I’ve lived in the southern United States all my life, so I do know what I’m talking about when it comes to “southernisms.” We recently had a discussion in a writing group about the contraction y’all. What is the correct spelling?
Although you may see variations, the contraction of you and all (translated=all of you) is y’all. Don’t be misled by other spellings, such as ya’ll (ya’ll only makes sense if the writer means ya and all, which is the colloquial of the colloquial).
The idea that y’all is singular and all y’all is plural is a myth. If you hear this either the speaker doesn’t understand the meaning of y’all as the contraction of you and all or the speaker is ridiculing southerners. Singular is you, same as anywhere else. Y’all is plural.
As supporting documentation, I have a sweatshirt, a gift from my parents, that reads “Merry Christmas, Y’all.” They purchased the garment at Cracker Barrel. If Cracker Barrel isn’t the definitive southern and country authority, I don’t know what is!
So y’all have a merry Christmas and a happy new year. The Grammar Cop will be back next year with more grammar tips.
Hi my name is Brooke Williams and I’m an author for chainbooks.com. I ran across your blog and wondered if you’d have any interest in helping me with a fiction project I’m working on.
Chainbooks.com is a relatively new website. The idea behind it is that the authors for the site write chapter 1 of a book. Someone else writes chapter 2. A third person chapter 3 and so on until the book is complete at 24 chapters. There’s no pay involved, but it’s a pretty fun process and the books, when completed, get published so every writer can say they are then a published author. I was part of the first book they published and really enjoyed it. Now I’m looking for writers to help me finish some of the books I started.
The four books I most want to further at this point are:
“Small Town America” which is about a woman on the run who ends up in a small town in Nebraska (currently in chapter 7)
“12-12-12” a conspiracy/terrorist type plot (currently in chapter 4)
“Born for This” about a professor who also happens to be a serial killer on the side (currently in chapter 3)
“Accept this Daisy” a romantic comedy about a bachelor type show (currently in chapter 3)
Would you have any interest in writing a chapter in any of these books? The only real rule is that they have to be 2500-3000 words in length. Let me know and if you’d like to participate, I’ll get you more details!
Brooke,
Your chainbooks sound like a lot of fun and a great creative writing exercise. I’m not able to squeeze any additional writing into my schedule. But maybe other interested writers will see your comment and will contact you. Good luck!
Cheryl