I picked up y'all when Toni and I became poly as a way collectively to address all of my/someone's partners, and it's turned into a convenient plural pronoun for general use.
The first article linked points out that there is currently no formal plural pronoun - "you" is dual purpose, and perhaps this is why "y'all" is spreading the way it is.
That, and it rolls off the tongue far more easily than "youse" :P
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-07-11 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-11 11:06 pm (UTC)That, and it rolls off the tongue far more easily than "youse" :P
no subject
Date: 2005-07-11 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-12 02:49 pm (UTC)I You He/She/It
We Y'all They
Mine Yours His/Hers/Its
Ours Y'alls Theirs
Etc.
Admittedly, I went to HS in a rural southern town, but really, it worked well for distinguishing singular and plural.
And, technically, even with "thou" and "ye" there was a hole, as thou is a familiar form (much like the difference between du and sie in German).
no subject
Date: 2005-07-13 03:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-13 11:43 am (UTC)y'all's = vestrum
"vestrum: (plur.) your, yours.
your yours; you may sing about YOUR pretty gals.
In my class, we would have translated as: you may sing about Y'ALL'S pretty gals.
(I had to cheat and look it up... it has been way too long since I had to do much of anything in Latin! http://www.sunsite.ubc.ca/LatinDictionary/)