tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28103455.post8716416194232859017..comments2024-03-09T05:53:59.542-05:00Comments on Oz and Ends: Divided by a Common Language in LionboyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28103455.post-64303738347805836432011-05-23T15:03:28.754-05:002011-05-23T15:03:28.754-05:00Having Quaker relatives, I know people who still u...Having Quaker relatives, I know people who still use the “thee” form. But that usage, along with the Brooklyn/Philly “youse” and the Pittsburgh “yinz”, appear to be growing less common and more self-conscious. <br /><br />In contrast, “you all/y’all” is used over a larger cultural and regional base, and doesn’t seem to show any sign of becoming a quaint memory (e.g., “When I grew up in Brooklyn…”). Time will tell what survives, but I’d put my money on “y’all”.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28103455.post-85441339945331359732011-05-23T00:00:17.308-05:002011-05-23T00:00:17.308-05:00We think it’s just those quaint Southerners being ...<i>We think it’s just those quaint Southerners being ungrammatical, but this word reflects a more sophisticated grammar than the rest of the English-speaking world uses.</i><br /><br />Speak for yourself! Where I grew up in Brooklyn (Bensonhurst, if you wanna know), plenty of people still said youse. I haven't heard it since we moved to Staten Island, but I heard it all the time before I was ten, and no doubt there's people there still saying it. (Though not many. If you want to hear a "real" NYC accent nowadays you have to go to Jersey. The older groups have moved out en masse, and newer immigrants are moving in, changing the language with them.)<br /><br />But the point remains that there are many dialectical ways to make a singular/plural distinction in the second person. In Pittsburgh, isn't it, they say "yinz", and in some part referenced in the DARE (I'd have to look it up) they say "with-you", and there are even a very few parts of England where you can hear "thou"! And there's you-uns and whatnot.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com