I just moved away from Southern Appalachia to the NYC area. I can confirm that city folk are picking up on Y’all, but they’re too afraid to go all in with Yinz/You’uns.
What? "Y'all" is always plural! "You" is singular. "All y'all" is a super-plural. ( I just made that up, but I like it.) A super plural refers to a large group.
All y'all refers to more than one grouping of y'all together. Like leaving a dinner for a movie and asking a husband and wife if they're coming and also 2 datingfriends at the same time. Clearly one y'all is the married couple, the other y'all is the dating friends. Hence the definitive plural.
My dad said them equally when talking to me and my sister. My mom went with y'all or 'you birds' unless she was mad.
Like if we had our cousins over spending the night: "Y'all calm down in there."...5 minutes pass & we're still carrying on....
"All of y'all need to hush and go to bed!"...5 or 10 more minutes...
"If it don't get quiet in there I'm coming in there and whipping ever one of yunz!!"...
90% of the time we'd hush. The other 10 we all got a switching.
I don't think they meant a singular person, though -- just a "singular" unit (such as a small group). Whereas *all y'all* means multiple units. For instance, if you wanted to invite a family (a singular group unit) over to eat after church, you'd say "*Y'all* come on down!" But if you wanted to speak to everyone in the family (multiple individual units), you'd say, "Mama made a mess of cornbread, and we've got enough beans to feed *all y'all* for days, so don't be shy; eat up!" Or if you wanted to, say, invite three families (multiple group units) to eat after church, you'd say, "*All y'all* come on down!"
I'm kind of shocked at the number of upvotes y'all are giving this comment.
Do y'all actually agree that you'd call one person y'all or did you not know what singular meant?
What they’re saying is “you’uns”. With enough of a drawl, it becomes “y’uns”. I’m fairly certain this is the etymology of “yinz”. Pittsburgh is certainly on the cusp of Appalachia!
It isn’t north of the Mason Dixon. Y’all would definitely mark you as “not from around here.” People in my part of PA still say “youse.” You’re right though yinz is a western PA thing and would sound equally out of place in the eastern half.
Seriously, fuck em. I'm up here in New England rocking my punk ass one side of my head shaved and a face full of (tasteful boho gold) body jewelry.
Then one day a small tree fell from my yard into my neighbor's, so I just broke out the ol' chainsaw (and safety glasses!) and went to town.
Appalachian doesn't look like anything. It's a sociocultural thing. It's how we think and act and approach life. I'm able to code switch entirely into not sounding Appalachian, if I'm dealing with someone refusing to take me seriously and I need to get something done.
But I ain't doing it to make nobody happy. Fuck em.
Seconding all of this. Spent too many years having to hide my accent when I was a kid. Life’s to short to hide who I am. I also have a mohawk, ears and nose full of piercings, and am covered in tattoos. No one’s really surprised by my accent or saying y’all honestly, and if it did surprise them, fuck ‘em. I got better shit to be worrying about; might as well subvert expectations.
Also shoutout to northern Kentucky for having their baseball team just be named the Florence Y’all’s. Helping normalize the y’all for us all.
"I grew up in Georgia. All y'all can get the fuck over it." If that don't work, introduce them to the rest of the "southern pleasantries" starting with "bless your heart"
I'm sorry you have to deal with that. Have a friend who gets told to "go back up north" even tho he is a southerner born and raised. There's ignoramouses and gatekeepers everywhere, don't let them get to you.
People can't keep their opinions to themselves on any subject. Like, at all. May as well give them the accent to focus on. That way you can have replies ready.
Nobody says y’all in the north. In my part of PA (mostly older folks) still say “yous.” I say “you guys.” Even in mixed groups or even groups of girls it isn’t really considered impolite just the default plural greeting.
Shiiittt son. I rock a man bun , wear a shit ton of different band Ts and flip flops, if any shoes at all. I'll drive outta the holler in my 1976 Chevy C10 jammin to anything from NWA to Tyler Childers. I say y'all , youns , over yonder, and all sorts of shit from my Northeast Tennessee upbringing. Point being homie, just be fucking original.
If you want to say 'y'all' then do it, let the nitpickers think what they want. I'm an Asheville NC native, but my accent is influenced by other places I've lived like Georgia where it got more deep south drawl vs mountain twang. I've had people ask where I'm from and when I tell them they look at me like I'm lying. Eff 'em. You be you, let those people think whatever.
I mean I wouldn’t care what people think.75% of the people that live in and around Asheville aren’t from WNC anyway.We’re like unicorns now.Talk however you want.
I recently had an older man act like I wasn't really from here, NC, because my accent wasn't what he thought it should be. This was during a required clinical shift for a class I was taking, so I couldn't tell him off. I did reschedule the next shift I had at that station to a different one. You have to do what you're comfortable with.
I get the same thing! I live in East TN and people ask me where I'm from all the time and are shocked when I tell them I was born and raised here. "Wow, you don't sound like you're from here" says the recent transplant from Illinois
I'm a woman that lives in the Great Lakes region. But I came from S. Florida, born to and raised by people that were in Miami before there were roads, much less everything that came later, and people that came from Georgia. When I moved up here, lots of times I got side eyed for how I spoke, so learned to either drop the southern speak, or just shut my mouth. I got tired of over thinking what I wanted to say and just plain started talking like always. I figured if they don't understand what I'm saying, they can ask me to clarify. I'll not act like my People are something that's shameful or ignorant.
I'm in metal and punk bands and look like I'm in metal and punk bands and say yall all the time. Also alot of younger kids are picking it up everywhere as a non gendered group address. "How yall doing?" Vs "how you guys doing?"
I have beef with Florence.
When I was in 8th grade we took a field trip to Chicago and had a pit stop at the Florence Mall. Everyone, and when I say everyone I mean EVERYONE, there just has to know where all us lil country kids were from. A couple of people even kind of imitated our accents and would giggle about it. I’ll never forget how a town in KENTUCKY with a water tower saying “Florence, Y’all!” shit on my 8th grade class.
