Want to turn heads in a small college town in Northern California? Go into the local Starbucks and ask the attendants, "How are y'all?"The user of that contracted form of "you all" attains immediate recognition as one not from those parts, followed by the inevitable "Where are you from?" I experienced that quite a bit earlier this summer.
So the question arises, especially for one rhetorically and poetically inclined in the profession of letters, "Is 'y'all' a legitimate word?" I've never thought of it as otherwise, but then again, I was raised in the Deep South.
Thus, I was gratified, at least according to one source, Wikipedia, that the word conforms to an acknowledged standard spelling ("y'all" as opposed to the incorrect "ya'll") and even an acknowledged possessive form: "y'all's." I was pleased to discover such linguistic acceptance., for like many Southerners, I feel compelled to be defensive about our speech and our usage because some non-Southerners judge our regional vernacular as sub-standard. They often base that judgment solely on our accent, even when we otherwise follow conventional usage standards for formal English.
Admittedly, Wikipedia consigns "y'all" to informal as opposed to formal usage situations. But I can live with that. I'm just pleased that credible sources accept and acknowledge our regional linguistic values and tradtions.
Now the next question: Why is the way we speak seemingly more important to Southerners than to other Americans? That's a good question for a future blogservation. Maybe someone will have opinion and offer a post.
So what do y'all think about that?
7 comments:
Well, I'll be. I can't wait for y'all's blogservations on the word y'all. I'll come back now. Hear?
Hey David.
You have been officially blogspotted over at http://lsuwritingproject.blogspot.com.
I am going to send out a listserv email encouraging my people to visit the luswp blog. Hopefully this will mean they will read this post and comment some.
We'll see I reckon.
David,
I gave the wrong blog address.
It is http://lsuwp.blogspot.com
Interesting observations David & Jared. I am also asked "where are you from," as soon as I head northeast or west. Y'all, is a word I even sometimes avoid, just to postpone the inevitable question, but to no avail, my Alabama dialect always shines through.
Paige
I'm happy to hear from my two most Southernmost colleagues--Here's to those among us who dwell along the I-10 Corridor!
Jared, I'm going to look at your LSUWP blog. I'm interested in a site blog, too. I will show-and-tell your blog to my colleagues first chance I get.
And what's
our cheer
this year
Down here
Along the Coast?
Death to hurricanes!
Mr. Pulling,
I believe ya'll is a legitimate cajun word. We seem to make our own vocabulary. As the previous response we have some intresting ways of speaking. That comes along with cajun heritage, sha. I also get asked often where am I from. In my first experience of college, I had a buddy in the BCM that would pick at the way I speak. At the time I was working at Winn Dixie, when I would walk in he would say: Attantion, Attantion, we need some buggy to the front. I will always remember that. This blog thing is pretty neat.
I love it. I use it all the time.
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