Growing up in Ky and living in the south now, y'all is terrible too.
What I hate - is when someone NOT from the South uses "Y'all" referring to ONE person, i.e Johnathan to Joe - "Hey Joe, I'm going to the flea market, y'all wanna come along?" THAT drives me nuttier than a fruitcake. I don't care if a "damyankee" ( --giggles-- ) uses Y'all, but for God's sake, use it CORRECTLY!
I think the worst is when the locals say "sweet tea" like it's one word. It's almost like they're proud to be ignorant too, smiling and saying SWEETTEA as loud as they can.
I understand Swee'tea. it's like calling "Coke" (the beverage, silly!!) Coca Cola (which is actually Co'Cola --lol--) Go into a Luby's, tho, and try to get Unswee'tea without having to get a teapot, bags, and a glass of ice (and funny looks). It's usually those parodying southerners in their own back yard (and looking assinine) who yell it like they're ordering a PBR in a stuffed bar (and using Y'all to the bartender when ordering), but if I ordered it as "Sweet Tea" I'd sound like a foreigner. (or fur'nir!)
Regional dialects don't bother me so much, but the way any word starting with "e" is pronounced anymore is borderline moronic. Maybe they're reetarded.
Dee-vell-up-men'ly Disabul'd. I am way OK with regional dialects... but if you're an American newscaster, quit using Canadian pronounciation of things like About (if it was A'boot, I'd be wearing it on my foot!)... You're NOT Peter Jennings (who WAS Canadian), so quit faking his accent. Y'all sound dorky!
OK, top #1 pet linguistic peeve of all times? Starting every sentence in a conversation with the word "So,..." I have not a clue where that started, or why, but trying to sound like a professor in a conversation teaching facts makes you sound... stupid, not validated. I hear it on TV and the radio, I hear it from co-workers, I hear it from strangers... and there isn't one time it's warranted.
