Hey, you guys! Let's all say 'you all' or 'y'all'

A water tower in Northern Kentucky first promoted the Florence Mall but the city
learned it couldn't do that, so "y'all" was a replacement. (Photo by Getty Images)

Here's one thing Americans can be blessedly thankful for: We don't have to say "You guys" anymore. Not at restaurants or family gatherings, not when trying to get everyone's attention, and not when we really don't know "who-all" should be included. We can send our gratitude to historian David Parker, who looks at the contraction's past and gives everyone permission to say "y'all" (short for "you all").

"While 'y’all' is considered slang, it’s a useful word nonetheless," Parker writes for The Conversation, a platform for journalistic writing by academics. "The English language doesn’t have a good second person plural pronoun; 'you' can be both singular and plural, but it’s sometimes awkward to use as a plural. It’s almost like there’s a pronoun missing. 'Y’all' fills that second person plural slot – as does 'you guys,' 'youse,' 'you-uns' and a few others."

“'Y'all' might serve an important function, but it has acquired negative connotations,” Parker notes. “Back in 1886, The New York Times ran a piece titled 'Odd Southernisms' that described 'y'all' as 'one of the most ridiculous of all the Southernisms'. . . . Like the Southern dialect in general, the use of 'y’all' has often been seen as vulgar, low-class, uncultured and uneducated. As someone noted in Urban Dictionary, 'Whoever uses [y’all] sounds like a hillbilly redneck.'”

In tracing the etymology of "y'all," Parker explores several options from American, English (a 1631 poem) and Nigerian. His verdict is "murky," but he does get to the point: "The word seems to have grown in popularity. An article in the Journal of English Linguistics in 2000, "The Nationalization of a Southernism," said that scientific polling showed ”'Y'all will soon be seen as an American, rather than Southern, word.”

And maybe with good reason. Parker writes that “'you guys' . . . is losing support because of its sexist connotations. Are females included in you guys? How about those who identify as nonbinary?"