An Open Letter To Yankees Regarding Use of the Word "Y'all"

Dear Northern People (and yes, we really do call you "Yankees" behind your back, but we mean it in the nicest way possible),

It would appear that many of you are beginning to desire to add the word "y'all" to your vocabulary.  I do not blame you.  It is an excellent word, rich in culture, and full of practical application.  And we Southerners are gracious (MY STARS, we are gracious).  We will share this word with you happily, because we feel should not be discriminated against just because you did not have the good sense to be born in God's Country.

So by all means, take our word "y'all" and use it with pride.  You are just as welcome to it as you can be.  But please, please, use it properly.  An improper "y'all" use is just a slap in the face of all we hold dear, and we cannot bear it.  Here is what you need to know:

1.  "Y'all" is never, ever, ever, EVER singular.  It must refer to a group.  If you refer to one person as y'all, then, I'm sorry, but we can hear your Yankee-ness loud and clear.

2.  Even if you have a thick New York accent, you must attempt to say "y'all" with a southern accent.  "Y'all" spoken with a northern accent just does not work.  Go ahead, throw yourself into it: YA-A-A-AWL.  Please pronounce every one of those A's.

3.  You may hear your Southern friends say "all y'all".  This is perfectly acceptable for native Southerners.  If you are a transplant, tread carefully.  In order to pull off "all y'all", you have to have some heritage behind you.

4.  Conversely, do NOT use "y'all guys."  It is just wrong.  And when you leave the room we will laugh at you, but we will be sure to tack on a "bless his heart" at the end.

5.  Let us discuss the spelling.  "Y'all" is a contraction of "you" and "all".  Therefore, the apostrophe MUST go in the place of the "ou".  It is "y'all".  Not "ya'll".

6.  Be prepared.  If you adopt our fine word and go back home to your northern friends and family, they will give you great grief for sounding like a hillbilly.  Bear up, my friend--it is a burden we Southerners have borne for years.  Be comforted that your new word brings with it the brilliant heritage of Faulkner and O'Connor.  And also cheese grits.

Comments

[Carolina Mama]

Well done! It's funny the "y'all" craze from folks everywhere. You don't catch Southerners using "you guys." I tried it 'up north' with my cuzzies and I have since confessed and corrected my ways! It never felt right. :)

With a degree in English, thanks for the spelling, seems lately I've gone distracted and inconsistent in my um hum spelling. :) Now we've got it in black and white!

I grew up with "y'all" spelling. Of course, being a New Orleans native, we also used "Whodat?" and "Whereyat?"

People usually don't mimick those.

[Jennifer (Et Tu?)]

Fantastic post. However, I have an important question that I have pondered many times that you may be just the person to answer:

What is the plural possessive of y'all? Y'all's?

Just the other day I was emailing some friends and said, "We could either do dinner here or at y'all's place," and I wasn't sure if I used the apostrophe correctly. (And no, switching to the yankee "your place" was not an option.) :)

[Kristen]

This is too funny! I'm a New Yorker now in Texas. I still can't bring myself to say 'the word'!

[Erica (A Yankee In Jawja)]

I always thought it was ya'll. As in "ya all," therefore, eliminating the unnecessary A & joining them with an apostrophe like: Don't (do not) Can't (can not) Won't (would not).

Thanks for the grammar lesson! ;)

[little erin]

this is probably one of the greatest blogs i have read in quite some time! and i am a first time reader.
I am a "yankee", although, i do prefer to be called a "member of the red sox nation". Anyway, all jokes aside, i loved down south for quite some time, and befriended the word y'all. it is probably one of my favorite words in the english language! i've been back in massachusetts for about 2 years now, but refuse to give up my "y'all". I get teased about it frequently (which makes so sense since yankees are always trying to rush, rush, rush and get things done in half the time- y'all is sooo much quicker than you all, or all of you, etc!!!) but refuse to stop using it. there are quite a few northerners who make shoddy attempts at saying y'all. nothing drives me crazier than that!!!!!!!!!

[Christa @ No End in Site]

Many of the commenters above correctly stated that, here in Indiana, we say "you guys" all the time. Since I live in northwest Indiana, though, we're considered Chicagoland. In Chicago, they often say (I'm not kidding) "yous guys." I'm so torn... which should I use?! ;)

[Kristin]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you...for #5. Thank you.

[Lizz @ Yes, and So is My Heart]

I recently lived in NW Arkansas for three years. However, despite my newfound love of all things southern, including the word "y'all," I can't seem to bring myself to actually use the word. It seems as though I have no right to it. I know that sounds crazy, but I just. can't. do. it.

