Hornman
Well-known member
To properly understand regional linguistics you must study them in context. For example, Y'all is singular. The plural is "All Y'all". You were probably confused by the "all" part.
Another Radio Arm Saw
- Thread starter ken w.
- Start date
To properly understand regional linguistics you must study them in context. For example, Y'all is singular. The plural is "All Y'all". You were probably confused by the "all" part.
Well, it's not an accent, it's an apostrophe. An apostrophe is what you use when making a contraction from two other words (can't, won't, I'll, I'm, etc.).
Since "y'all" is a contraction of "you" and "all", the only correct way to spell it (assuming you acknowledge it as a real word) is with the apostrophe.
Going by your logic, we might as well write cant, wont or ill, which obviously would not go over very well for at least a couple reasons, not the least of which is that those are all actual words with totally different meanings.
Not trying to be a jerk, but you asked.
Lippyp
Well-known member
A few years ago over here in the UK there was a big outbreak of mob justice around a couple of high profile ********** cases which turned really ugly with mobs trying to run convicted but time served offenders out of town. Sadly the thick f***ks demonstrated just how stupid they really were when they spray painted graffiti and threw bricks through the window of a paediatrician.
Hmm. Where are you hearing "y'all" used as 2nd person singular?
Not saying it doesn't happen (and I guess I've heard it on very rare occasions), but since I moved to Memphis I tend to hear "y'all" used almost exclusively as 2nd person plural. Although I also hear "all y'all" which seems redundant.
EVOLVO
Well-known member
Dan in Pasadena
Well-known member
Well, it's not an accent, it's an apostrophe. An apostrophe is what you use when making a contraction from two other words (can't, won't, I'll, I'm, etc.).
Since "y'all" is a contraction of "you" and "all", the only correct way to spell it (assuming you acknowledge it as a real word) is with the apostrophe.
Going by your logic, we might as well write cant, wont or ill, which obviously would not go over very well for at least a couple reasons, not the least of which is that those are all actual words with totally different meanings.
Not trying to be a jerk, but you asked.
Yes Virginia, I "get" that two words used in a contraction require an apostrophe. Duh! That wasn't my point at all.
My question was, why WRITE the expression at all? Use of the term "you all"; whether as two words or as one via a contraction, is grammatically incorrect but I "get" that's its a regional thing. It's a part of having a Southern accent.
The correct term if I'm speaking to you (a single person) or you (a group of people) is still the singular word, "you". There's no need to WRITE "you all" nor "y'all".
Writing it to me seems like an affectation.
Dan in Pasadena
Well-known member
Now that's funny
Not if you were the pediatrician (American spelling, obviously)
Modern Jess
Well-known member
For the same reason that we write "can't" instead of "can not" (and countless other examples). It's the written form of a phrase used in verbal speech. I don't see how the written "y'all" is any different than any other written contraction.
Also, technically speaking, "y'all" isn't strictly part of having a Southern accent. It is a colloquialism most often heard in the South. Accents and colloquialisms are not the same thing, even though they often go hand in hand.
(And for full disclosure, I was born in Ohio and live in California but have been known to use "y'all" from time to time).
Yeah, but if you combine the two it becomes 'yawl'. I'm an Okie and know whereof I speak, and I speak that way sometimes!
Well that explanation certainly makes more sense than your original post, Betsy. Thank you for clarifying.
But it's still not "writing an accent". Almost no one writes out their spoken regional accent. I guess this would be an example of writing out a regional corruption of spoken American English. (But now I'm just picking at your semantics-- I get what you mean.
) All I can tell you is that most people write like they speak.
hchinaski
Well-known member
I just saw a "Skilled Saw" for sale on CL.
Here are three things that really bother me:
"It is very unique." NO. Unique is an absolute. It is either unique, or it is not unique. There is no in between.
"It is very quite.". NO. The word you are looking for is "Quiet".
"It is in minty condition." NO. "Mint" condition is taken from coin collecting; where the item in question is in absolutely perfect condition, i.e., as if it were a coin that had just been struck at the mint. "Minty" is an adjective that works well for mouthwash, but not to describe the condition of a Porter Cable router.
Here are three things that really bother me:
"It is very unique." NO. Unique is an absolute. It is either unique, or it is not unique. There is no in between.
"It is very quite.". NO. The word you are looking for is "Quiet".
"It is in minty condition." NO. "Mint" condition is taken from coin collecting; where the item in question is in absolutely perfect condition, i.e., as if it were a coin that had just been struck at the mint. "Minty" is an adjective that works well for mouthwash, but not to describe the condition of a Porter Cable router.
Eh. A lot of younger car guys use the adjective "minty" to describe an exceptionally clean vehicle in OE trim, but generally with the awareness that it's not a "real word".
I do agree that it doesn't work as well in the context you gave.
EVOLVO
Well-known member
Point taken. My apologies to the Doctor. But still, did those morons think that a ********* would hang out a shingle announcing where they lived?
Alchymist
Well-known member
Perhaps they were real scapes before he got them?
Y'all lay off the radio arm saw jokes - I really like mine.
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Scott H in Wheaton
Well-known member
Many cars listed on Chicago Craigslist are in " good conditions".
Have also seen many unibody cars listed as "frame off restoration"
The funniest ad I recall seeing in the Tradin' Times was for a 1979 Mustang In Deep Face Car. Must have been an ad placed over the phone, entered by someone who has never heard of the Indy 500.
Have also seen many unibody cars listed as "frame off restoration"
The funniest ad I recall seeing in the Tradin' Times was for a 1979 Mustang In Deep Face Car. Must have been an ad placed over the phone, entered by someone who has never heard of the Indy 500.
Scott H in Wheaton
Well-known member
My sister wanted me to find a guy with a skipsteer to do some work at the farm. I told her maybe I could also find someone with a skidsteer to help load it.
