To Y’all or Not to Y’all

Before I moved to the Triangle, locals told me one of the most important decisions I would make as a North Carolina noob would be to choose a university basketball loyalty. Personally, a more pressing decision has been whether or not to adopt the south’s favorite term for ‘you’ plural.

In modern English, there is no second-person plural pronoun outside of the regional variants of which y’all is but one. I guess middle English’s “ye” sounded too dorky, though the Irish still rock it.

You all, yous/youse, you guys, you lot, you uns, yinz, you, y’all. To my yankee ear, the only one that doesn’t sound hokey or flat-out insane is “you guys,” but I have to admit I’m coming around to “y’all.”

As The Atlantic, puts it: ““You guys” isn’t sufficient as a national solution. Firstly, we live in an era of increased scrutiny and consideration over the gender of pronouns that we use, especially as feminism and trans activism expand and shape languages. “They” is entering the picture as a formal gender-neutral singular and plural pronoun. And although “guys” has lost some of its masculine connotation in the English language by proximity to “you,” it’s still a word that immediately connotes a group of men. As workplace and social situations seek to become increasingly inclusive of women and people who don’t conform to gender binaries, “you guys” feels more and more archaic. Plus, it’s just a damn clunky way to speak. There’s no flow to it, and the slang nature of “guys” makes it ill-suited for formal speeches or addresses.”

I’ve caught myself saying “you guys” lately at work and for the first time in my life it does sound odd. While I’m not sure I will ever fully come around to y’all, as it seems to clash with everything else about me which screams so-not-southern, the word does make logical sense.

I’m sorry, Pittsburgh, but yinz is not ok.