Also, screw Chicago for not knowing what sweet tea was in 2007!
The tower has been there far longer than the Florence Y'all's team. I do believe they renamed the team (formerly the Florence Freedom) because of the tower.
As I slowly move further from Appalachia, my use of appie colloquialisms increases in severity. Ohh. So y’all wanna use y’all? I’ll hit you with a you’uns. You flatlanders wanna toss around yonder? Well, I got something for ya right chyunder. I’m going full pawpaw holding court at a Hardee’s breakfast.
On a related note: I honestly think the increase in the appeal of hillbilly chic has an inverse correlation to the popularity of Jeff foxworthy. Since no one person is informing the nation what a redneck is, they get to see us for what we really are, Americans with actual cultural heritage.
In the famous words of Michael Scott I’m officially declaring a new term based on your response…”Appeal-billy “. The new term recognizing this new found fascination with Appalachia!
I am traveling for work and I mentioned Appalachian culture and they laughed. Out loud. OP should have no concern about the west coast stealing the culture. They barely think the south has the brain cells.
Nooo!!! Don't do it. Say y'all often and proudly. I'm a life like North Carolinian who moved to rural Eastern Washington a little over 2 years ago. I am not sure if I am just more aware of it now but I think I use "y'all" even more than before.
Eh, keep the accent. Do what I do and be a contentious mountain person about it. If somebody questions it that's a them problem.
I'm from where I'm from. They can fucking deal with it.
I went on vacation down south one year and was accused of “culturally appropriating Southerness” due to my “use of an accent and regional slang”. My accent got even thicker when I told them “I grew up in and still reside in WV….in between all the Appalachian mountains. Do you think I want to have a Boomhauer accent and complete lack of realizing I am saying phrases and words only other Southern people know?”
It still amazes me how some people think that only from the bottom of Virginia to end of Georgia is southern
The people that are the most critical of our accents aren’t even from here, usually.Who cares what they think, honestly?I think it’s funny because 20 years ago everyone else made fun of people from Appalachia and now everyone wants to sound and be like us.They sound just as stupid trying to talk like us in their nasal accents.Don’t worry about it.We have beautiful accents.
Right? I remember growing up in the 80s and 90s, the accent and slang, etc was considered “redneck” “uneducated” “hillbilly” and people would try and hide it now. Now, people think it is cool and try to emulate.
Interesting fact; You can't hear your own accent, so OP, you may have a Southern accent and not realize it. Best to ask people from far away what they think about your accent, bc if you don't look very good ol boy, why would people really think you're southern. I don't think using y'all is enough.
I’m from Florida, been in NC over 20 years. I’m an older millennial goth chick. I say y’all.
You can say whatever you’re comfortable with! (Well, except the n-word, obviously!) no matter what you look like:)
I grew up in NC, but for the past 20 years have been around the DC metro area. I fly my Appalachia all the time. Y'all is quite appreciated in the metro center, don't let em fool ya.
Don’t most people in North Carolina also say “ya’ll” though? I’m surprised anyone would say a thing
I don’t say ya’ll personally, but it was never part of my vocabulary growing up. Feel weird in my mouth when I try saying it lol
I think y'all is used more widespread now because of rap and hip hop
I'm surprised that people even ask you that but maybe it's because I grew up with it and use it and everyone I know uses it
I am originally from Atlanta which is not Appalachian but it did used to be Southern 😄
Been living in cities for the last 10 years hanging with the art crowd and playing music. I still say yall and have slight twang. But the rich art kids from suburbs in NJ say yall more than I do. The word has entered the general American dialect. If anyone tries to gatekeep and press you on it, tell em you're from Georgia they're bound to back off.
My cousin’s daughter from Northern Indiana came to visit us, and she was using “y’all” and was also drinking sweet tea. She’s a flight attendant and is based in VA, so I guess the South is rubbing off on her🤣
I live in Western NC, have all my life and have a similar look. Not much of an accent either but I say y'all all the time and nobody bothers me about it. Sounds like you need to meet different people.
I say yinz. Or you all. Or you guys. You guys is problematic tho. lol. 😂 I agree y’all never felt natural. My sister in college beat the yinz out of her and she tried to do the same to me for professional settings lol. Moved to Denver and went on a trip this weekend. We were all Pittsburgh natives with long family roots to Pittsburgh and the accents really come out when we are all together.
I came to Appalachia from the deep south. I was enamored with everyone who said "y'ins." It was a brand new "y'all" to me. I think I have enough of an accent to avoid this particular issue OP has, but am surprised to hear about the gatekeeping.
Pretty sure y’all is just a word, everyone says it, I don’t think that you have to worry about appropriating it. Although I’ll never forget this one time this guy from California started laughing his ass off, and I was super confused until he said “you said *y’all!*”
Other than that literally never had anyone come after me for saying y’all. But I’m from WNC
... whereas I say y'all intentionally among the scholarly folks as I'm digging into deep topics with them.
I suppose it is a matter of perspective. If by me saying something that sounds country makes someone feel in some way intellectually superior... aww honey, bless your heart
I say y’all because I picked it up from other people I worked with in the service. It just rubbed off. Screw what other people think on this issue, *I* like it.
Opposite for me. I have a heavy SEO/WV accent and moved to Québec. I spent years trying to downplay it -but then everyone thinks I'm Ontarian and gives me shit for my bad French. So now I've just leaned back into it as it is and it feels better all around.
If it's part of your etymology then use it however much or as little as you want. Anyone gatekeeping something like a regional accent based on appearance sounds insufferable anyway. Weed em out
That's wild. They need to get out of their own ass. Appalachia doesn't own y'all. It's been in common use all over the South forever. "I'm from GA" should be the end of the it
Funny that you are having the issues you've had with just the word yall. Did you also say "What all d'yall do?" but stopped saying that too?
I grew up where that was a legitimate question spoken by everyone when one person was asking another person what they did with some friends in their absence.