Great post, Shannon.

[Katrine]

I knew we were official Texans when my daughter began saying y'all!

[Melanie]

So, I'm glad to have the final word on the apostropher, because my southern MIL spells it ya'll, but I always thought it should be y'all, but I'm a darn yankeee and would never try to correct her.

[Jana]

Thank you for #5! I'm a native Oklahoman but live in the Pacific Northwest, and I'm married to a New Jersey guy. He doesn't make fun of the "y'all." However, he does give me a hard time about "fixin' to." Punk. I've lived here for 11 years and still get asked almost daily "Where are you from?" I usually answer, "South Seattle." Huh. Let'em chew on that for a while. My poor boys all have Oklahoma accents. Oh, if only they could visit the Promised Land more often! Go OU! Beat those durn Longhorns!

[Miss Mel]

I will NEVER use the word... I'm a Yankee, and okay with that. :)

However. I have friends from the south who use "Y'all" as a singular word. It. Drives. Me. Crazy!!!!!

I'm glad to see you can at least use the word the way it's intended it to be. =)

[Missy @ It's Almost Naptime]

Preach it, sistah

[Laura]

Thanks so much for making sure to include the part about spelling. I am a Texan and even some of my Texan friends don't spell this word right, and it drives me nuts! And I see that the person above me wrote the exact same thing, so okay then.

[abigail @ see jack draw]

i say it too! and im southern - californian that is.

my texan step-sister moved in with me when i was 13, and i've been ridiculed ever since!

[ann henley]

i left you something on my blog!

[Kara]

This is great! When I was in middle school we moved from Georgia (ya'll country) to south Florida. Everyone made fun of me so much I quickly lost the ya'll and then two years later we moved to Texas where we were back to saying ya'll again:)

[Kara]

whoops and I spelled it wrong...sorry Laura:)

[becca]

THANK YOU for addressing the ridiculous misspelling of "y'all." Why would someone spell it "ya'll?" That really gets on my nerves, but I never correct my fellow Southerners because of my Southern graciousness, of course!

[Tater Mama]

THANK YOU for #5! It drives me completely around the bend to see our beloved y'all with a misplaced apostrophe.

I sure enjoyed the post today!

[Erica]

I'm a yank, and I use y'all all the time. I'm a teacher, and my students always ask if I'm Southern because of it. :) I'm using it right, though; I'm doing y'all proud!

[Candace]

OK I have to touch base on a few points in the comments lol. Boomama I live in Georgia and I occassionally will bust out with an all y'all. Now I am fixin' to tell you about how I make sweet tea lol. Nah just kidding but I could seriously, I make some fabulous sweet tea. A friend comes to my house sometimes just to grab a glass of tea.

Cyndi ~ The Jerk a knot in your tail thing cracked me up. I have recently become an expert on the movie "Jungle Book". If you watch it you will see that Blu threatens to do that to the monkeys when they take Mowgli.

Back to the original post I for some reason do not use the word y'all a lot when I blog. Don't know why! Maybe I have been afraid of misspelling it!

[Jessica]

I think you forgot about the "Dude ya'll..." that I often hear in California.

[Ericka]

My whole family is from Oklahoma and Kansas. I'm loud and proud with my y'all y'all!

[Marla Taviano]

Okay, time for some honesty.

I used to be a little jealous of you Southerners and your cute ways and big humor and gracious hospitality and darling little speech patterns.

Now I'm starting to see the not-so-nice side of you all. Air of superiority. Pride in your perfected use of incorrect grammar. Making fun of people who talk differently than you. Making unfair assumptions about people north of the Mason-Dixon (Dixie? whatever.).

Shame on you.

Please tell me I've misread you, and you really are all syrupy-sweet and gracious and hospitable and darling.

I want to love you. And be loved in return.

Is that too much to ask, you guys??

Marla from Ohio

[Hillary]

I have a friend in Texas- who shall remain nameless- who uses "y'all" in place of "your". For example, "I can't wait to see y'all house". It's just wrong and I don't know how to tell her. She's from the South. Her mama went astray somewhere. I think I'll create a hotmail account and send her an anonymous link to this post and reference #1.

Thanks! Hilarious! Perfectly explained for Yankees and Southerners gone wrong.

[Mary Wiedenhaupt]

My granddaughter, aged 13 visited from AZ 2 years ago and confided to Grandpa before she left that she caught herself "almost saying y'all!" Hilarious! Y'all is practical.

[susieshomemade]

It's so strange. We live in the same country and speak the same language but still sound so differently.

