"Y'all" Y'all!
I don't get it. Why can't "y'all" just become an accepted part of English? The fact is, English lacks a word to distinguish you(singular) from you(plural). Most other languages have this! You can get around it in English by awkwardly by specifying "you + nouns in question". Think "you people", "you animals", or the ever popular "you guys". Usually people just shorthand "you guys" to most situations. This is more linguistically exclusive than words like fireman, salesman, and policeman which are all being phased out. Not only is it gender exclusive, there is no reason to assume that all things you might address directly are going to even be people. Granted, "you goats" or "you turnips" might be uncommon situations, but here the flexibility of "you guys" is still strained. Also, "you guys" is rather informal. Seeing as English also lacks a you(familiar) and a you(formal) it would make sense for your grammatical patch word to cover both of these scenarios as well. I wouldn't want to address a board of directors, or congress as "you guys". "Y'all", of course, is a contraction of "you" and "all". "All" in this case is arguably the most inclusive word you can use in this sticky situation. It covers both genders, familiar and formal situations, as well as situations when you are addressing objects. Indeed it even follows all the standard rules of contractions (as long as you don't write it "ya'll"). Not like the abomination that is "ain't" or even some accepted ones like "shan't".
Interestingly, most Irish have retained a similar workaround from Gaeilge to Hiberno-English (modern Irish dialect) where you(plural) becomes "yous" or "yis" or another regional variant. Since many of the early Scots-Irish immigrants to the US (including my ancestors) settled in the South and Appalachia I suspect this may be an important part of the etymology of the American version "y'all". If this is the case, it would explain some of the negative attitudes towards the word, since in early America the Irish were not looked upon favorably. They were often given the most dangerous jobs, and treated worse than slaves by their employers because slaves were considered valuable property, but a cheaply hired Irishman could be replaced the next day if he fell off of a roof.
Today the word is still mocked as a word for ignorant hicks, hillbillies and rednecks. Stephen Colbert, a prominent southerner of Irish descent, commented (out of character) about dropping his dialect, "[On] TV, if you wanted to use a shorthand that someone was stupid, you gave the character a southern accent. And that's not true. Southern people are not stupid. But I didn't wanna seem stupid. I wanted to seem smart."
I think it's time we stop fueling a nonsensical degradation of a word that actually improves American English.
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