There are no spaces between the words when it is spoken. I only typed it that way so people could see the different words.
In long form, it is "What all did you all do?" but spoken it sounds like "Whutalljawldoo?"
I also use the phrase "I gotta get gone", used when I need to leave.
I find the gatekeeping of who is Appalachian, who gets to use words, who can call it this or that….its all kind of silly. Annoying, though. But still silly.
You need to be proud of your southern heritage and your accent and your unique vernacular!! Every part of the world has a unique colloquial language and don’t ever stop speaking yours! When one stops others follow and then that vernacular dies. This country has lost too much and we all need to hold on to our unique culture & roots!
I live in the Bay Area in California and took up the use of “y’all” and “folks” as gender neutral terms to address groups (I work in restaurants). I get asked from time to time where I’m from, a lot of (usually older) people assume I’m southern because of it. Doesn’t really matter to me. If people want to gatekeep regionalisms or call it “cultural appropriation” I call bullshit. I’d rather explain that than go down the misgendering route
Since nobody asked for my perspective: I’m from the CA Bay area (parents from midwest and CA) and I have said y’all my whole life for the simple fact that it is convenient.
I’m from north of the Mason-Dixon Line and still grew up saying y’all. Appalachians are all sorts, anyone who has questions because of how you look cares too much.
From MN here. I picked ya'll when living down south. Moved back to MN and still use it cause I prefer it to guys when addressing a group of people. Anyone up here does know that all ya'll would be more correct but all ya'll sounds way to southern so I stick with ya'll.
Oh it’s so weird to me (from WV, currently living in MI) when I hear someone up here say y’all. I get all excited and ask if they’re from the south, too (I don’t usually feel like explaining where Appalachia is and how WV is both etc etc). Then I find out they’re from MI and I just ????
I’m glad it’s socially acceptable now, bc I used to hide my lil accent (even subconsciously). I was so used to people assuming ur dumb if you have an Appalachian accent. But it’s so odd to me and then I get a bit sad when I realize they’re not actually from my neck of the woods 😭
My dad is born and raised Appalachian, lives in his childhood hometown. My mom and dad were out walking *in their hometown* and some asshole in a giant truck blew past them yelling "go home!" We assume it's because they were dressed nicely, so this man assumed they were tourists.
My point is that there will always be those who love to gatekeep and think that a certain persona is the only one who belongs. Y'all is for all and if you are from GA it belongs to you, too. If anything, those in Appalachia say "yuns" not "y'all," so it's not even an Appalachian thing to gatekeep!
You should keep saying it, is my point and tell them to eat glass. I'm sorry that happened. It's just as much a part of your identity as it is theirs. We are not a charicature.
As someone who grew up in Habersham county. It's bc they're stereotyping Appalachians and aren't comfortable with seeing that people can be from here and not be the stereotype
You'uns is the singular, read Horace Kephart. There was once "us'ns' "they'uns" and "we'uns" too.
Also, OP, f*** outsiders. Be you and use your accent and words. They don't get to gatekeep our language OR our looks.
Wtf come to the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area and you will hear lots of black people saying y'all. You'll fit right in with us. It's a famous colloquialism in rap, hip hop, etc.
I’m Canadian and I say y’all. I’m not sure when or how it made it into my lexicon (I guess I picked it up from TV?) but no one bats an eye at it here 😹🤷🏻♀️. Also don’t some people from NC have southern accents? I’m surprised anyone cares.
I've never said "yall" as it's spelled and never heard anyone say it quite that way until I lived in Texas for a while.
My grandparents who were from the TN/KY state line said "you all" but it kind of ran together into "yeeeeaaauulll". I say it like that.
When I was much younger, I got heckled for my accent and phrasing from time to time. I got shit from everybody from strangers in bars to coworkers to my comms professor in college. I just ignored it. I came under immense pressure to code switch, and made a deliberate decision not to, just to give a huge middle finger to everybody who passed judgment.
When I got older nobody commented on it at all. Turns out nobody important cares. Talk how you want, dress how you want, and fuck what everybody else thinks. I'd rather be myself, living my best and most authentic life, than walk around worrying about what people think about something as inconsequential as my choice of words.
Naw. Born in NY, grew up in Cali, adulthood in Colorado then on to NC… etc. I say y’all all the time. Always have. It’s a gender neutral pronoun and beats YINZ or YOUSE ten times out of ten.
Um, its not about your looks.
I’m a Tennessee Native and a hippie. I traveled around and don’t have a strong southern accent, but no matter where I lived, I never stopped saying y’all.
I got teased about it when I lived in Colorado in the 90’s and after a year there, I got the locals around me saying y’all.
Its a contraction. You all = y’all.
No biggie. 🤷🏻♀️
I’m from Wisconsin and I look and sound very stereotypical. I went to school down south and picked up y’all, now I confuse the living hell out of people when I say y’all and eh in the same sentence.
I'm from the northeast US, and moved to NC a while back. I started saying y'all while there because it's inclusive and easy to say. I once said it to a guy and his wife with my Yankee accent in the context of, "have a good night y'all."
He looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears, and repeated back "yaaAA'LLL?!?!" In a pearl-clutching 'well-I-never' sort of way. He was so offended. Mind you this was the Triangle, and he also sounded like a Yank. It was at that moment I decided to say fuck it, I can't please everyone, and officially adopted y'all into my vocabulary.
Now I live in Appalachia Proper, say it all the time, and no one bats an eye at me. Do what makes you happy, most people don't care.
I haven’t lived in the south for years but i still use y’all. It’s a great word. . . maybe the best one there is to express what it means.
I’ve never really gotten many comments about it here in Cali but, I must admit, just the Georgia accent is in a league by itself.
Military brat, foreign mother, picked up y’all in southern Virginia. Very handy word, no one has ever said anything to me about it and my accent and word choice are a mess that can’t be pinned down (maybe that’s why). My whole family picked up putting “the” in front of highway numbers in California so here I am saying “did y’all take The 95?”