Scott H in Wheaton
Well-known member
Anyone have any Elderbrock parts for sell?
John Mc
Well-known member
How 'bout a Kennelworth truck? (Talk about going to the dogs.)
Full disclosure, we have a Kenilworth Avenue in town. So just maybe some folks could get mixed up here.
Full disclosure, we have a Kenilworth Avenue in town. So just maybe some folks could get mixed up here.
dladcock
Well-known member
Or.... A STERNING WHEEL. How about PLASIC (plastic) and VOMIC (vomit). I work with a guy that lives in pocket of regional linguists. Lovable guy, but you just can't have a serious conversation without at least smiling in his face.
dla
dla
TireTracks
Well-known member
I saw a Add for "Hooked on Phoneix" in the classifieds one time.
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Stevie-Ray
Well-known member
Yeah, shouldn't that be Kennelworth tractor?
EVOLVO
Well-known member
ahh, good ole "Torch wrench"
Syberia
Well-known member
I smiled to myself a little while Iwas rreading this thread. The wife came in and asked me what was so funny. I mentioned the one about wheel barrels. She apparently thought that's how it was spelled too. She asked me what the hell is a "barrow."
Ross/Kzoo
Well-known member
Probably stole off from a job site.
Many many years ago when I lived outside of Buffalo, NY, I was watching the local news one night - anchor was reporting on a house fire and said it was thought to have been started by a hot soldering iron. Except she pronounced the word 'solder' as 'soul-der'.
Made me twitch & squirm. Until I thought maybe she'd asked the engineering dept. how to pronounce it, and that's what they had told her. Just to have their own private laugh at her expense.
Made me twitch & squirm. Until I thought maybe she'd asked the engineering dept. how to pronounce it, and that's what they had told her. Just to have their own private laugh at her expense.
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It needs fixed, I drive truck, beckoned call, CDL license, eating with a "spoom"...a friend of mine once dated a woman who was a "real-a-tor".....
My late father was an announcer and these types of things were drilled into me as a kid.
People do judge others on how they speak.
My late father was an announcer and these types of things were drilled into me as a kid.
People do judge others on how they speak.
"It needs fixed", "it needs washed", seems to be a thing I've only heard from people from western Pennsylvania & into WV. Wife's father (raised near Manor, PA) did it, wife ( most of her brothers & sisters do it, and over the years I've met a half dozen people from near Pittsburgh, and it's always lurking under the surface, ready to pop out, no matter how educated & well-spoken they are otherwise.
Once I realized that, I stopped trying to instruct my wife. Phrase still makes my skin crawl, but at least I don't show it anymore. I know that's a battle I will NEVER win.
Once I realized that, I stopped trying to instruct my wife. Phrase still makes my skin crawl, but at least I don't show it anymore. I know that's a battle I will NEVER win.
Allgonquin
Well-known member
Let's not forget the many variations of pronunciation of "solenoid".
And down south you cover your boat with a "tarpolian" rather than a tarpaulin.
And it drives me totally nuts that the pavement at airports has become "tarmac" as if this was a special formulation just for planes to drive on rather than a contraction of the British tarmacadam, which is just a road surfacing material invented more than 100 years ago.
And when did a contest between parties become "Smith verse Jones". What happened to versus?
And Matt M beat me to it on "real a tor". I go crazy when I hear this.
And down south you cover your boat with a "tarpolian" rather than a tarpaulin.
And it drives me totally nuts that the pavement at airports has become "tarmac" as if this was a special formulation just for planes to drive on rather than a contraction of the British tarmacadam, which is just a road surfacing material invented more than 100 years ago.
And when did a contest between parties become "Smith verse Jones". What happened to versus?
And Matt M beat me to it on "real a tor". I go crazy when I hear this.
ckadams00
Well-known member
You see incorrect terminology and get frustrated.
I see a seller who doesn't know what he's selling and get my car keys.
I see a seller who doesn't know what he's selling and get my car keys.
You see incorrect terminology and get frustrated.
I see a seller who doesn't know what he's selling and get my car keys.
Except it swings both ways... So many of those sellers think because a nice example of the item is selling for $X new, their cheap knock off version that's missing parts, has been neglected, is cosmetically flawed, etc. is still worth 90% of $X.
Bugeyed Earl
Well-known member
When I was in the USAF, I heard that misused daily to describe the apron where the aircraft were parked along the flight line - it was actually made of concrete. I asked one of the senior guys if he knew we were using the wrong terminology, and his response was something like "I know, that's just the way we do it..."
:eyeballengineer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2014
- Messages
- 94
Went to the convenience store a while back and found a hand written note on the door stating " sory we are close".
C-list here in south Florida is horrible for the English speaker. Everything is written in spanglish at best or just pure Spanish. They have lots of dodge cummings for sell.
C-list here in south Florida is horrible for the English speaker. Everything is written in spanglish at best or just pure Spanish. They have lots of dodge cummings for sell.
LS6 Tommy
Well-known member
The way I was taught was the Romans & Greeks discovered aluminum salts (long before England even existed) and used it as a stringent, hence the topical treatment "Alum". A Frenchman named the base "Alumine", Humphrey Davy identified a metal base of it that he initially termed "Aluminium" then later "Aluminum". (I wonder if he changed it due to public pressure after the Quarterly Review changed it?) A Danish scientist was the first to actually make aluminum as a metal. After that many people improved/changed the process to end up with what we call Aluminum today.
Not correcting anybody, just adding my $.02 about how I heard it...
Back to bad spelling/grammar, I see professionally made signs all the time that say things like "Keep door's closed", "Tomato's 4/$2.00"...
Sorry to aid in the hijack...
Tommy
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