#yall — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #yall, aggregated by home.social.
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How ‘y’all’ took over modern English : NPR
The word “y’all” has spread beyond the South, thanks in part to its blend of polite respect and folksy inclusivity. Here, a golf tournament volunteer holds a “Hush Y’all” sign at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic in Mobile, Ala., in 2012. Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images“Y’all means all” has emerged as a slogan of support for immigrants and marginalized groups. In this 2018 photo, Ricardo Gámez of El Paso holds a sign bearing the words at the Tornillo Port of Entry in Tornillo, Texas, as medical professionals called for quick reunification of some 2,700 migrant children with their families. Paul Ratje / AFP via Getty ImagesJuly 16, 20255:00 AM ET, Heard on All Things Considered
By Bill Chappell 2-Minute Listen Transcript
Sorry, yinz. Fuhgeddaboudit, you guys: In the past 20 years or so, “y’all” has gone from being a Southernism to become America’s favorite way to use the second person plural, according to linguists.
“Y’all has won,” says Paul E. Reed, a linguist at the University of Alabama who studies Southern American English and Appalachian English.
Admirers appreciate y’all’s tidiness and utility. In particular, Reed says, young people across the U.S. seem to love y’all.
“It’s expanded much more outside of the South” among people who are under 40 years old, he says.
Long-term migration patterns have also helped y’all spread, from Black Americans who brought it with them out of the South during the Great Migration, to Northerners and others who have more recently adopted the term after moving to the South.
“It feels like home when I hear it,” says Kelly Elizabeth Wright, an assistant professor of language sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who grew up in Tennessee. “It’s from where I was raised. But it makes me feel included and welcome. And I think that’s part of why people are embracing it, because it has this capacity to make others feel included and welcome.”
Where did y’all come from?
“It’s essentially as old as American English in a lot of ways,” Wright says.
The word has thrived because it’s utilitarian, filling a gap in standard English. We use y’all — and relatives like yinz (for those in Pittsburgh) and youse — because the language has long lacked a satisfying plural pronoun for “you.”
“Basically, all of the non-mainstream varieties are better than the mainstream variety, because ‘you’ being for plural is confusing,” Reed says.
There are competing (and in cases, complementary) ideas about y’all‘s origin. Many U.S. linguists believe that the American version of y’all likely developed from two sources that reinforced one another, according to Wright and Reed. They use technical terms like simultaneity and calque to describe it; the idea is that one path began in Britain, and the other in West Africa.
2-Minute Listen Transcript
Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.
Continue/Read Original Article Here: How ‘y’all’ took over modern English : NPR
#2025 #America #Books #History #Language #NationalPublicRadio #NPR #Reading #Sayings #Southern #UnitedStates #WordHistory #YAll
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How ‘y’all’ took over modern English : NPR
The word “y’all” has spread beyond the South, thanks in part to its blend of polite respect and folksy inclusivity. Here, a golf tournament volunteer holds a “Hush Y’all” sign at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic in Mobile, Ala., in 2012. Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images“Y’all means all” has emerged as a slogan of support for immigrants and marginalized groups. In this 2018 photo, Ricardo Gámez of El Paso holds a sign bearing the words at the Tornillo Port of Entry in Tornillo, Texas, as medical professionals called for quick reunification of some 2,700 migrant children with their families. Paul Ratje / AFP via Getty ImagesJuly 16, 20255:00 AM ET, Heard on All Things Considered
By Bill Chappell 2-Minute Listen Transcript
Sorry, yinz. Fuhgeddaboudit, you guys: In the past 20 years or so, “y’all” has gone from being a Southernism to become America’s favorite way to use the second person plural, according to linguists.
“Y’all has won,” says Paul E. Reed, a linguist at the University of Alabama who studies Southern American English and Appalachian English.
Admirers appreciate y’all’s tidiness and utility. In particular, Reed says, young people across the U.S. seem to love y’all.
“It’s expanded much more outside of the South” among people who are under 40 years old, he says.
Long-term migration patterns have also helped y’all spread, from Black Americans who brought it with them out of the South during the Great Migration, to Northerners and others who have more recently adopted the term after moving to the South.