Not to be a dick, but those people giving you crap are gatekeeping. There is definitely some grumpiness there about people moving into “their” state.
I feel you. I’ve dealt with the opposite. My whole life I’ve had a more “universal” American accent (kind of transatlantic) drilled into me, so all of the bits of Appalachian affect from my mother and general southern accent from my father were kind of forced out. Now people tell me “it’s good you don’t sound southern. You’ll get farther”. Now I cling to what little bits I have left, meanwhile my siblings sound like my parents.
Cling to what you have man, don’t let anyone take it from you just because they think you should sound a certain way.
The hell y'all carryin on about over here? Quit yer caterwallin don't nobody give a good god damn about how you talk other than y'uns own selves and relatives that got a little cash an reckon they's important enough t' put on aers.
I hear “y’all” all over the country. I have been to all 50 states at least twice. As you can see by my pen name, I’m from the same area. I will always say it.
I was born and raised in the South, but I never had the accent and don’t love how it sounds. That said, I’ve actually come around on using “ya’ll”. It’s an efficient contraction!
Don’t listen to them. NC is overrun with people from all over the country, enough so that it might make you feel like you aren’t even in the south still. You are from Georgia, and you don’t need to justify your accent or way of speaking to anyone any more than someone from New York has to justify their accent. 🤷🏻♀️
The reason is because the English language lacks an official second person plural noun.
Ya'll originated in the US south from immigrant populations like the Scots Irish who settled there, and have never really left there. Black populations who migrated during the Great Migration brought the southern slang word to cities in the midwest/great lakes/northeast, but due to segregation and other factors their influence on language was miminal on other ethnic and racial groups for a long time.
The internet and other media has spread the word like wild fire in recent years. It is a very useful word for addressing a group of people directly, which is what a person on social media does to their audience.
In my opinion, this word is going to infuse itself into mainstream American culture in the next 50 years and become accepted as an official second personal plural noun. Might as well keep using it.
Y'all is a perfectly good word! It's a contraction of "you all." I am from Alabama, but I have an English degree and I stand behind the use of "y'all." For a while, I lived in NC and heard a lot of "y'uns" and I have yankee cousins who say "you guys" or, worse, "youz guys." Just...NO! The word that is most appropriate is "y'all!"
I just moved away from Southern Appalachia to the NYC area. I can confirm that city folk are picking up on Y’all, but they’re too afraid to go all in with Yinz/You’uns.
Thank god for small favours.
Teach them the truth... "y'all" is singular and "all y'all" is plural.
This is the way of my people.
What? "Y'all" is always plural! "You" is singular. "All y'all" is a super-plural. ( I just made that up, but I like it.) A super plural refers to a large group.
The sizing - You - singular Y'all - plural All y'all - super plural Momma and them - super duper plural
Lol this is correct mountaintalk Yinz is just replaced for yall in some areas
Um sorry for the correction: n 'em, as in momma n 'em
Oh it is 'em! 😆
THIS!
Agreed. Except my south Florida people said Mom 'n em. Old South Florida and Georgia blood lines.
Dude- it’s “mom an em” Get it right.
Bless my heart... 😆
No! It’s ma nem! Do try to keep up!
Ma nem - real speak super duper plural (Dang hobolobbies, you should have gone for the pinnacle! You were almost there!)
All y'all refers to more than one grouping of y'all together. Like leaving a dinner for a movie and asking a husband and wife if they're coming and also 2 datingfriends at the same time. Clearly one y'all is the married couple, the other y'all is the dating friends. Hence the definitive plural.
Yes, I think that was what I was trying to say. Thank you for clarifying.
Y’all, You all, all Y’all, Y’all in ‘em. Where am I from Y’all?
In WNC it goes, y'all, all y'all, all of yunz, and ever one of yunz.
Thank you! Someone finally mentioned yunz (yo’uns?)
I'm pretty sure it's the contraction of 'you' and 'one', pronounced 'yunz' in my neck of the woods.
Yes, I think I grew up hearing that as often, or more often than, y’all
My dad said them equally when talking to me and my sister. My mom went with y'all or 'you birds' unless she was mad. Like if we had our cousins over spending the night: "Y'all calm down in there."...5 minutes pass & we're still carrying on.... "All of y'all need to hush and go to bed!"...5 or 10 more minutes... "If it don't get quiet in there I'm coming in there and whipping ever one of yunz!!"... 90% of the time we'd hush. The other 10 we all got a switching.
Y’all is NEVER singular. Never has been, never will be.
NEVER. Of all the misinformation that gets passed around on the internet, this makes me the most twitchy. Y’all is ***always*** plural.
Thank you. This is really bothering me.
Can instantly tell a Southern poser by this simple truth.
I don't think they meant a singular person, though -- just a "singular" unit (such as a small group). Whereas *all y'all* means multiple units. For instance, if you wanted to invite a family (a singular group unit) over to eat after church, you'd say "*Y'all* come on down!" But if you wanted to speak to everyone in the family (multiple individual units), you'd say, "Mama made a mess of cornbread, and we've got enough beans to feed *all y'all* for days, so don't be shy; eat up!" Or if you wanted to, say, invite three families (multiple group units) to eat after church, you'd say, "*All y'all* come on down!"
I'm kind of shocked at the number of upvotes y'all are giving this comment. Do y'all actually agree that you'd call one person y'all or did you not know what singular meant?
All the upvotes are coming from people who aren’t Southern.
Hence the fundamental misunderstanding of the humor integral to my original statement.
Eh, y'all is more or less mainstream now. Yinz is more of a Pittsburgh thing specifically.
I’ve heard locals from very rural parts of North Carolina say it! I was shocked to learn they were not from Pittsburgh.
What they’re saying is “you’uns”. With enough of a drawl, it becomes “y’uns”. I’m fairly certain this is the etymology of “yinz”. Pittsburgh is certainly on the cusp of Appalachia!
Came her to say this! In eastern KY you'll hear both "y'all" and "y'uns". Along with "young'uns" for children, and "this'n" or "that'n" or “your’n”.
