y'all

[Baker, John]

        The late Joe Creason, a columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal from 1963 to 1974, used to assert that "y'all" could be either singular or plural.  I never understood this, since it was contrary to all of my experience.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: LJT777 at AOL.COM [mailto:LJT777 at AOL.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2003 10:34 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: y'all


Born and raised in the South, I have never heard another Southerner use
"y'all" as a singular.  When you observe one person saying to another, "Y'all come
to see us sometime," the speaker is not referring to the listener alone; what
you are not seeing are the umpteen relatives and/or friends that aren't
present but that both participants know are being referred to.  What you won't see
is one Southerner say to another, "Y'all sure do look pretty this morning."
We also make "y'all" possessive.  Many times I've heard people say something
like "Y'all's programs are on your chairs."