you all: the US South

[Unimportant]

Incredibly stupid and banal question here, but it was bothering me at three in the morning, like these things do. Is this pronounced and punctuated as an elision of

1. you all: y'all
2. ya all: ya'll

I always thought it was 1, but I keep seeing it as 2, and I didn't live in North Carolina long enough to really get a grasp on it.

 

[Stytch]

Incredibly stupid and banal question here, but it was bothering me at three in the morning, like these things do. Is this pronounced and punctuated as an elision of

1. you all: y'all
2. ya all: ya'll

I always thought it was 1, but I keep seeing it as 2, and I didn't live in North Carolina long enough to really get a grasp on it.

I write "y'all," and I'm not sure if I've seen "ya'll." But it's also the kind of thing my brain would just paper over and mentally ignore.

 

[Brigid Barry]

y'all is "you all" and "all y'all" is all of you.

yall
all yall

My other favorite word

 

[Maryn]

To me, after a spell in central Texas, it was definitely 1, a shortened version of "you all," pronounced yawl or perhaps y'all.

I would not be remotely surprised to learn it's said slightly differently in various parts of the South.

 

[Chris P]

Of course there is also:

Y'all're = you all are
Y'all'll = you all will

 

[dickson]

From being around my relations in Louisiana, and living some years in Texas, I‘m another vote for the near single syllabic “y’all” in normal conversation.

There is, however, an exception to that rule. Sometimes, for emphasis, the second person plural inclusive is intentionally pronounced “you-all“.

This is most often in opposition to “we-all”.

 

[SWest]

Don't forget the Appalachian familiarity y'uns. The woman I knew who said it used it to primarily address children...

Incredibly stupid and banal question here, but it was bothering me at three in the morning, like these things do. Is this pronounced and punctuated as an elision of

1. you all: y'all
2. ya all: ya'll

I always thought it was 1, but I keep seeing it as 2, and I didn't live in North Carolina long enough to really get a grasp on it.

#1 is correct.

Regionally, I grew up using the following grammar:

Y'all => you singular
You-all => you plural, small number (Like talking to one person, but inclusive of their partner: "Are you-all coming to the party Saturday?")
All-y'all => you plural, large number ("All-y'all are invited.")
Y'all's => singular possessive ("Is this y'all's seat?")
All-y'all's => plural possessive ("We'll be by to all-y'all's place by seven.")

 

[ironmikezero]

Y'all can quit this now, y'hear?
Y'all can move on, nuthin' mo' t'see here . . . G'wan now, git!

 

[WriteMinded]

Any ol' way you like it, y'all.

My Native American grandmother from Oklahoma might be referring to a roomful of people or to only me.

 

[frimble3]

Okay, I'm Canadian, so I only know this from books, movies and TV, but agreeing with those who say 'y'all': I have never seen it any other way.
'Ya'll' sounds like something else. Maybe an abbreviation for 'you (singular) will'?

 

[TristenHannah]

I think ya’ll would be short for ya all which is short for you all. If you say it out loud the apostrophe makes more sense after the a. Also a detail I really wouldn’t sweat.

 

[dfwtinman]

y'all is "you all" and "all y'all" is all of you.

yall
all yall

My other favorite word

I've always taken all y'all to be the plural form of y'all.

 

[Unimportant]

I think ya’ll would be short for ya all which is short for you all. If you say it out loud the apostrophe makes more sense after the a. Also a detail I really wouldn’t sweat.

For most of my life I'd only ever seen y'all, but lately have occasionally seen ya'll. If I want to get it right, and not have editors see it as a typo (or something generated by ChatGTP which was trained on 'old' materials), I want to know what the current accepted spelling is for this elision.

I definitely sweat the details. It's the little things that in the end make the big things work. Certainly I've never had an editor accept or reject a story saying "the details in this are too correct" or "There weren't enough typos in this work".

 

[Brigid Barry]

For most of my life I'd only ever seen y'all, but lately have occasionally seen ya'll. If I want to get it right, and not have editors see it as a typo (or something generated by ChatGTP which was trained on 'old' materials), I want to know what the current accepted spelling is for this elision.