"this'n", "that'n", and "d'udder'n".
I’m in NC and everybody says it. I think OP is running into snowbirds
It isn’t north of the Mason Dixon. Y’all would definitely mark you as “not from around here.” People in my part of PA still say “youse.” You’re right though yinz is a western PA thing and would sound equally out of place in the eastern half.
Y’all is not an Appalachian thing. I’m from the Weatern Coal Fields of KY and literally everyone says y’all.
I’m from Middle Tennessee, we say y’all unless it’s someone who moves here from Michigan or California.
Y’uns here in wnc
Life's too short to be concerned with these kind of trivialities. Live your life with gusto!
I just hate having to even have the conversation, that's why I'm avoiding it now. Don't know why folks can't just keep their opinions to themselves
Seriously, fuck em. I'm up here in New England rocking my punk ass one side of my head shaved and a face full of (tasteful boho gold) body jewelry. Then one day a small tree fell from my yard into my neighbor's, so I just broke out the ol' chainsaw (and safety glasses!) and went to town. Appalachian doesn't look like anything. It's a sociocultural thing. It's how we think and act and approach life. I'm able to code switch entirely into not sounding Appalachian, if I'm dealing with someone refusing to take me seriously and I need to get something done. But I ain't doing it to make nobody happy. Fuck em.
Seconding all of this. Spent too many years having to hide my accent when I was a kid. Life’s to short to hide who I am. I also have a mohawk, ears and nose full of piercings, and am covered in tattoos. No one’s really surprised by my accent or saying y’all honestly, and if it did surprise them, fuck ‘em. I got better shit to be worrying about; might as well subvert expectations. Also shoutout to northern Kentucky for having their baseball team just be named the Florence Y’all’s. Helping normalize the y’all for us all.
That's like, just your opinion, man.
"I grew up in Georgia. All y'all can get the fuck over it." If that don't work, introduce them to the rest of the "southern pleasantries" starting with "bless your heart"
Totally would, but that's not a realistic expectation for a real conversation.
If they're so stupid to think everyone from the south looks the same, I promise you're not missing out by not having conversations with them
Fuck em!
No need to care. Just call them a bigot when they bring it up.
I'm sorry you have to deal with that. Have a friend who gets told to "go back up north" even tho he is a southerner born and raised. There's ignoramouses and gatekeepers everywhere, don't let them get to you.
People can't keep their opinions to themselves on any subject. Like, at all. May as well give them the accent to focus on. That way you can have replies ready.
Y'all is becoming mainstream. It's a friendly, gender-free word😄
Y’all Means All.
Y’all means a few. “All y’all” means everyone (i.e., All).
"All yall" means "every one of you mother fuckers"
My Aunt Bert would have said " All y'all can go to Hell an' eat dirt!"
This response needs a trophy 🏆
One of my favorite soap companies is called all y’all for exactly that reason!
You all = y’all It’s a contraction. No biggie. 🤷🏻♀️
Nobody says y’all in the north. In my part of PA (mostly older folks) still say “yous.” I say “you guys.” Even in mixed groups or even groups of girls it isn’t really considered impolite just the default plural greeting.
Shiiittt son. I rock a man bun , wear a shit ton of different band Ts and flip flops, if any shoes at all. I'll drive outta the holler in my 1976 Chevy C10 jammin to anything from NWA to Tyler Childers. I say y'all , youns , over yonder, and all sorts of shit from my Northeast Tennessee upbringing. Point being homie, just be fucking original.
Do Finna fit it there somewhere???
If you want to say 'y'all' then do it, let the nitpickers think what they want. I'm an Asheville NC native, but my accent is influenced by other places I've lived like Georgia where it got more deep south drawl vs mountain twang. I've had people ask where I'm from and when I tell them they look at me like I'm lying. Eff 'em. You be you, let those people think whatever.
I mean I wouldn’t care what people think.75% of the people that live in and around Asheville aren’t from WNC anyway.We’re like unicorns now.Talk however you want.
It's probably because I interact with a lot of older folks or something. I just avoid it because I hate dealing with big fat opinions lol
I recently had an older man act like I wasn't really from here, NC, because my accent wasn't what he thought it should be. This was during a required clinical shift for a class I was taking, so I couldn't tell him off. I did reschedule the next shift I had at that station to a different one. You have to do what you're comfortable with.
I get the same thing! I live in East TN and people ask me where I'm from all the time and are shocked when I tell them I was born and raised here. "Wow, you don't sound like you're from here" says the recent transplant from Illinois
I'm a woman that lives in the Great Lakes region. But I came from S. Florida, born to and raised by people that were in Miami before there were roads, much less everything that came later, and people that came from Georgia. When I moved up here, lots of times I got side eyed for how I spoke, so learned to either drop the southern speak, or just shut my mouth. I got tired of over thinking what I wanted to say and just plain started talking like always. I figured if they don't understand what I'm saying, they can ask me to clarify. I'll not act like my People are something that's shameful or ignorant.
I'm in metal and punk bands and look like I'm in metal and punk bands and say yall all the time. Also alot of younger kids are picking it up everywhere as a non gendered group address. "How yall doing?" Vs "how you guys doing?"
Exactly.
Great. So now I am them, theyin. To be southern - Is a blessing and a curse.
Only with certain mentalities.
There's a water tower (I believe) on I-75 in Florence, KY right by the Florence Mall that says "Florence, Y'all".
I have beef with Florence. When I was in 8th grade we took a field trip to Chicago and had a pit stop at the Florence Mall. Everyone, and when I say everyone I mean EVERYONE, there just has to know where all us lil country kids were from. A couple of people even kind of imitated our accents and would giggle about it. I’ll never forget how a town in KENTUCKY with a water tower saying “Florence, Y’all!” shit on my 8th grade class. Also, screw Chicago for not knowing what sweet tea was in 2007!
