[Ads-l] from the Times again

[Laurence Horn]

--a letter to the editor suggesting an ingenious solution to the question of preferred third-person singular pronouns:  just use the second-person plural.

What are y’all talking about? The perfect gender-neutral pronoun has been in use in the South ever since the 1630s, and y’all should know that. 
Plus, it sure sounds much more pleasing to the ear in conversation than throwing an odd “they” around, y’all. Y’all need to get your act together. 

==Joseph C. Kopacz, Prospect, Ky.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/magazine/the-4-316-issue.html <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/magazine/the-4-316-issue.html> [last letter]

So "Chris wants y'all to give y'all more caviar and grits", with the second y'all but not the first interpreted as coreferential to the subject.  Yeah, that'll work.  "I" is a gender-neutral pronoun too, and it's even singular--and it's been around longer than the 1630s.  

LH  


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