a question of spelling preference

[keryx]

[Poll #1302360]

I've been told this is a US regional issue, but aside from a few people from Canada, the Northeast US and Louisiana who use the second, freakier spelling ("ya'll" - what's that, a contraction of "ya" and "all"?), most everyone else seems to use the other.

Comments

in which I try to demostrate that I learned something about grammar

[luguvalium.livejournal.com]

My Virginia raised Latin teach explained it this way:

In English since the 2nd person singular and 2nd person plural is both you it can occasionally be confusing which one is intended. Thus y'all is actually more specific than standard english for 2nd person plural.

Only later when I took French (and going to Quaker meeting) did I learn historically the 2nd person singular had been thou or ye but was replaced by you due to some Norman court fashion thing, like the "royal We"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-V_distinction#English
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralis_Majestatis

Now if I could actually speak those languages...

Re: in which I try to demostrate that I learned something about grammar

[keryx.livejournal.com]

This is exactly the reason I use "y'all". It's clearer than using "you" for "you", "all of you" and "one" (the abstracted "you").