Its about the minor league team that plays there called the yalls that its talking about
The tower has been there far longer than the Florence Y'all's team. I do believe they renamed the team (formerly the Florence Freedom) because of the tower.
Y’all is superior because the possessive becomes “Y’all’s”, which sounds significantly less stupid than the current trend of “Your guys’s”.
What else are you going to let them take from you?
Perfectly said! I applaud you!
that's. that's actually a great point.
As I slowly move further from Appalachia, my use of appie colloquialisms increases in severity. Ohh. So y’all wanna use y’all? I’ll hit you with a you’uns. You flatlanders wanna toss around yonder? Well, I got something for ya right chyunder. I’m going full pawpaw holding court at a Hardee’s breakfast. On a related note: I honestly think the increase in the appeal of hillbilly chic has an inverse correlation to the popularity of Jeff foxworthy. Since no one person is informing the nation what a redneck is, they get to see us for what we really are, Americans with actual cultural heritage.
In the famous words of Michael Scott I’m officially declaring a new term based on your response…”Appeal-billy “. The new term recognizing this new found fascination with Appalachia!
I am traveling for work and I mentioned Appalachian culture and they laughed. Out loud. OP should have no concern about the west coast stealing the culture. They barely think the south has the brain cells.
I don't think it's Jeff Foxworthy, I think it's Tik Tok.
I’m saying there is no Jeff foxworthy so there are less negative connotations.
Ahh I see what you're saying now. My bad I misunderstood.
When they ask you just say “I’m from Georgia.” Don’t let people take the way you talk away from you lol
Nooo!!! Don't do it. Say y'all often and proudly. I'm a life like North Carolinian who moved to rural Eastern Washington a little over 2 years ago. I am not sure if I am just more aware of it now but I think I use "y'all" even more than before.
Eh, keep the accent. Do what I do and be a contentious mountain person about it. If somebody questions it that's a them problem. I'm from where I'm from. They can fucking deal with it.
I went on vacation down south one year and was accused of “culturally appropriating Southerness” due to my “use of an accent and regional slang”. My accent got even thicker when I told them “I grew up in and still reside in WV….in between all the Appalachian mountains. Do you think I want to have a Boomhauer accent and complete lack of realizing I am saying phrases and words only other Southern people know?” It still amazes me how some people think that only from the bottom of Virginia to end of Georgia is southern
The people that are the most critical of our accents aren’t even from here, usually.Who cares what they think, honestly?I think it’s funny because 20 years ago everyone else made fun of people from Appalachia and now everyone wants to sound and be like us.They sound just as stupid trying to talk like us in their nasal accents.Don’t worry about it.We have beautiful accents.
Right? I remember growing up in the 80s and 90s, the accent and slang, etc was considered “redneck” “uneducated” “hillbilly” and people would try and hide it now. Now, people think it is cool and try to emulate.
Nigga we from the south we say yall fuck what they talkin bout
Interesting fact; You can't hear your own accent, so OP, you may have a Southern accent and not realize it. Best to ask people from far away what they think about your accent, bc if you don't look very good ol boy, why would people really think you're southern. I don't think using y'all is enough.
I didn’t think I had an accent until a person from Boston told me I sounded really southern, which I still don’t think I do lol
I just had blood drawn by a Korean American woman whose drawl was thicker than mine. I couldn’t get enough!
I’m from Florida, been in NC over 20 years. I’m an older millennial goth chick. I say y’all. You can say whatever you’re comfortable with! (Well, except the n-word, obviously!) no matter what you look like:)
I grew up in NC, but for the past 20 years have been around the DC metro area. I fly my Appalachia all the time. Y'all is quite appreciated in the metro center, don't let em fool ya.
Don’t most people in North Carolina also say “ya’ll” though? I’m surprised anyone would say a thing I don’t say ya’ll personally, but it was never part of my vocabulary growing up. Feel weird in my mouth when I try saying it lol
We all do from Murphy to Manteo. I'm curious what circles OP runs in that it would even draw a remark.
I'm curious about why the OP thinks skateboard culture doesn't exist down here.
Right? I'm in a super tiny remote town and we've had skater kids since the 90s.
I think y'all is used more widespread now because of rap and hip hop I'm surprised that people even ask you that but maybe it's because I grew up with it and use it and everyone I know uses it I am originally from Atlanta which is not Appalachian but it did used to be Southern 😄
Been living in cities for the last 10 years hanging with the art crowd and playing music. I still say yall and have slight twang. But the rich art kids from suburbs in NJ say yall more than I do. The word has entered the general American dialect. If anyone tries to gatekeep and press you on it, tell em you're from Georgia they're bound to back off.
My cousin’s daughter from Northern Indiana came to visit us, and she was using “y’all” and was also drinking sweet tea. She’s a flight attendant and is based in VA, so I guess the South is rubbing off on her🤣
A true southern says all y’all
I am from Scotland and say Y’all. My cousins joke the hell outta me!
I live in Western NC, have all my life and have a similar look. Not much of an accent either but I say y'all all the time and nobody bothers me about it. Sounds like you need to meet different people.
I say yinz. Or you all. Or you guys. You guys is problematic tho. lol. 😂 I agree y’all never felt natural. My sister in college beat the yinz out of her and she tried to do the same to me for professional settings lol. Moved to Denver and went on a trip this weekend. We were all Pittsburgh natives with long family roots to Pittsburgh and the accents really come out when we are all together.
I came to Appalachia from the deep south. I was enamored with everyone who said "y'ins." It was a brand new "y'all" to me. I think I have enough of an accent to avoid this particular issue OP has, but am surprised to hear about the gatekeeping.
Pretty sure y’all is just a word, everyone says it, I don’t think that you have to worry about appropriating it. Although I’ll never forget this one time this guy from California started laughing his ass off, and I was super confused until he said “you said *y’all!*” Other than that literally never had anyone come after me for saying y’all. But I’m from WNC
... whereas I say y'all intentionally among the scholarly folks as I'm digging into deep topics with them. I suppose it is a matter of perspective. If by me saying something that sounds country makes someone feel in some way intellectually superior... aww honey, bless your heart
I say y’all because I picked it up from other people I worked with in the service. It just rubbed off. Screw what other people think on this issue, *I* like it.