[Catherine]

I almost died laughing at "y'all guys" - I've never heard that one!

[Erin]

ROFL! I am a Yankee transplated south of the Mason Dixon Line (and loving it.) I'm fighting hard the accent battle but am loosing a little more every day, for myself and my kids. Might as well surrender and join y'all.

[Stephanie]

I was born and raised in Alabama, and moved to NM for over 20 years, during which time the consonants came creeping back into my words.

Not good.

It was only when I was tired, stressed, or had been talking to family back home that the Southern came out.

Such as when we were in a code blue situation, I had the paddles, and called out "Clear, y'all!"

Never did live that one down.

But then, no one got hurt, either.

[Yelowflower Mo]

born and raised in the south...loved this...will be passing it on to southerners and yanks alike...thanks for the laugh

http://yelowflowersgarden.blogspot.com/

[robin]

Hi! Ok, you are hysterical! I'll come back and comment some more later but wanted to say...
You've been tagged!
(and you don't have to respond to it if you've already done this)
:0)
I LOOOOOVE your blog and was so happy when you returned after the summer!

[robin]

Ok...I think this time you'll get me blog site to see where you were tagged...maybe??

[Krista]

This Yankee thinks you're hilarious! But I have a question about #1.... once while traveling in Texas (that is considered South, right?) Several times I heard y'all used when referring to a single person.

While standing near a buffet table I noticed the silverware had run out so I asked the server for some more. His reply-- I'll get y'all some more.... I was standing there completely by myself.

Any thoughts? Maybe he was just a Yankee transplant who had yet to perfect his usage of y'all.

[Carrie]

ohhh I've been known to spell it wrong...*hangs head in shame* I'll work on it for y'all ;)

[Michelle M.]

That is great! We moved from New York to the South about 5 years ago and have finally given in and started saying y'all, especially my hubby. He loves it!

[Kaye]

Thank you. It needed to be said. =)

[desi]

clap, clap, clap,
thank you, thank you, thank you.
You have put my VERY thoughts into words.
This is my #1 pet peeve, living here on the out skirts of Atlanta (which at this point is just a suburb of NEW JERSY!)
tHANK YOU!

[Poppyseed]

OH MY, but you have hit upon one of my most dearly held pet peeves. WHY, OH WHY can people not spell y'all correctly? Thank you for making an attempt to enlighten those without a proper Southern education. :)

[Kerry]

My hubby adds, and quite appropriately I think, that yankees using "all y'all" will be helped by understanding that "all y'all" is really the most emphatic use of "y'all". It helps one make a very important point, like, "All y'all can kiss my GRITS." :)

[Stretch Mark Mama]

BooMama, crack me up.

I tend to type y'all, but I don't tend to say it. I am a Northerner all the way, and can't make that word sound how it's supposed to sound.

I need to go embrace my Pacific Northwest flannel or somethin'.

[Stretch Mark Mama]

Oops, meant type.

Can you tell I use the strikeout code a lot? {Smirk}

[Amanda]

I was born in Grand Rapids, MI but moved to AZ when I was 11. I understand completely that I am a South Westerner and not a Southerner. I just wanted you to know that I have been incorporating the fine southern word "y'all" into my daily language for nearly a year now and have actually been using it correctly even without first researching it's proper use.

Hmm...makes me wonder if someone along my family tree was a southerner. How else can one explain my natural ability to use it correctly? It must be in my DNA.

I even throw a bit of southern accent into it and refer to it as "the Britney Spears in me". ;)

[NerdMom]

I love it!!! I am a born and bred Cali girl but I use y'all quite frequently. I stand upon my heritage for justification! My mom's family is from Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas. I used to go to the family reunions (here in California) and would go back to school on Monday with an accent. I have always used it and am not planning on stopping. It smooths out my rough edges. But my favorite for sending people over the edge is "Shalom y'all";)

[Linda Sue]

I so deeply appreciate someone standing firmly for the proper grammatical use of southern dialect. If we continue to allow rampant misuse of y'all - well the next thing will be some Yankee calling himself Bubba trying to be a NASCAR racer - it just isn't right. We love'em but there are standards to uphold - :::chuckling as I keyboard::::: my beloved had the misfortune of being born in the upper half of the USA but rectified it when he came to full maturity!

[prasti]

LOL! i love the tips. too funny! i have some friends from arkansas that use "ya'll" often, and if i'm around them for long periods of time it starts rubbing off on me :).

