Heard: "I'm on *your* guys's side!" [NT]

[Laurence Horn]

On Jan 23, 2013, at 12:44 PM, Herb Stahlke wrote:

> There is also the northern Ohio and upstate NY "youse guys."  Alluding to
> another thread, I've heard "youse" with both /s/ and /z/, although I have
> no idea what the distribution of these variants might be.  "Youse guys"
> also gets used as a possessive.
>
> Herb

Interesting.  I've seen "yous" as well as "youse", but I've only ever heard /yuz/.  (And of course "/yuz/ guys", "/yuz/ guys's", and so on.)  I've never heard /yus/ as a pronoun, in upstate NY, NYC, LI, New England, or elsewhere in the lands of "youse".

LH
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 12:21 PM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
>> Subject:      Re: Heard: "I'm on *your* guys's side!" [NT]
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I've definitely heard "your guys's" in the wild, and have noted its doubly
>> marked possessive at the time.
>>
>> Neal
>>
>> On Jan 23, 2013, at 11:12 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> wrote:
>>
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>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: Heard: "I'm on *your* guys's side!" [NT]
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> On the other hands, the form "guys's'" *is* weird - but not uncommon in
>>> "you guys's."
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 11:04 AM, Jonathan Lighter
>>> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>
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>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>>> Subject:      Re: Heard: "I'm on *your* guys's side!" [NT]
>>>>
>>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Sounds a little odd but not impossible.
>>>>
>>>> JL
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 9:56 AM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>> -----------------------
>>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>> Poster:       Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
>>>>> Subject:      Re: Heard: "I'm on *your* guys's side!" [NT]
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>> Unless "you guys" has grammaticalized as a second plural pronoun, as it
>>>>> seems to have in some Northern dialects.  I know I've used expressions
>>>> like
>>>>> "you guys side" but "your guys side" feels odd, with or without the
>> "'s."
>>>>>
>>>>> Herb
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 4:09 AM, Benjamin Barrett <
>> gogaku at ix.netcom.com
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>>>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>>> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
>>>>>> Subject:      Re: Heard: "I'm on *your* guys's side!" [NT]
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thank you. Now I see the issue.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If my buddy is rooting for team X, then one meaning of "your guys's
>>>> side"
>>>>>> is the side of my buddy's guys. I think that's okay.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But even so, if I have two friends rooting for team X, and I am, too,
>>>>> then
>>>>>> "I'm on your guys's side" sounds right. I don't think I would even say
>>>>> "you
>>>>>> guys's side" though I agree that it doesn't make sense when analyzed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Benjamin Barrett
>>>>>> Seattle, WA
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Jan 23, 2013, at 12:00 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 2:13 AM, Benjamin Barrett <
>>>>> gogaku at ix.netcom.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>> If that's the plural second person possessive, that sounds right to
>>>>> me,
>>>>>> but what do the asterisks mean?...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Stress, like,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "I'm on YOUR guys's side!"
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> as opposed to those guys's side.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> You would say "on your guys's side" and not "on your side" or "on you
>>>>>>> guys' side"? You'd combine the two, using "you guys's"? Interesting.
>>>>>>> You wouldn't write the combo version, though, right?
>>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>>
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