Someone just asked me an especially interesting question!
If one of the informal words we have for "you" (e.g., "youse," "yinz," "y'all," "you guys") were to beat out the others over time and become an actual formal, accepted word for the plural "you," which one do you think it would be (and why)?
[It won't let me make a 5th "other" poll answer, so if your answer is "other," please comment!]
@grammargirl Formally, I think "you all" (with its obvious contraction) is the best choice because:
a) it's already in widest use among American English speakers.
b) it's ungendered.
c) it makes syntactic sense. "You all" is clearly a plural "you" and is the easiest to understand for both native and non-native speakers. "Yinz" and "youse" are nonsense words.
@pokysharpy @grammargirl
I agree that “you all” is how the change will break through in some places if the formal intermediary step is necessary
Here in western Canada, “y’all” in conversation still sounds a bit like you’re putting on an accent
But dropping “you all“ into business correspondence seems acceptable
Have you heard @Geoffberner’s “Phoney Drawl”? Good song 🪗🤠 🎶
https://geoffberner.bandcamp.com/track/phoney-drawl-2
from the album Canadiana Grotesquica
@pokysharpy @grammargirl @Geoffberner
It is importing just that usage, without the more complex “all y’yall’s”
I think that would still confuse non-native y’all users
Mignon Fogarty
pokysharpy
AccordionBruce