[Megan]

I grew up with the "all y'all" and thought it was normal. *grin* Lived in Colorado for 10 years and realized maybe it wasn't. Now I'm back in Missouri and my entire family has been surprised it has made a re-entrance into my vocabulary. I've been a little surprised too.

It's like riding a bike. Or something...

[Bailey's Leaf]

I am from Ohio. I say y'all sometimes. You would be glad to know that I really do follow the rules, as listed, and even put the bless his/her heart in there from time to time. I even added that last week when a wife was explaining the loss of her husband's wedding ring. She didn't appreciate my "bless his heart" and added a dirty look. My comment was, "I'm sure that he was do upset!"

Thanks for the lesson, though. And when y'all come up north, just know that soda, coke or the like are POP and that we list it out in formal flavors. Thankyouverymuch.

[Sta]

As a Michigan girl, I say, you can keep your "y'all!" Maybe I'm just too far north, but it still sounds absolutely foreign to me!

[Chelsea]

Amen, sister!

[Pat Callahan]

Truly one of the funniest things I have read in a long time. I miss my southern grandma & pa (and her incredible country ham & gravy, biscuits, coke cake, etc.)

Thanks for putting a smile on my face!

-Pat

[Tabitha (From Single to Married)]

Southerner here, born and raised (but no longer living in the South). I can attest to the use of the word "ya'll" and to its vast appeal. I can also say that unfortunately, if it is not used often, it does seem to disappear from one's vocabulary. This post is a good reminder that I need to get back to my southern roots! :)

[Micha]

I lived the first 14 3/4 years of my life about an hour from LA then we moved about 20 minutes from my mom's hometown in Alabama. When we first moved I still used the Californian "you guys" then after about a year that turned into y'all. Oh and there is a long "a" in the pronunciation. It's not yuh-all

[Kristen@nosmallthing]

This is fantastic! I grew up in VA, which is as close to yankee country as you can get...I even think NoVA is kind of pseudo-yankee country. But I'm considering my self a southerner, anyway. I never knew so many people mis-used the y'all. :) Bless their little ignorant hearts.

[Lynnet]

Thank you so much for sharing this. I use ya'll way too much - even when I type! Thanks for a smile in the middle of the week! I must agree about needing a pedigree to use Ya'll and let's be proud of it!

[Musings of a Housewife]

Shannon for president! ;-)

[SortinItAllOut]

This is funny--I lived in the south for a spell and find that y'all is a great word in type-when nothing else quite fits.

Also, Veronica mentioned "y'uns"--I grew up in a town where that was acceptable slang--but it never caught on with my family. We lived there for about 15 years, but we weren't natives :)
"Y'uns" is one I will just never use. I can just imagine my Grandmother's face if I ever said that!

[Marci]

Thanks for a very timely post on one of my favorite subjects.

We moved to Texas from California this year and my dd forbids me to use "y'all." I actually used it in CA quite often before coming here. She says I say it differently now, like a Texan. I tell her it is a very efficient contraction and that it grieves me greatly that now I'm a full-blown southerner and can't use my beloved "y'all." And I knew how to spell it all along.

[Dani]

I'm laughing so hard! I'm from the DEEP SOUTH and did NOT know that I have been spelling this word wrong for many many years. I'm so devistated right now. I mean... I have posted on my blog many times using ya'll. I will now have to post explaining that I'm a southern person that has no idea how to spell our signature word!

Please forgive my ignorance!

[Mary B]

As a Michigander I would never dare use the word. But, I just about died a few weeks ago when I was at a women's ministry meeting at church. We had a newer member there who had come from Texas, she said ya'll, and I just about died!
I've seen it written so many times on the blogs, but to actually hear it was better!

[Faithfulmommy]

Amen sista!!!!

[Smellyann]

Regarding #1: I disagree. About 20 years ago, we vacationed in rural North Carolina, and (coming from New York) were repeatedly amused to find ourselves singularly addressed, when alone and not with each other, as "y'all." I found it hilarious.

Also, THANK YOU for correcting the spelling; I see it wrong all the time, and it drives me crazy. I'm glad to see y'all fixin' it.

[Lowell Stoltzfus]

In eastern Pennsylvania, we often say, "You'unz" as the grammatical equivalent of "Y'all". ("You'unz" is pronounced as one long syllable. I am unsure on spelling). I like "Y'all" better, "You'unz" is just too harsh sounding.

[Greg]

Ahhh... I've been saying for years that y'all was a contraction of "you all" and therefore, should be spelled "y'all" not the "ya'll" (which is a contraction of what? ya all!?) -- I'm so glad other people agree. :) Thanks for an entertaining read.