[Ads-l] us-uns, they-uns

Tue Apr 7 00:51:58 UTC 2026

I'm reminded of a compliment from the legendary football coach Bum Phillips
(about the even more legendary Bear Bryant?): "He can take his-uns and beat
your-uns, and then he can take your-uns and beat his-uns."  (Sometimes
quoted in the singular collective "his'n...your'n", although presumably Bum
would have wanted to avoid the potential homophony.)

LH

On Mon, Apr 6, 2026 at 2:49 PM Jonathan Lighter <
00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> "Them-uns" ain't in that big book o' yourn either !  What's wrong with them
> people ?
>
> DARE has "them-uns" (subj. & obj.) from 1865-1969, with both cases in the
> same source.
>
> It has "they-uns," likewise, from 1864-2005, but "yinz" (in IPA) only from
> 1981, and that from the "Inland Gulf Region."
>
> DARE has an 1862 subj. "us-uns," again from David Ross Locke as above.
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Apr 6, 2026 at 2:04 PM Laurence Horn <
> 00001c05436ff7cf-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > I’m away from the internet but I’d have thought “them-uns” ( even as
> > subject) would be more likely than “they-uns”.
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
> > > On Apr 6, 2026, at 11:56 AM, Jonathan Lighter <
> > 00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > Ignoring the several obvious typos above...I'm wondering if "yinz,"
> the
> > > Western Pa. version  of "you-uns," originated long ago in "ye-uns,"
> > unknown
> > > to OED.
> > > (Their 1810 ex. of "you uns," from Pa., is spelled "youns," which IMO
> > could
> > > represent either "you-uns" or "ye-uns.")
> > >
> > > 1879 _ Inter-Ocean_   (Chicago, Ill.) (Sept. 20) 12 [GenealogyBank]:
> > > What's ye'uns names?    [Fiction set out west; notice it's possessive.]
> > >
> > > 1892 _Racine Daily Times_ (July 6) 5 [Ibid.]: Who be ye'uns?  [Civil
> War
> > > fiction: speaker is from NC.]
> > >
> > > 1893 _Evansville [Ind.] Journal_ (Nov. 23) 3 [Ibid.]: Ye uns air all
> > solid
> > > fur the ticket.
> > >
> > > 1901 _Anderson [S.C.] Intelligencer_  (March 13) 8 [Ibid]: Ye uns can't
> > say
> > > that.
> > >
> > > 1901 _Times-Picayune_ (N.O.) (Aug. 18) 27 [Ibid.]: The varmints 'ud be
> > plum
> > > 'shamed ter claim kin ter ye uns.   [Fiction set in Tenn.]
> > >
> > > Etc., etc.
> > >
> > > The earliest "yinz" I've seen, so spelled,  is from Pittsburgh as
> > recently
> > > as 1968, when it was noted as "singular and plural."
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > >> On Mon, Apr 6, 2026 at 10:11 AM Jonathan Lighter <
> > wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > >> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> Neither is in OED. I confess "they-uns" sounds unfamiliar. OED
> actually
> > >> has a 1954 ex. hidden in a citation for "slow," n., but nothing else.
> > (OED
> > >> does included "we-uns.")
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> 1864 _New-London Chronicle_ (Apr. 14) 1 [Genealogy Bank]:  Genuine
> > Alabama
> > >> poetry...It's hard for yoe 'uns [sic] and we uns to part/ For us 'uns
> > all
> > >> know you have got we uns heart.
> > >>
> > >> 1864 [David Ross Locke] _The Nasby Papers_ (Indianapolis: C. O.
> Perrine)
> > >> 38: Nacher intended  em to rool and us uns to serve.
> > >>
> > >> 1865 [David Ross Locke, in] _New-Orleans Times_ (July 3) 12
> > >> [GenealogyBank]:  A proud, high-sperited people like us uns.
> > >>
> > >> 1865 _Hancock Jeffersonian_ (Findlay, O.) (Oct. 13) 3 [GenealogyBank]
> > >> [cartoon captions]: Us uns receiving the returns. They uns ditto.
> > >>
> > >> 1866 _N.Y. Tribune_ (Nov. 3) 4 [Ibid.]: I had to do it, else they uns
> > >> would have killed we uns.
> > >>
> > >> 1867 _Daily Missouri Democrat_ (Dec. 4) 3 [Ibid.]: New Grammar...We
> uns
> > >> done it. You uns done it. They uns done it.
> > >>
> > >> 1868 _Bossier Banner_ (Benton, La.) (Jan. 25) 3 [Ibid.]: "They uns"
> have
> > >> served "we uns" likewise.
> > >>
> > >> 1868 _Springfield [Mass.] Republican_ (Mar. 13) 2 [Ibid.] : Grinning
> at
> > >> the mad pranks "they-uns" play [in Alabama].
> > >>
> > >> 2003 _Winston-Salem Journal_ (Apr. 26) 11: 'They-uns' have memories
> from
> > >> childhood.
> > >>
> > >> The geographical spread in the 1860s is remarkable.  One reason for
> the
> > >> evidently very late appearance of these terms in print must surely be
> > that
> > >> writing was scarce about life in the Southern Appalachians befor the
> > Civil
> > >> War (and even later than that).
> > >>
> > >> "Uns" forms seem to have made quite an impression Yankees when they
> > >> encountered them. (Except possibly those from W. Pa., where "youns" is
> > >> documented as aerly as 1810).
> > >>
> > >> JL
> > >> --
> > >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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