Comments on: Y’all use apostrophes correctly now, y’hear?

By: Susan K. Morrow

Susan K. Morrow — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:32:00 +0000

Thank you ALL (y’all) for telling everyone that “y’all”, whether misspelled or not, is NEVER used for the singular pronoun. Here’s my e-mail to Dr. Brians, whose site explained the “y’all” thing, but only got it half-right. (I was already a fan of his, btw.)

Dear Dr. Brians:

Ever impressed by your “common errors in English” site, I was delighted to be linked to it by http://www.apostropheabuse.com. There is a picture of protesters holding signs which read, “Peace ya’ll”. Hence the link to your site and its entry regarding the correct spelling of “y’all”.

As a seventh-generation Texan who was raised right, I am compelled to correct your suggestion that “many southern speakers treat it as a singular form and resort to ‘all y’all’ for the plural.” On the contrary, “y’all” is always used as a plural, never as a singular word. “All y’all” refers to a larger group of people, probably more than two or three.

Here is an example that I actually would say, maybe to my teenage daughter about her group of seven friends:

“I was only going to take you and one friend, not all of y’all.”

(Notice my insertion of “of”, rather than the lazier “all y’all”.)

The singular second-person pronoun is “you”, even in Texas–although I admit that it might sound like “yew”. Thank you for your attention to the matter and thank you, always, for your wonderful site.

By: ButtonHole

ButtonHole — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 19:04:00 +0000

I’ve lived in the SOuth all my life and I can say with absolute certainty that I have NEVER NEVER EVER heard anyone use “y’all” to refer to one person. It is not singular. The ONLY people I’ve heard use this word in the singlular are misguided, ill-meaning Yankees.

For me to refer to you as “y’all” would be the same as my refering to you as “them.”

Unless, of couse, someone is using the royal y’all.

By: Jason Norris

Jason Norris — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:51:00 +0000

My wife and I moved to Texas about six weeks ago. I haven’t heard the “singular” use of y’all, yet. We’re from Alabama, and the general use of y’all is to address two or more people (you all). “All y’all” just seems to be a more emphatic way of saying the same thing.

By: starboard

starboard — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:50:00 +0000

It must be a case of mass apostrophe abuse/mob hysteria. I wonder though, who might the y’all be that they are addressing. On a trip to Texas, I was told that “y’all” is a singular term of address, and that the correct way to address a group is to use “all y’all.”