Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

And the singular is you.

Y'all, is a contraction of you all.

However, since language evolves, and there appear to be a lot of people
who are using y'all when they are talking to just one person (this has
got to be something new???), I cannot say it is "wrong" to use y'all in
the singular...but it would be historically/etimilogically inaccurate.

Up in some areas of New York, they use "you" for the singular, and
"yous" (sp??) for the plural.

In the rest of America you is used both for the singular and the
plural--mostly because we got it fron the French who use the word "vous"
for both the plural and the singluar formal and use  "tu" for the
singular informal/familiar, the equivalent to the English word "thou";
however, this informal/familiar form of the second person singular has
fallen into disuse in modern English except among some religious
sects...who, ironically, mistake it for the formal.

More information than I suspect anybody really wanted.

Personally, I think y'all is a really handy word, but I would never
dream of using it to refer to just one person because to do so rather
defeats the purpose of having it.

kat
Orange County, Calif.



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