"Y'all"
Tonight I'd like to extoll the proper use of the contraction, "y'all", and also stress the importance of proper apostrophe placement. No other term in American vocabulary is as regionally defining as the contraction of "you" and "all" to form "y'all". (The Minnesotan "youbet'cha" comes in a close second but is more narrowly defining in my opinion.) When you hear someone say "y'all are welcomed here any time" you know you are dealing with a true southerner and the word makes you feel comfortable. Like the scent of magnolias on a hot summer night, "y'all" wafts across you and sets a southern mood.
Wherever "you all" or "all of you" is used "y'all" can be freely substituted as a second person pleural pronoun or object.
It is of utmost importance, however to get the apostrophe in the right place, or otherwise the sense of the contraction is nullified. What does "ya'll" come from? From what source does the initial "ya" spring? In a word, it comes from a colloquial phonetic familiarity absent a basic understanding of the underlying orthography. Just write it right. "Y'all" -- from "you" and "all", the apostrophe taking the place of "ou", not "ya'll". Use it proudly but spell it right.
One guy's opinion.
lpaf
ps: Y'all come back now. Vocabulary and Syntax needs you.
