Y'all or You guys? (Houston, Austin: area, firm, cities)

[scubashawn68]

Originally Posted by shamrockrover

I'm college educated and use more slang than I know what to do with.

And I'm from South Mississippi.

In other words, bite me.

Well, that's mature. I guess you did not learn very much .

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by Texanwannabe

Youze is said quite often where I grew up...about 70 miles SE of Pittsburgh, PA. I broke myself of that habit when I went off to college in the big city of Pittsburgh! My college classmates would laugh at me when I said that. Then I picked up "you guys" and "yinz/younz" from all of them!! I still say you guys, but I think I broke myself from saying yinz/younz.

LOL!! Interesting! The poster that uses it all of the time on another forum/platform is native St. Louis, MO, so I really wondered. He apparently just likes it, and "borrowed" it, maybe?

If you're headed for Austin, I think you will hear "you guys" from time to time, since there are so many from all over there!

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by scubashawn68

Well, that's mature. I guess you did not learn very much .

I confess to being ignorant myself of the "lesson" being taught. Can you enlighten me?

[Back2TX]

Originally Posted by scubashawn68

First, let me say I am not trying to be rude with my answer or opinion. After all this is just my opinion.
I live in the English speaking country of the USA so I do not us the term"Y'all".
I speak proper English like I was taught at home and at school.Most educated people speak proper English. And yes...I am not from the south or the north. I am from California originally.

And let me say... that my husband is a VERY educated man... a general surgeon... and he uses the word y'all. I am a teacher and I use the word y'all. I don't care if it makes me sound "uneducated" to some non-Texans.... it's me and how I express myself.... in a Texan way. Now what bothers me is when people say funner. I loved grammar in school... like diagramming sentences... so don't assume I grew up without proper English.

[KerryB]

Well, just an FYI for everyone. Just because you say "Y'all" or have an accent doesnt mean you're a southerner. EVERYONE says "Y'all", even some New Yorkers I've ran into. It's actually pretty common.

With all due respect to everyone, I just have to say this. I think a lot of Texans fancy themselves as southerners & its not really accurate, at least in the traditional sense.

Anyone who has grown up in the deep south (TN, NC, SC, GA AL, MS, & parts of Northern FL) knows what a southerner is & what southern hospitality is. Also the mindset of the people is way different, the dialect, the history, architecture, etc.

Saying that Texans = Southerners is just not accurate. Not even for parts of it. Maybe MAYBE parts of Houston are "southern-like", but still not full on by any means. There's just too many other influences in the state overall.

Just saying, there's a lot that Texans can claim fame to or be proud of, being southern or claiming southern roots just isn't one of them.

[scubashawn68]

Originally Posted by KerryB

Well, just an FYI for everyone. Just because you say "Y'all" or have an accent doesnt mean you're a southerner. EVERYONE says "Y'all", even some New Yorkers I've ran into. It's actually pretty common.

With all due respect to everyone, I just have to say this. I think a lot of Texans fancy themselves as southerners & its not really accurate, at least in the traditional sense.

Anyone who has grown up in the deep south (TN, NC, SC, GA AL, MS, & parts of Northern FL) knows what a southerner is & what southern hospitality is. Also the mindset of the people is way different, the dialect, the history, architecture, etc.

Saying that Texans = Southerners is just not accurate. Not even for parts of it. Maybe MAYBE parts of Houston are "southern-like", but still not full on by any means. There's just too many other influences in the state overall.

Just saying, there's a lot that Texans can claim fame to or be proud of, being southern or claiming southern roots just isn't one of them.

I agree with you ! I lived in the South , GA to be exact and most "Southerner's" do not consider Texas the South at all.

[scubashawn68]

Originally Posted by Back2TX

And let me say... that my husband is a VERY educated man... a general surgeon... and he uses the word y'all. I am a teacher and I use the word y'all. I don't care if it makes me sound "uneducated" to some non-Texans.... it's me and how I express myself.... in a Texan way. Now what bothers me is when people say funner. I loved grammar in school... like diagramming sentences... so don't assume I grew up without proper English.

In case you missed it, I could care less if someone uses the term "Y'all".
I had only stated that it was not proper English. Surely as a teacher you can agree on that ? And just because someone grows up with proper English does not mean they will use it.

[catman]

That is true; I wouldn't use "y'all" in an English class, or in any sort of formal writing. I would say that as long as a person knows when to use 'proper English' and is able to do so on those occasions, everything is fine.

[edubya]

"Proper" is a misnomer in this case. We're talking about formal and informal speech or writing. The modern descriptivist trend in English grammar would call a colloquialism like "y'all" perfectly proper, though perhaps not very welcome in a formal medium.

In any case, English is a living language, and it evolves over the years according the whims of its speakers. Many people have a linguistic pet peeve about which they harp to all who will listen, but pretentiousness is often the captain of that ship.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by KerryB

Well, just an FYI for everyone. Just because you say "Y'all" or have an accent doesnt mean you're a southerner. EVERYONE says "Y'all", even some New Yorkers I've ran into. It's actually pretty common.

With all due respect to everyone, I just have to say this. I think a lot of Texans fancy themselves as southerners & its not really accurate, at least in the traditional sense.

Anyone who has grown up in the deep south (TN, NC, SC, GA AL, MS, & parts of Northern FL) knows what a southerner is & what southern hospitality is. Also the mindset of the people is way different, the dialect, the history, architecture, etc.

Saying that Texans = Southerners is just not accurate. Not even for parts of it. Maybe MAYBE parts of Houston are "southern-like", but still not full on by any means. There's just too many other influences in the state overall.

Just saying, there's a lot that Texans can claim fame to or be proud of, being southern or claiming southern roots just isn't one of them.

No disrespect taken. Texans are proud to be Texans. But the regional affiliation has been endlessly debated on many other threads, and we have just agreed to disagree. I firmly maintain Texas is essentially a Southern state -- not typical, but essentially -- in terms of history and culture.

But then again, there are other threads for this topic. The South has always been a diverse region. I know some in the Deep South who exclude all but three or four states from "the South" (and that includes Tennessee, North Carolina, and even Louisiana and others sometime) because they do not fit that "moonlight and magnolia's image" (or for whatever reasons). But this image is a very narrow, albeit quite common and extensive, "standard." Too, living in -- or even being from -- a Deep South state does not make one an expert on Southern culture or history (not claiming that I am, just saying). Experience and personal perspective count for a lot of course, but there are objective factors as well when it comes to the area of regional studes.

Anyway, so far as Texas goes, just as a sampler plate, the history of the Confederacy (of which Texas was one of the original charter members) voting patterns (Solid South democratic for many years), religion (Southern Baptist church domination), settlement patterns (majority settlement by Southeasterns), speech patters (most Texans speak one of many varieties of Southern American English), etc, all go into the definition of a region, which is why, IMO, Texas is primarily linked to the South in terms of basic regional affiliation. As noted, proudly independent and different to be sure, but basically Southern in the main ways when it comes to a regional grouping.

But as may be, again, this is just one that many of us here agree to just leave on the back burner, so often has it been discussed and debated. It is a question that will never get fully settled anyway.