"Y'all" redux

[Jonathan Lighter]

Would somebody please post a reference to a seemingly intelligent printed source - or any source - that confidently asserts that Southerners address individuals as "y'all"?  It would be nice if the source was more recent than, say, 1930, but I'll take anything.  It would be good to know exactly what it is that is being defended against.

Here's a damnyankee hypothesis for quiet consideration: singular "y'all" used to be far more common than it is today, particularly among the poorest and least educated Southerners of either race. The Dixie patriots who emotionalized the issue eighty and more years ago would see themselves in hell before they'd let any scallywaggin', tail-draggin', carpetbaggin', yellowbellied bluebellies mistake THEM for TRASH!

JL

Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: "Y'all" redux
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On the contrary, it marks those who use "y'all" as a singular as not
really being Southern-speakers. I'd really love to hear "y'all" used as
a singular somewhere other than in books and movies or on TV or radio.
The closest that I've come to that is hearing people, including your
humble correspondent, use both "y'all/you-all" and "you" as plurals in
unmonitored speech.

-Wilson Gray


On Feb 20, 2005, at 3:55 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Re: "Y'all" redux
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>
> Sally, your very admission as a Southerner that you have heard other
> Southerners use "y'all" in the singular will mark you in certain
> quarters as "not really a Southerner" .
>
> JL
>
> "Sally O. Donlon" wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Sally O. Donlon"
> Subject: Re: "Y'all" redux
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> I'm from south Louisiana and I never (AFAIK) use "y'all" in the
> singular. Although I very occasionally hear others use it that way, my
> immediate and automatic impression is that they must be "from away," as
> we say down here, and are trying on the vernacular. Either that, or
> they think that I'm "from away," and are consciously trying to act as
> they believe visitors must perceive as being Southern for my benefit.
> (I'm often asked where I'm from because I don't always have much of the
> local accent. When that happens, I usually say that I'm "from away.")
>
> sally donlon
>
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