." "you ALL" is not under
discussion here.

(Of course, the "true" southerners who give us monosyllabic 'y'all'
avoid this confusion.)

dInIs

>The OED2 says the "you-all", also spelled "you all", is "U. S. dial" and the
>first citation is from 1824.
>
>However, if you check Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Puck's
>speech which ends the play, you will find the last six lines are (my
>emphasis):
>
>"Now to scape the serpent's tongue,
>We will make amends ere long;
>Else the Puck a liar call.
>So, good night unto YOU ALL.
>Give me your hands, if we be friends,
>And Robin shall restore amends."
>
>      - Jim Landau
>        Systems Engineer
>        FAA Technical Center (ACT-350/BCI)
>        Atlantic City Airport NJ 08405 USA
>
>P.S. For what's it's worth, I habitually say "your-all's" as the genitive
>plural.

--
Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736