A new one on me y'all guys

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Oct 3, 2012, at 6:44 AM, Jon Lighter wrote:

> Never have I heard "y'all guys."

following up on Alice Faber's:

> From a caller to the XM baseball channel this morning.
>
> Pronouns accurate, the rest approximate: "They haven't been listening to
> y'all's show; y'all guys have been saying...."

(with Alice saying it was new for her).

i'm familiar with it in both speech and writing, and there are lots of ghits for it. a typical example:

  Hey y'all guys, i need your 100% honest opinion. I've been considering the Naval Academy for over 2 years now, and I really am lookin into it.
  http://www.formspring.me/glitterwars/q/362295958656018568

it would in fact be astonishing if the variant didn't occur with some frequency, given the frequency of vernacular 2pl "you guys" (especially in vocatives) and the use of y'all for 2pl in the South etc.

arnold

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org