On Mon, Apr 16, 2007 at 04:18:56PM -0500, Pat Hayes wrote:
> >Having lived in Texas for some years, I didn't see the multiple version
> >of "y'all" used. "Y-all" was applied to individuals and/or groups
> >indiscriminately.
>
> Yes. In fact, close observation suggests that what it actually means
> is something like "as many of you as wish to hear this", i.e. it is
> flexible between "you", "all of you", and "any of you". One includes
> oneself in the set of addressees by responding to the sentence in
> which the y'all occurs. This makes it a very polite and friendly form
> of address, since it can be ignored without giving offense, and the
> decision about whether one is being addressed falls to the listener
> rather than the speaker. Kind of a pull technology for human
> conversation. (01)
Cute. Yes, I think that is a good characterization, but, in my vast :-)
experience, it is never used one-on-one where there isn't the
possibility of a plural interpretation. Around these parts in
particular it would just sound odd to use it that way, pretty much as if
you were to ask a single interlocutor who'd come to town by himself
"When did you guys get here?" (02)
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