“It feels like home when I hear it,” says Kelly Elizabeth Wright, an assistant professor of language sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who grew up in Tennessee. “It’s from where I was raised. But it makes me feel included and welcome. And I think that’s part of why people are embracing it, because it has this capacity to make others feel included and welcome.”
Where did y’all come from?
“It’s essentially as old as American English in a lot of ways,” Wright says.
The word has thrived because it’s utilitarian, filling a gap in standard English. We use y’all — and relatives like yinz (for those in Pittsburgh) and youse — because the language has long lacked a satisfying plural pronoun for “you.”
“Basically, all of the non-mainstream varieties are better than the mainstream variety, because ‘you’ being for plural is confusing,” Reed says.
There are competing (and in cases, complementary) ideas about y’all‘s origin. Many U.S. linguists believe that the American version of y’all likely developed from two sources that reinforced one another, according to Wright and Reed. They use technical terms like simultaneity and calque to describe it; the idea is that one path began in Britain, and the other in West Africa.
2-Minute Listen Transcript
Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.
Continue/Read Original Article Here: How ‘y’all’ took over modern English : NPR
#2025 #America #Books #History #Language #NationalPublicRadio #NPR #Reading #Sayings #Southern #UnitedStates #WordHistory #YAll
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As one who has studied #AncientGreek, I'm all for using the plural "you"! (And Greek, as well as many other languages, also had gender-neutral nouns).
Y'all, we need to talk about 'y'all'
July 16, 2025
Excerpt: "In the north of the British Isles, people sometimes combined ye, a second person plural pronoun for you, along with aw, meaning all. An example found in a letter dating from the 1700s suggests that Scots-Irish immigrants brought their version of y'all to Appalachia and the South. Around that same time, enslaved people who were being taken to the South from #WestAfrica brought their own unique term that literally translates to 'you all,' Reed says.
" 'As like a huge nerd,' Wright says, 'I love that both of these things can be true, that it can be from Black people and Scots-Irish settlers all at the same time.' "
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As one who has studied #AncientGreek, I'm all for using the plural "you"! (And Greek, as well as many other languages, also had gender-neutral nouns).
Y'all, we need to talk about 'y'all'
July 16, 2025
Excerpt: "In the north of the British Isles, people sometimes combined ye, a second person plural pronoun for you, along with aw, meaning all. An example found in a letter dating from the 1700s suggests that Scots-Irish immigrants brought their version of y'all to Appalachia and the South. Around that same time, enslaved people who were being taken to the South from #WestAfrica brought their own unique term that literally translates to 'you all,' Reed says.
" 'As like a huge nerd,' Wright says, 'I love that both of these things can be true, that it can be from Black people and Scots-Irish settlers all at the same time.' "
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@serpicojam Most of the arguments for "y'all" that I've seen over the past ten years are based on the perception that "you guys" is sexist. Weird that nobody in the article mentions that.
My dad was from Texas, and he maintained some of his accent, but I don't remember him ever saying "y'all." I think that's why I associate the word with the other aspects of Texas he rejected: racism, sexism, homophobia, religious bigotry, and general intolerance.
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@serpicojam Most of the arguments for "y'all" that I've seen over the past ten years are based on the perception that "you guys" is sexist. Weird that nobody in the article mentions that.
My dad was from Texas, and he maintained some of his accent, but I don't remember him ever saying "y'all." I think that's why I associate the word with the other aspects of Texas he rejected: racism, sexism, homophobia, religious bigotry, and general intolerance.
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#EkkoAstral #announce #trans #aid #fundraisers for #Midwest #tour.
“We will be working with #TransOhio for our upcoming #Ohio #shows, as well as #YAll and #GenderNexus for our upcoming #indianapolis show, to raise money for direct #financialaid to #locals who are #trans as well as to bring #awareness and #joyous #raucous times to anyone who so chooses to attend.”
#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Entertainment #Music #Representation #crowdfunding
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/ekko-astral-announce-trans-aid-fundraisers-for-midwest-tour/
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#EkkoAstral #announce #trans #aid #fundraisers for #Midwest #tour.
“We will be working with #TransOhio for our upcoming #Ohio #shows, as well as #YAll and #GenderNexus for our upcoming #indianapolis show, to raise money for direct #financialaid to #locals who are #trans as well as to bring #awareness and #joyous #raucous times to anyone who so chooses to attend.”
