Date:  Sun, 22 Jan 1995 16:49:30 CST

From:  "Donald M. Lance" <ENGDL[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MIZZOU1.BITNET>

Subject: Re: 2nd pl.



As someone who grew up on a farm in Texas (parents born in Arkansas), I'm

a native speaker of y'all. For some reason I don't feel comfortable with

'you all' as for formal form. I prefer to use 'you' for the formal plural.

'Y'all's' of course is the natural possessive. Many 'you all' speakers

say 'your all's' as the possessive. I've heard 'youens's' for that possessive.



Having recently slipped into senior citizenry, I feel more and more comfortable

using 'y'all' in a wider variety of contexts. When John Algeo was here to

give the Peter Tamony Memorial Lecture on American Language a couple of years

ago, he used 'y'all' when addressing the audience in the less formal portion

of his presentation. If John can, I can. He grew up in St. Louis, but

his years at U Ga had a lot to do with his free use of the term. DMLance