On the PBS NewsHour last night, a New York Times reporter referred to Judy Woodruff and company as “you guys.” And on the local PBS station, a student-weatherperson referred to “tornadic activity.”
[What’s a good alternative to “you guys,” good people?]
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Diction levels, crisscrossing
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“Y’all.”
ReplyDeleteAfter my few years of living in Washington, D.C., I became very fond of "you all." The need for a plural "you" is strong.
ReplyDeleteYouse
ReplyDeleteNah, just kidding. Other languages conveniently do have different forms for this, and Southerners (ahem) have graciously given "You all" and "Y'all" to the language.
You're welcome.
And please don't forget the venerable "youse guys."
ReplyDeleteAs a Damned Yankee I have to agree with the others that "you all" is very useful.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever want to see a true look of disgust, ask a group of elderly Southern women "What can I do for you guys?"
By the way, w/r/t:
ReplyDeleteNotice the (easy-to-miss) text that appears at the top of the page after you leave a comment: “Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval.” Comments don’t disappear; there’s no need to repost them.
Ugh. Google, in spite of all its brilliant minds has failed us with the Blogger comment form UI.
So it’s you all by a hair. No takers for good people?
ReplyDeleteYes, the Blogger comment form is poorly designed. I’ve watched my own comments on other people’s blogs appear to vanish too.
Ah. Subtle. Good people works or the pejorative you people.
ReplyDeleteU2
ReplyDelete