Lyr Req: grammatically correct use of ' y'all'?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: grammatically correct use of ' y'all'
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 04:14 PM

"I know this isn't the thread on slang"

I rather think it is now.

"I remember a prof in English Lit (teaching in Texas) making a point that the correct pronunciation of was is 'was,' as in wahs, not wuz, as most of us pronounced it. Also, says is pronounced 'sais' (long a) not sez.

Is this what is taught in English schools?"

Quite some time since I've been in school, but I'd say the answer is "No". Maybe inn Texas, for all I know, but not in England.

"Received Pronunciation" for "was" is more or less "wos", and for "says" it's "sez". That phonetic spelling they use in dictionaries would get it more accurately.

That reminds me that the laast Prime Minister, John Major had a really unique way of pronouncing the word "want" - he pronounced it the way it is spelt, that is, to rhyme with "pant" rather than, as is more commonly done, to rhyme with "font". I've never come across anyone else with that way of saying it. I've always been mildly curious where he got it from.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: grammatically correct use of ' y'all'
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 08:49 PM

Last night on the PBS News Hour, Jim Lehrer was discussing Bush's supreme court appointment with Mark Shields and David Brooks. Normally, he asks one of them a question and then the other. He decided to direct a question to both of them and he said, "What is y'all's opinion ..."

We think that's the first time we ever heard that usage. Has anybody else heard it?

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: grammatically correct use of ' y'all'?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 21 Jul 05 - 11:17 AM

To whomever: you would have to prove to me that anybody ever pronounced "was" as "wahs." Same with "says." The opinion of one college perfessor does not constitute proof.


Guest, the construction "y'all's" is new to me, too. I believe it's a first. What do Southerners say?

Where I live, the possessive of y'all seems to be "yer guys's." It is not used in publications.
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Meanwhile, I have run the song about the Texan through my folk processor, and I have composed a line with the internal rhyme that I crave:

Oh, I'm a long, tall Texan, and I enforce the law.
(He rides through Texas to enforce the law.)
repeat first two lines
People on their way turn to me and say,
"Hoo-ray, hoo-rah, are y'all the law?"

The main purpose of this verse is to have fun with the r in "enforce." When you hear it, you know that the law is really enforced wherever this guy is.

I went to an ecumenical church service recently, and one minister started his talk by saying, "The first thing I'm going to talk about is my accent. It's a Texas accent. You cen't do it, so don't trah." He was right; his speech was a fascinating combination of Southern and crystal. (Don't ask me to explain that; ears never explain.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: grammatically correct use of ' y'all'?
From: Highlandman
Date: 21 Jul 05 - 04:55 PM

I had a great post, but a 'Cat-fit ate it. So...
These things are extremely locale-specific. Where one 'catter says her source is certain "y'all" is either singular or plural, I can say without a doubt it's always plural in my location.
"All y'all" is an emphatic plural. Suppose I'm in a room with six people and I want to invite the two I'm in conversation with to dinner: "Y'all come over tonight to eat." Then if I want to include the rest (some body language included) I might say "and all y'all come over about eight and we'll watch the game."
"Y'all's" is pretty common where I live, but you'll never see it in print. Most folks here might say it in casual conversation but don't consider it "correct."
"Enforce" would be pronounced something like "en-FOE-werse," but in other parts of the South you'll hear "en-FOE-ahs." Like I said, there's no definitive Southern dialect. Here in the Upstate of South Carolina we have at least four distinct native variations: mountain, sandhill, piedmont and what you might call Upstate Black. All quite different, and that doesn't even include the transplants from Charleston, Georgia and Tennessee.
-HM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: grammatically correct use of ' y'all'?
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Jul 05 - 12:03 PM

Wesley S wrote

Another acceptable plural version of y'all is "all y'all".

Is that how cowboy yodelling was invented?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: grammatically correct use of ' y'all'?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 22 Jul 05 - 12:41 PM

Good grief, Guest. Haven't you ever tried to yodel? Nobody could yodel to syllables as open as "all y'all."

Here are some syllables to yodel to, from a song about the cuckoo which I learned in school:

Hi li ra
hul di ra, hul di ra
hul di ra cu-koo

etc

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: grammatically correct use of ' y'all'?
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 22 Jul 05 - 01:44 PM

Had another look at the beginning of this thread. Ah'm s'PRAHZD at all y'all.   Surely this song is in the digithingy. It came out when I was in high school (graduated in 1961) and was NOT the Beach Boys. I've never heard them do it. Can't remember the group, but not them. The way I remember it:

"Well, Ah'm a lawng, tall Texun--
Ah wayuh(wear) a 10-gallon hat.
(ref: He rides th'oo Texiss in a 10-gallon hat.)
(repeat these 3 lines once.)
Well, people look at me an' say,
'Er-uh, er-uh, izzat yo' hayut?'

Well, Ah'm a lawng, tall Texun--
Ah rahd(ride) a big, white hoss.
(ref: He rides th'oo Texiss on a big, white hoss.)
(rep. as above)
Well, people look at me an' say,
'Er-uh, er-uh, izzat yo' hoss?'

Well, Ah'm a lawng, tall Texun--
Ah enfoe-ss(enforce) justice fo' de law.
(ref: He rides fun(from) Texiss to enfoe-ss de law.)
(rep. as above)
Well, people look at me an' say,
'Er-uh, er-uh, iz yoo de law?'"

I've tried to give a pronunciation approximation as I remember the sounds. I don't remember a verse about a gun, but that doesn't mean there wasn't one. Just that I may be having a "senior moment". Sorry.    Tw