Plural form of you.' name='description'> y'all - definition and meaning

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • pronoun dialect, southern US Plural form of you.
  • pronoun dialect, southern US, nonstandard Singular form of you.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Contraction of you all.

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Examples

Comments

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  • don't forget you'ins (sp?)

    December 19, 2006

  • And my favorite contraction, the future y'all'll.

    January 6, 2007

  • What is the general consensus on the punctuation?

    January 6, 2007

  • I always use "y'all". There was some commotion at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta b/c somebody held up a sign spelled ya'll. You just don't *do* that in the South. Personally, I have always wondered about the possessive. Is it y’all’s and all y'alls'?

    February 7, 2007

  • Who worries about apostrophes when using y'all? I'd go with y'all's and all y'all's, myself. There's also the option of saying "Is this for y'all?" instead of "Is this y'all's?"

    February 7, 2007

  • Oh yeah, my (Yankee) family mocks me for saying "y'all" all the time, but really I live in the South, I have no choice. I'll take more guff for saying "you guys" or "youse" than I would for saying "y'all."

    I like these:

    y'all

    all y'all's OR

    y'all's's (pronounced "yallses")

    y'all'll (a.k.a. y'all are gunna)

    y'all've

    y'all're

    y'all'r'n't (as in "y'all'r'n't gunna leave now, are y'all?" I'd say "y'all aren't" except that isn't how y'all pronounce it)

    I can't think of any more right now, my brain is tired. Y'all'll go on without me anyways.

    P.S. trivet? I worry about apostrophes all the time. It's my job. :-) No, really, it is.

    February 7, 2007

  • This word is one of my guilty pleasures. I'm an enormous stickler when it comes to spelling and grammar and punctuation... but I figure if I'm even using y'all I've already broken the rules. So at that point, who even cares about spelling and punctuation and grammar? It all goes out the window. I use y'all and all its illegal variants, and I don't care. I'm the James Dean of proper English.

    February 7, 2007

  • It only took 32 days, but I finally got some responses.

    February 8, 2007

  • Yes, but "Is this for y'all?" defeats the whole point of saving half a second.

    February 8, 2007

  • Y'ins are weird. ;-)

    February 8, 2007

  • Important to note that "y'all" is not used ONLY for groups of people. It can be used as a "folksy" (I hate that word) counterpart to the more formal "you" in some other languages (e.g. French, German). "Y'all are just a jerk, that's all."

    February 9, 2007

  • I like y'all because we no longer have thou or ye or whichever one was the plural "you" form in English, so I figure it's actually serving a useful purpose and therefore cut it a break for being technically incorrect.

    Also, it amuses me personally to say it because I am like the epitome of a Yankee but my entire family's from the South, so I know just how transgressive I am being.

    October 12, 2007

  • Arby, points off for starting this discussion again! ;->

    October 12, 2007

  • Y'all drives me nuts! What's wrong with having "you" represent both singular and plural usages? Certainly there are others! Who can list them?

    January 16, 2008

  • Well jeez, mafunzalo, you've barely met us and already we're driving you....

    Oh.

    January 16, 2008

  • I like all y'all and its possessive form all y'all's myself. Though I can see it might not work for the likes of Cormac McCarthy, given his idiosyncratic (and stingy) way with apostrophes.

    Oh, what the hell, I'll just get this off my chest.

    HEY: McCarthy. What the freak is your freaking deal with apostrophes, and with punctuation generally? It's not that hard, douchebag! It makes you seem like a pretentious assmarmot. But maybe you don't care.

    January 17, 2008

  • I had a Texan tell me with a straight face once that all y'all was the plural for y'all.

    But sionnach, assmarmot?

    January 17, 2008

  • Ummm... "all y'all" is the plural for "y'all." *confused*

    I think assmarmot should be the word of the year. Yes, I know it's only January.

    January 17, 2008

  • Vote early and often!

    January 17, 2008

  • assmarmot's got my vote, dadgumit. Not that I'm biased in any way. But it's got such range and versatility, not to mention that satisfying mouthfeel that comes from just the right melange of plosives and fricatives (clearly I'm winging it here - I wouldn't know a fricative from a glottal stop).

    What's the matter? Assmarmot got your tongue?

    Autem diver came from a long line of assmarmots, so his appearance on the docket, charged with being a kirkbuzzer, came as no great surprise to Constable Crittens, nor to any of his krafty kittens.

    Your behavior is completely unacceptable, sir! Rubbing up against people in the subway

    in a brazen display of crass frottage

    is the kind of assmarmottage

    Which should only be conducted in a glass cottage...

    *Trails off incoherently*

    January 17, 2008

  • *worried about sionnach trailing off incoherently*

    January 17, 2008

  • Here's a map that shows just how Southern this word is.

    April 14, 2008

  • See usage on y'all's.

    June 25, 2009