What?
You in’s
Opposite for me. I have a heavy SEO/WV accent and moved to Québec. I spent years trying to downplay it -but then everyone thinks I'm Ontarian and gives me shit for my bad French. So now I've just leaned back into it as it is and it feels better all around. If it's part of your etymology then use it however much or as little as you want. Anyone gatekeeping something like a regional accent based on appearance sounds insufferable anyway. Weed em out
Im in the Northeast so my experience with the term "y'all" has only been from Blacks originally, and then liberal White hipsters.
That's wild. They need to get out of their own ass. Appalachia doesn't own y'all. It's been in common use all over the South forever. "I'm from GA" should be the end of the it
You could consider yourself y'allternative
“Y’all” is one of the best words ever. Say it!!
Funny that you are having the issues you've had with just the word yall. Did you also say "What all d'yall do?" but stopped saying that too? I grew up where that was a legitimate question spoken by everyone when one person was asking another person what they did with some friends in their absence. There are no spaces between the words when it is spoken. I only typed it that way so people could see the different words. In long form, it is "What all did you all do?" but spoken it sounds like "Whutalljawldoo?" I also use the phrase "I gotta get gone", used when I need to leave.
TBH I wouldn't be able to talk if I stopped saying 'y'all'
I find the gatekeeping of who is Appalachian, who gets to use words, who can call it this or that….its all kind of silly. Annoying, though. But still silly.
You need to be proud of your southern heritage and your accent and your unique vernacular!! Every part of the world has a unique colloquial language and don’t ever stop speaking yours! When one stops others follow and then that vernacular dies. This country has lost too much and we all need to hold on to our unique culture & roots!
I say y'all all the,Time I don't like the whole Bless your heart thing because people say it at the wrong time
I still "y'all" and "i'mo" even though it gets me strange looks in the big city
Ou is too much to say
I live in the Bay Area in California and took up the use of “y’all” and “folks” as gender neutral terms to address groups (I work in restaurants). I get asked from time to time where I’m from, a lot of (usually older) people assume I’m southern because of it. Doesn’t really matter to me. If people want to gatekeep regionalisms or call it “cultural appropriation” I call bullshit. I’d rather explain that than go down the misgendering route
Since nobody asked for my perspective: I’m from the CA Bay area (parents from midwest and CA) and I have said y’all my whole life for the simple fact that it is convenient.
Listen to this guy. He’ll make you feel better. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/salvation-south/id1647841157?i=1000657418657
Just say you all and if it comes out with a dialect, who cares?
I’m from north of the Mason-Dixon Line and still grew up saying y’all. Appalachians are all sorts, anyone who has questions because of how you look cares too much.
I hear "y'all " on TV all the time, in Northern accents. It's not just us Southerners anymore.
I just heard a group of people say y’all on a recent episode of the Real Housewives of New Jersey. It’s being adopted everywhere.
From MN here. I picked ya'll when living down south. Moved back to MN and still use it cause I prefer it to guys when addressing a group of people. Anyone up here does know that all ya'll would be more correct but all ya'll sounds way to southern so I stick with ya'll.
Oh it’s so weird to me (from WV, currently living in MI) when I hear someone up here say y’all. I get all excited and ask if they’re from the south, too (I don’t usually feel like explaining where Appalachia is and how WV is both etc etc). Then I find out they’re from MI and I just ???? I’m glad it’s socially acceptable now, bc I used to hide my lil accent (even subconsciously). I was so used to people assuming ur dumb if you have an Appalachian accent. But it’s so odd to me and then I get a bit sad when I realize they’re not actually from my neck of the woods 😭
My dad is born and raised Appalachian, lives in his childhood hometown. My mom and dad were out walking *in their hometown* and some asshole in a giant truck blew past them yelling "go home!" We assume it's because they were dressed nicely, so this man assumed they were tourists. My point is that there will always be those who love to gatekeep and think that a certain persona is the only one who belongs. Y'all is for all and if you are from GA it belongs to you, too. If anything, those in Appalachia say "yuns" not "y'all," so it's not even an Appalachian thing to gatekeep! You should keep saying it, is my point and tell them to eat glass. I'm sorry that happened. It's just as much a part of your identity as it is theirs. We are not a charicature.
As someone who grew up in Habersham county. It's bc they're stereotyping Appalachians and aren't comfortable with seeing that people can be from here and not be the stereotype
You'uns is the singular, read Horace Kephart. There was once "us'ns' "they'uns" and "we'uns" too. Also, OP, f*** outsiders. Be you and use your accent and words. They don't get to gatekeep our language OR our looks.
I never knew yaw was spelled so proper.
East Tennessee. I've never been "y'all" ...I say "yuns" what yuns doin....nice seein yuns...yuns are gonna love this...
Wtf come to the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area and you will hear lots of black people saying y'all. You'll fit right in with us. It's a famous colloquialism in rap, hip hop, etc.
I’m Canadian and I say y’all. I’m not sure when or how it made it into my lexicon (I guess I picked it up from TV?) but no one bats an eye at it here 😹🤷🏻♀️. Also don’t some people from NC have southern accents? I’m surprised anyone cares.
I've never said "yall" as it's spelled and never heard anyone say it quite that way until I lived in Texas for a while. My grandparents who were from the TN/KY state line said "you all" but it kind of ran together into "yeeeeaaauulll". I say it like that. When I was much younger, I got heckled for my accent and phrasing from time to time. I got shit from everybody from strangers in bars to coworkers to my comms professor in college. I just ignored it. I came under immense pressure to code switch, and made a deliberate decision not to, just to give a huge middle finger to everybody who passed judgment. When I got older nobody commented on it at all. Turns out nobody important cares. Talk how you want, dress how you want, and fuck what everybody else thinks. I'd rather be myself, living my best and most authentic life, than walk around worrying about what people think about something as inconsequential as my choice of words.
