Monday, May 7, 2007

Let's take a vote

You've all been spelling y'all wrong. Seriously. You know how an apostrophe works, yes? In the word don't, the apostrophe goes where the o would be if we weren't so lazy we turned everything possible into a contraction. So if we agree that y'all is a contraction for you all, there should be no more debate about this very important subject.

Thoughts?

 

23 comments:

Katie said...

I'm with you. Seeing it spelled ya'll drives me insane. I'd like to think I've been living in Texas long enough that I wouldn't make that mistake but then, I'm human, I typo. :o)

But yes, the proper way is y'all.

Mikeachim said...

Thoughts? Only that you're completely correct.
But then, I don't believe human beings are designed to use apostrophes correctly. This is the only explanation for most of the hand-chalked restaurat signs in my home town.
eg. "Lunches' served! Come on in!"

Anonymous said...

Y'all m'a h'a a point there.... and I want my doughnut NOW! Big hugs and spelling errors, Dale.

Anonymous said...

Thoughts? Me thinks YA'LL have wayy too much time on y'all's hands to even discuss this, yal'l here, now? ha ha ha

Unknown said...

You might have a point, but even still, the contraction form of "you all" is a creation slightly outside the proper bounds of English, and hell, if ever there was a language full of grammatical, spelling, and pronunciation exceptions, it's English.

Still though, you got a point.

Anonymous said...

I'm from Pittsburgh and it's not Y'all or any of that it's Yunz or Yinz. Instead of y'all need to do that it's Yunz need to do that... just my two cents!

carbonickid said...

I have a far more important question.

Is the plural of y'all "all y'all"?

Pat Paulk said...

You are right! And I'm one that spells it wrong. Thanks for the correction.

JaneDoughnut said...

Thanks Katie. You make Texans look smarter. ;)

Mike, that reminds me of this pizza place/pool hall we used to have in Bossier called "Your So Cool." That sign always drove me crazy.

Dale, I know I spelled "donut" wrong over on your blog. The grammar Nazi in me shuddered right after I hit Submit.

Anon 2, looks like you've got no shortage of time yourself.

Holmes, you have a point. Then again, every language spoken today is a bastardization of an older one. I have to kind of laugh at the idea of "purity" of language or culture, things which should always be evolving and changing.

Kristofer, this is an issue I am willing to re-fight the Civil War over. "Yinz" shall never cross my lips!

Yes, Paul. As in, "Fuck all y'all!"

Hey Pat. You know I'm just messin' with ya.

Mikeachim said...

Another that sprung to mind:
...there's a restaurant in my home town that used to be called:
....Cloggies' In.
Fabulously dreadful.
Yes, as far as I can tell, it was an inn, owned by someone called Cloggie.
Feel the pain.

JaneDoughnut said...

Well, obviously it was owned by a group of Cloggies. Meaning, people from the city of Clog.

Mikeachim said...

You could be onto something there.
I'd better check.
.....
.....
.....
Nope. London.
Damn.

Tisha! said...

hahaha Jane it's bad enough trying to remember vocabulary let alone grammar for me these days :)

Anonymous said...

Actually I rarely say 'yinz' it is usually y'all or yunz... like to my kids, 'yunz need to red up yer room!'

(S)wine said...

e.b. white, strunk, thurber, mencken, and a whole slew of other dead white people are turning in their graves.

i'm partial to:
all y'all is some nasty ass mothafuckas!

Paula said...

One, ITA. Two, I like your 'nym. :)

sage said...

I confess to have often mispelled y'all--but is sounds more like ya'll than y'all. To settle the point, how did Fauklner spell it?

Wendell Dryden said...

Hmmm.... I always thought y'all was a contraction of "ya all" as in, "I don't know who you got with ya, but y'all better git inside outta that rain."

;)

JaneDoughnut said...

That's ridiculous! Who says ya? That's not even proper English. ;)

Anonymous said...

i thought everyone knew that y'all was the proper spelling. these kids today. tsk, tsk.
sarah

JonCohen said...

What I don't get is why people use don't at all. Do not is the exact same amount of characters; so what exactly is being shortened?

Great to see that your "new blog" seems to have taken off in the couple of months since I was last here

(Sorry...work has=killer busy)

JonCohen said...

LOL. American Idol ends in a week and the "cell phone porn" angle was actually axed earlier today.

The new focus of the site is going to revolve around original YouTube videos either starring me or created around short stories I write.

I'm actually really excited about it; there's something that should be ready to go online next week that's by far the most creative multi-media thing I've ever done.

No Reply said...

I hope y'all don't mind, but I tagged y'all for a meme.