Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the DC area and have always said y’all.

+1
Though I never, ever write it out.

I grew up in Frederick and have always said you guys, or you all in a more formal setting.

It sounds super country + rednecky OP. Reminds me of an old hillbilly cartoon from the comic pages, Snuffy Smith.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the DC area and have always said y’all.

+1

Although imo “you guys” is/was more popular, y’all was always common too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lack a formal 2nd person plural in English. "Y'all" is, in my opinion, the best thing we have. I would never say "youse guys," how odd to even suggest it.

-from the west coast

We have one. It's the word you.

That’s not a formal 2nd person plural, now is it?

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the DC area and have always said y’all.

This.

Anonymous wrote:We lack a formal 2nd person plural in English. "Y'all" is, in my opinion, the best thing we have. I would never say "youse guys," how odd to even suggest it.

-from the west coast

We have one. It's the word you.

Anonymous wrote:We lack a formal 2nd person plural in English. "Y'all" is, in my opinion, the best thing we have. I would never say "youse guys," how odd to even suggest it.

-from the west coast

+1 Also from the west coast

Anonymous wrote:I like it because it's not gendered.

+1 I was coached to say y'all or you all instead of guys in a professional setting

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the DC area and have always said y’all.

+1
Though I never, ever write it out.

My very country (rural MO) MIL says “yinz”. I grew up in NC and hate “y’all,” particularly when it’s said by non-Southeners.

Anonymous wrote:I like it because it's not gendered.

+1. Though I'd replace "like" with "use".

Anonymous wrote:It's perfectly serviceable as a regionalism for... people from that region. But why is it everywhere now? What is the attraction to people who either are able to speak standard English or have their own native regionalisms? I would vastly prefer "youse guys" or even "yinz" if there were some reason to choose a folksy When people adopt "y'all" on purpose, what is the image they're aspiring to?

Y’all is my “own native regionalism”. I’m not “aspiring to” anything in particular — beyond mutually understood communication. The only time I’ve heard “youse guys” would have been from a character like Archie Bunker. I’ve never heard anyone say “yinz”. OP, it’s fine for you to prefer your own ethnic regionalisms. It’s also fine for the rest of us to do the same. If you’re in the DC area, you’re actually in the South, although transplants who interact mostly with other transplants might not realize —or value— that.

Anonymous wrote:I'm from Kentucky. I invite y'all to take things up a notch and start using "all ya'll".

Bless your sweet heart, OP.

I'm from Kentucky. I invite y'all to take things up a notch and start using "all ya'll".