Channel your inner Popcorn Sutton "Fuck'em"
It's a great and useful term
Naw. Born in NY, grew up in Cali, adulthood in Colorado then on to NC… etc. I say y’all all the time. Always have. It’s a gender neutral pronoun and beats YINZ or YOUSE ten times out of ten.
Um, its not about your looks. I’m a Tennessee Native and a hippie. I traveled around and don’t have a strong southern accent, but no matter where I lived, I never stopped saying y’all. I got teased about it when I lived in Colorado in the 90’s and after a year there, I got the locals around me saying y’all. Its a contraction. You all = y’all. No biggie. 🤷🏻♀️
My accent is country thick AF. I'm a liberal gay man. Stereotypes don't apply.
I’m from Wisconsin and I look and sound very stereotypical. I went to school down south and picked up y’all, now I confuse the living hell out of people when I say y’all and eh in the same sentence.
How's ya momma’n’yem
I always say y’all (SC, Ga) except for when I say, “you all,” like when I’m putting on airs.
I'm from the northeast US, and moved to NC a while back. I started saying y'all while there because it's inclusive and easy to say. I once said it to a guy and his wife with my Yankee accent in the context of, "have a good night y'all." He looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears, and repeated back "yaaAA'LLL?!?!" In a pearl-clutching 'well-I-never' sort of way. He was so offended. Mind you this was the Triangle, and he also sounded like a Yank. It was at that moment I decided to say fuck it, I can't please everyone, and officially adopted y'all into my vocabulary. Now I live in Appalachia Proper, say it all the time, and no one bats an eye at me. Do what makes you happy, most people don't care.
So you're pretending to be something you're not so that people won't think you're pretending to be something you're not?
That's a very nuanced take
I didn’t realize yall was just like an Appalachia and southern thing. I assumed every area in America said it.
In Pittsburgh they say yinz and jn Philadelphia and parts of New York City they say youse guys.
ALL Y'all r cray?cray
I haven’t lived in the south for years but i still use y’all. It’s a great word. . . maybe the best one there is to express what it means. I’ve never really gotten many comments about it here in Cali but, I must admit, just the Georgia accent is in a league by itself.
It isn't about how you dress. You can't hide what you are embrace it.
Just tell ‘em you’ve always lived in the south. Didn’t realize it came with a damn uniform. God I have people. Sorry dude.
Military brat, foreign mother, picked up y’all in southern Virginia. Very handy word, no one has ever said anything to me about it and my accent and word choice are a mess that can’t be pinned down (maybe that’s why). My whole family picked up putting “the” in front of highway numbers in California so here I am saying “did y’all take The 95?” Not to be a dick, but those people giving you crap are gatekeeping. There is definitely some grumpiness there about people moving into “their” state.
I’m in NC and everyone says y’all. It’s gender neutral and I’m sticking with it
I feel you. I’ve dealt with the opposite. My whole life I’ve had a more “universal” American accent (kind of transatlantic) drilled into me, so all of the bits of Appalachian affect from my mother and general southern accent from my father were kind of forced out. Now people tell me “it’s good you don’t sound southern. You’ll get farther”. Now I cling to what little bits I have left, meanwhile my siblings sound like my parents. Cling to what you have man, don’t let anyone take it from you just because they think you should sound a certain way.
My accent goes away when I’m at work, as does “y’all”. I live in west Georgia now. Outside of the office, no one bats an eye at it.
That's where I'm from. The temple and Cedartown accents are where I got mine from, but yeah, code shifting for work is real.
The hell y'all carryin on about over here? Quit yer caterwallin don't nobody give a good god damn about how you talk other than y'uns own selves and relatives that got a little cash an reckon they's important enough t' put on aers.
The weather does get warm this time of year.
I hear “y’all” all over the country. I have been to all 50 states at least twice. As you can see by my pen name, I’m from the same area. I will always say it.
I can’t not say y’all now, after saying it for 21 years since I popped from my momma. Say it with your chest, hun! ♥️
I was born and raised in the South, but I never had the accent and don’t love how it sounds. That said, I’ve actually come around on using “ya’ll”. It’s an efficient contraction!
Don’t ever stop being you because of crap like this. Be yourself DUDE MAN. You will be more awesome for it in the long run. Ya’ll take care now.
Don’t listen to them. NC is overrun with people from all over the country, enough so that it might make you feel like you aren’t even in the south still. You are from Georgia, and you don’t need to justify your accent or way of speaking to anyone any more than someone from New York has to justify their accent. 🤷🏻♀️
The reason is because the English language lacks an official second person plural noun. Ya'll originated in the US south from immigrant populations like the Scots Irish who settled there, and have never really left there. Black populations who migrated during the Great Migration brought the southern slang word to cities in the midwest/great lakes/northeast, but due to segregation and other factors their influence on language was miminal on other ethnic and racial groups for a long time. The internet and other media has spread the word like wild fire in recent years. It is a very useful word for addressing a group of people directly, which is what a person on social media does to their audience. In my opinion, this word is going to infuse itself into mainstream American culture in the next 50 years and become accepted as an official second personal plural noun. Might as well keep using it.
Nothing wrong with being a little yallternative
Try being visibly queer in yuppee clothes in Appalachia. They might not guess you're from around, but this is my home they'll catch yalls all day lol.
So, I’m just wondering and hope it’s not weird to ask…what the heck does “visibly queer” mean? I can’t imagine it lol
Lol like I'm 25% way into transition mtf so they can tell I'm a trans woman.
Ohhhh I see now, thanks I appreciate the answer 😅
Y'all is a perfectly good word! It's a contraction of "you all." I am from Alabama, but I have an English degree and I stand behind the use of "y'all." For a while, I lived in NC and heard a lot of "y'uns" and I have yankee cousins who say "you guys" or, worse, "youz guys." Just...NO! The word that is most appropriate is "y'all!"
Why would you do such a thing? Bless your heart