Is there a Rhody equivalent to “y’all” and “you guys”? (live)

[Goin' Coastal]

In reflecting on my recent visit to RI and MA, and the nearly 400 years of family I have buried there in both states, I thought about how a couple of relatively recent moves by my Gramps and Dad not only took me pretty far from a deep history in both states but also affected my vocabulary.

My Gramps’s leaving RI and all his family for Texas, as a teenager before WWI, resulted in my dad and his children being born in Texas. “Y’all” and “all y’all” still come from my mouth although my dad moved us to SoCal when I was 13.

Once in SoCal, I acquired “you guys” for the plural of “you.” I still use that phrase, too.

Does Rhode Island have a similar version of the plural “you”?

Just curious. Thanks!

[QuilterChick]

Originally Posted by Goin' Coastal

In reflecting on my recent visit to RI and MA, and the nearly 400 years of family I have buried there in both states, I thought about how a couple of relatively recent moves by my Gramps and Dad not only took me pretty far from a deep history in both states but also affected my vocabulary.

My Gramps’s leaving RI and all his family for Texas, as a teenager before WWI, resulted in my dad and his children being born in Texas. “Y’all” and “all y’all” still come from my mouth although my dad moved us to SoCal when I was 13.

Once in SoCal, I acquired “you guys” for the plural of “you.” I still use that phrase, too.

Does Rhode Island have a similar version of the plural “you”?

Just curious. Thanks!

Yes, in RI that would be "youse guys". No y'all or all y'all, or all y'alls, and no all y'all's. etc.


You will need dictionaries for translation from English to: Spanish, Mexican, Guatemalan, Puerto Rican, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Malaysian, Canadian French, Italian, and last but not least, Arabic to English.

[Goin' Coastal]

Originally Posted by QuilterChick

Yes, in RI that would be "youse guys". No y'all or all y'all, or all y'alls, and no all y'all's. etc.


You will need dictionaries for translation from English to: Spanish, Mexican, Guatemalan, Puerto Rican, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Malaysian, Canadian French, Italian, and last but not least, Arabic to English.

No problem about those languages. I have lived in California for nearly 50 years and taught English to speakers of other languages, so I’m well accustomed to diversity of languages, and I’ve got Google.

Youse guys? I thought that was Brooklyn. Interesting.

[Hollytree]

I must say that after 30+ years here, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "youse guys".

[QuilterChick]

Originally Posted by Goin' Coastal

No problem about those languages. I have lived in California for nearly 50 years and taught English to speakers of other languages, so I’m well accustomed to diversity of languages, and I’ve got Google.

Youse guys? I thought that was Brooklyn. Interesting.

Many folks from Brooklyn and NY City in general in RI. You could probably count the (transplanted) southerners on one hand in RI, they just don't move there; but they do relocate from there as you will notice. Best wishes.

[QuilterChick]

Originally Posted by Hollytree

I must say that after 30+ years here, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "youse guys".

Youse guys don't frequent Atwells AVe., "The Hill", enough Holly, or Capriccio's; or Venda. You would have heard it often at The Blue Grotto (closed about 6 yrs. ago I believe) .... oh how I miss dining at that place.

[Hollytree]

Are you saying it's an Italian immigrant thing? Or a NY thing from Brooklyn?

[independent man]

Originally Posted by Goin' Coastal

No problem about those languages. I have lived in California for nearly 50 years and taught English to speakers of other languages, so I’m well accustomed to diversity of languages, and I’ve got Google.

Youse guys? I thought that was Brooklyn. Interesting.

The local Rhode Island slang is a version of the immigrant Brooklyn-ese dialect commonly spoken from Philly to Boston or anywhere else there is a high urban concentration of Italian/Irish immigration (Chicago/San Francisco??).

I have heard Youse Guys in Rhode Island, but not nearly as often as in NY. Education & relocation are the real enemy of these local slangs.

[GeoffD]

Youse/yous/youz as plural of you is pretty common in the working class dialect for most of southern New England and NYC tri-state. When you get to south Jersey and Philly, it morphs to yinz. You certainly get it in heavily Irish populations. James Joyce used it in literature.