I definitely sweat the details. It's the little things that in the end make the big things work. Certainly I've never had an editor accept or reject a story saying "the details in this are too correct" or "There weren't enough typos in this work".

It's a contraction of "you" and "all", so

y'all

 

[PastyAlien]

Is this pronounced and punctuated as an elision of

1. you all: y'all
2. ya all: ya'll

Last time I was in the southern U.S. I saw a woman wearing a Y'ALL CRAZY T-shirt so I'm going with option 1.

 

[JJ Litke]

It's a contraction of "you" and "all", so

y'all

Yes, this is the only correct answer.

I grew up with y’all, and it was always written as y’all.

I’ll also point out that some (like me) will notice and really hate to see it with the apostrophe in the wrong place. But anyone suggesting that it might be okay to move it out of place are pretty much guessing at what it’s supposed to be and do not have strong feelings about it. So you might as well do it correctly and appease the folks who know how it should be.

 

[reaping-raddish]

'ya'll' might be a contraction for 'you will' and pronounced 'yul,' but I would write it 'y'ull' although I have never written it out before. I sometimes use it as follows: "y'ull go to the party?" I have heard a few other people say it this way too.

 

[Brigid Barry]

Y'all is a contraction for "You all". The contraction for "you will" is "you'll".

 

[Foolish Frost]

Please keep in mind that there are variations of the linguistic patterns of language going from the deep south, such as Alabama and Georgia, vs what is considered the general south, like Kentucky and Appalachia. Y’all is just one aspect of the turns of praise used in each of those communities.

For example, Kentucky barely uses the phrase, “Bless your heart.” but we darn well know what it means. Kentucky and Appalachian uses terms like holler for valley like regions, while the general south uses it far less.

I'm not saying you have to be perfect, but knowing what idiomatic choices you have for a reason works wonders for show, don't tell. Also, it makes people from those regions feel clever and included when they recognise it.

Or I'm just and old Fool…

 

[Introversion]

Incredibly stupid and banal question here, but it was bothering me at three in the morning, like these things do. Is this pronounced and punctuated as an elision of

1. you all: y'all
2. ya all: ya'll

New Jersey says it’s more properly, “youse guys”.

 

[SWest]

New Jersey says it’s more properly, “youse guys”.

I've lived all over the state and never heard anyone say that. lol

Up in northern counties (and even down the Atlantic coast), it is rendered: "Y'u gaiz". Or, if one is speaking more formally, "You guys".

Not nearly as nuanced as the you-alls heard in counties below the Mason-Dixon line.

 

[Introversion]

I've lived all over the state and never heard anyone say that. lol

What, would TV lie to me!?

 

[SWest]

*shakes finger*

Bad TV, bad...

 

[dickson]

Please keep in mind that there are variations of the linguistic patterns of language going from the deep south, such as Alabama and Georgia, vs what is considered the general south, like Kentucky and Appalachia. Y’all is just one aspect of the turns of praise used in each of those communities.

For example, Kentucky barely uses the phrase, “Bless your heart.” but we darn well know what it means. Kentucky and Appalachian uses terms like holler for valley like regions, while the general south uses it far less.

I'm not saying you have to be perfect, but knowing what idiomatic choices you have for a reason works wonders for show, don't tell. Also, it makes people from those regions feel clever and included when they recognise it.

Or I'm just and old Fool…

As a wee infant, I lived in an actual mining holler. This was where my father, a newly-minted MD, learned his deep respect for midwives.

I grew up hearing “y’all” and “Cochon!” equally often, my mother hailing from Louisiana.

 

[Brigid Barry]

I always thought an idiom was exclusively an expression, like raining cats and dogs, hard nut to crack, all ears, etc., but Merriam Webster also says it can mean dialect. I learned something today (but still confused).

People pick up language and bring it home. I've spent most of my time in Maine but I spent enough time in Texas to know how to y'all properly. lol. I don't use it much, but hopefully I left enough "wicked" to pay for it!