Something Southern: On The Correct Use of Y’all

First off, in case you missed it yesterday, I am doing a GIVEAWAY of a free copy of Tawne Fenske’s Fiancee For Hire!  So much awesome hilarity.  Just go comment on yesterday’s post for a chance to win!

Now, since I’m working my way toward the release of the first full novel in my Southern contemporary romance Wishful series (which you’ve technically already had a chance to peek at through Be Careful, It’s My Heart and Once Upon A Coffee), I thought I’d start a new blog feature where I talk about Southern stuff.  I am, myself, very very Deep South.  It’s something I take for granted and don’t think about until I’m chatting with folks from other parts of the country or world and say something to which they’re like “Huh???”  Since this series is going to very much…well, wallow in that, I want to start educating about it.  This is likely to bounce all over the place from colloquialisms to food to other cultural stuff, and I feel it’s important to kick things off with a lesson on the correct use of “y’all.”

1.  Spelling.  The word is a contraction of “you” and “all”, ergo the correct spelling is “y’all”, never “ya’ll”.

I see this improperly spelled all over the place, and it drives me bananas.

2. Usage.

That’s it.  Short.  Sweet.  Straightforward.  And completely gender neutral.

Don’t forget to stop by yesterday’s post to comment for a chance to win a free copy of Tawne Fenske’s Fiancee For Hire!

11 thoughts on “Something Southern: On The Correct Use of Y’all

  1. That’s interesting for me. Living in the UK not many people say ‘y’all’. To me it sounds a bit odd, but then again I’m sure some of the words and phrases I say would sound odd to you! 🙂

    1. Oh God, Brits have THE BEST SLANG. I miss it. When I was living in Edinburgh, they loved listening to ME talk (which was so weird…) for novelty’s sake.

      1. You know what? I’ve never even been to Scotland!! I would love to go sometime though. The furthest north I’ve been is Carlisle which is south of the border.

        Yeah we do have quite good slang. 😉 And our expressions are different from yours too. The other week some other American bloggers I’m in contact with didn’t know what a ‘lie in’ was. I’m guessing you might seeing as you lived in Edinburgh for a while??

  2. I’ve gotten out of the habit of saying/writing “y’all” and started saying “you guys” because that’s what most people were saying. I need to take back my Southern heritage and be proud of saying “y’all”! (I’m starting to wonder if I’ve spelled it wrong in the past. I KNOW how to spell it, but sometimes my fingers put things in the wrong place when I type….)

    I have a FB friend from Ireland who would say “it’s gas”, and I honestly thought she was telling people that whatever it was they were saying happened was due to gas. LOL

  3. While my family has its roots here in upstate New York where I currently live, most of my 32 first cousins on my father’s side are scattered from Virginia to South Carolina. On the other side, I have a cousin in Alabama, This made me smile. =)

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