#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Entertainment #Music #Representation #crowdfunding
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/ekko-astral-announce-trans-aid-fundraisers-for-midwest-tour/
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Whenever someone spells it "Mastadon", I always imagine them pronouncing it with a thick Southern drawl.
[Bluegrass intensifies]
"Now lis'n hayur, y'all, Ah done joined MAYYYASTADAHHHN!"
PSA: It's "MastOdon", not "MastAdon"!
#FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Mastodon #Y'all #MastodonNotMastadon -
Whenever someone spells it "Mastadon", I always imagine them pronouncing it with a thick Southern drawl.
[Bluegrass intensifies]
"Now lis'n hayur, y'all, Ah done joined MAYYYASTADAHHHN!"
PSA: It's "MastOdon", not "MastAdon"!
#FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Mastodon #Y'all #MastodonNotMastadon -
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@tuban_muzuru @corbden
I’m trying to convince my elementary-school age daughters that #Yall is perfect for almost every occasion. -
@tuban_muzuru @corbden
I’m trying to convince my elementary-school age daughters that #Yall is perfect for almost every occasion. -
@TheBreadmonkey never apologize for #Yall, my sibling in Dionysus
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@TheBreadmonkey never apologize for #Yall, my sibling in Dionysus
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From last November:
Y'all listening?Y'all as a second-person plural pronoun is not just “the quintessential Southern pronoun.” A linguist has found uses going back to 1631 in England, hundreds of years before the more recent usages cited by the Oxford English Dictionary.
And its inclusiveness is also gaining new respect, you hear?
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From last November:
Y'all listening?Y'all as a second-person plural pronoun is not just “the quintessential Southern pronoun.” A linguist has found uses going back to 1631 in England, hundreds of years before the more recent usages cited by the Oxford English Dictionary.
And its inclusiveness is also gaining new respect, you hear?
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#CountryMusic has always been #queer #yall, seriously!
#Rebels in #lavender #cowboyhats existed long before #OrvillePeck and #LilNasX were on the #scene.
#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Entertainment #Music #Representation #Culture
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/10/country-music-has-always-been-queer-seriously/
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#CountryMusic has always been #queer #yall, seriously!
#Rebels in #lavender #cowboyhats existed long before #OrvillePeck and #LilNasX were on the #scene.
#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Entertainment #Music #Representation #Culture
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/10/country-music-has-always-been-queer-seriously/
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ok but can #yall stop with the #excessive #hashtagging every other #word in your #post? Like #wtf is the f'in #point of that??
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ok but can #yall stop with the #excessive #hashtagging every other #word in your #post? Like #wtf is the f'in #point of that??
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Where does your accent place you? This is for US folks, but I would be really interested to see how non-US English speakers come out on it.
How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk
What does the way you speak say about where you’re from?
Answer all the questions below to see your personal dialect map.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html
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Where does your accent place you? This is for US folks, but I would be really interested to see how non-US English speakers come out on it.
How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk
What does the way you speak say about where you’re from?
Answer all the questions below to see your personal dialect map.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html
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So @alexlac51 likes to regale us with a few wee odes of a Friday evening? Well OK, we can do that, too. Here’s the joyous #De_La_Soul with that #Strawn_Guyland #hiphop sound.
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#happyvalentines #Day to #yall the #world needs more #love than #evar ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ let's be #excellent to each other 🌐 👍
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#happyvalentines #Day to #yall the #world needs more #love than #evar ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ let's be #excellent to each other 🌐 👍
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Mighty interesting history about the very useful 2nd person plural pronoun of the English language
The Origins of 'Y'All' May Not Be in the American South - Atlas Obscura
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/yall-southern-pronoun -
Mighty interesting history about the very useful 2nd person plural pronoun of the English language
The Origins of 'Y'All' May Not Be in the American South - Atlas Obscura
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/yall-southern-pronoun -
I say it all the time!!
#USSouth #Southern #Contractions #Yall #Georgia #Colloquialisms
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The absolute CACKLE I let out at just the headline 🤣🤣🤣 #AndrewTate #Schadenfreude #karma #YALL #news https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/andrew-tate-cars-seized-romanian-authorities-buggati-b2255850.html
