tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 14 05:44:05 1995
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Re: "Bon appetit"
On Mon, 13 Feb 1995, Jeremy Cowan wrote:
> I am very impressed with y'all's knowledge, but the entire discussion has
> nothing to do with modern English which is what I speak! I was making a
> joke about the fact that in English we *currently* use the same word (and
> even the same conjugation) for second person singular and plural.
In the Southern US (extending from DC south to Florida, and across the
country as far as New Mexico), hearing someone use "you" for the second
plural is completely rare, except in "one who" type constructions (such
as "You get what you pay for...")
My rural relatives in Ohio of course use "you guys" a lot, but one can
even hear "y'all" in the Midwest... And if "y'all" becomes standard
spoken usage in the Midwest as well as the South, that's as Modern as
English is getting...