Ask and it will be given to yinz; seek and yinz will find
March 4, 2016 6:44 AM Subscribe
Y'All Version: Now you can read the Bible using the English second person plural of your choice! Options include Southern (y'all), Western (you guys), NYC/Chicago (youse guys), and Pittsburgh (yinz).
"English second person plural"
Thank yinz for letting me know that's what all these crazy* Pittsburghers are using every time they say, "yinz!"
*They're lovely people, but dang sometimes their phrasing and language use is just so coarse I cringe
posted by glaucon at 7:41 AM on March 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Thank yinz for letting me know that's what all these crazy* Pittsburghers are using every time they say, "yinz!"
*They're lovely people, but dang sometimes their phrasing and language use is just so coarse I cringe
posted by glaucon at 7:41 AM on March 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
That one was a surprise. There's a southern/hillbilly dialect that favors "you'uns" over "y'all" and often sounds a lot like "yinz" depending on the speaker. I've heard it in the Ozarks and mid-south. Was a shock to hear something similar lives in PA.
posted by middleclasstool at 7:53 AM on March 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by middleclasstool at 7:53 AM on March 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
*They're lovely people, but dang sometimes their phrasing and language use is just so coarse I cringe
Spoken like a true jagoff.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:55 AM on March 4, 2016 [31 favorites]
Spoken like a true jagoff.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:55 AM on March 4, 2016 [31 favorites]
What? We don't say "youse guys" in NYC. The correct regionalism is "you guys." Sometimes you hear "yous" in Jersey.
posted by holborne at 8:03 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by holborne at 8:03 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
sometimes their phrasing and language use is just so coarse I cringe
Here's a bit of explanation about how this particular accent came about.
posted by chambers at 8:06 AM on March 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Here's a bit of explanation about how this particular accent came about.
posted by chambers at 8:06 AM on March 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
It's not true pittsburghese without the dropped infinitive.
posted by octothorpe at 8:06 AM on March 4, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 8:06 AM on March 4, 2016 [7 favorites]
...and the Lord picked up his beer and said "Hey y'all, watch this!" and I tell you what.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:12 AM on March 4, 2016 [23 favorites]
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:12 AM on March 4, 2016 [23 favorites]
middleclasstool: I had the same reaction: When I lived in Chattanooga, "y'uns" (usually to refer to a collection of people younger than and possibly related to themselves, as in a group of nieces and nephews and their friends) tagged someone as from one of the hollers over by Dunlap.
posted by straw at 8:13 AM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by straw at 8:13 AM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I came in to say that without y'uns this cain't properly be called complete.
posted by OmieWise at 9:03 AM on March 4, 2016
posted by OmieWise at 9:03 AM on March 4, 2016
Do y’all not know that y’all are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in y’all?
This gives me such a specific voice for Paul.
posted by little onion at 9:11 AM on March 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
This gives me such a specific voice for Paul.
posted by little onion at 9:11 AM on March 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
For God’s temple is holy, which is what y’all are.
I feel like that particular verse calls for an "all y'all."
posted by zjacreman at 9:32 AM on March 4, 2016 [11 favorites]
I feel like that particular verse calls for an "all y'all."
posted by zjacreman at 9:32 AM on March 4, 2016 [11 favorites]
...When I lived in Chattanooga, "y'uns" (usually to refer to a collection of people younger than and possibly related to themselves, as in a group of nieces and nephews and their friends) tagged someone as from one of the hollers over by Dunlap.
I'm from that area, and from observing my grandparents' generation's usage, there is—or was—a subtle distinction between "y'all" and "y'uns".
"Y'all" is the go-to second person plural for when you are addressing a group of people whose familial and/or group relationships are unknown or irrelevant. Example: If I see a bunch of unknown people messing with my truck, I would shout "Y'all get away from my truck."
But while "Y'all" is the contraction for "You ALL", "Y'uns" means something like "You and yours". To wit: If I saw some people messing with my truck, and I recognized them as the Breyer Boys, I would address the oldest Breyer brother with "Y'uns get away from my truck". You, the elder Breyer Boy, get control of your family and get them away from my truck.
It was common with people of my grandparent's generation to ask someone "How are you and y'uns?", meaning, how are you and your family/extended family/football team/church congregation. I don't get back there more than a couple of times a year, and I don't recall hearing "y'uns" very much anymore when I do, but back in the day, that was how it was used in rural Appalachia.
posted by vibrotronica at 10:21 AM on March 4, 2016 [12 favorites]
I'm from that area, and from observing my grandparents' generation's usage, there is—or was—a subtle distinction between "y'all" and "y'uns".
"Y'all" is the go-to second person plural for when you are addressing a group of people whose familial and/or group relationships are unknown or irrelevant. Example: If I see a bunch of unknown people messing with my truck, I would shout "Y'all get away from my truck."
But while "Y'all" is the contraction for "You ALL", "Y'uns" means something like "You and yours". To wit: If I saw some people messing with my truck, and I recognized them as the Breyer Boys, I would address the oldest Breyer brother with "Y'uns get away from my truck". You, the elder Breyer Boy, get control of your family and get them away from my truck.
It was common with people of my grandparent's generation to ask someone "How are you and y'uns?", meaning, how are you and your family/extended family/football team/church congregation. I don't get back there more than a couple of times a year, and I don't recall hearing "y'uns" very much anymore when I do, but back in the day, that was how it was used in rural Appalachia.
posted by vibrotronica at 10:21 AM on March 4, 2016 [12 favorites]
Not so much wid da 2nd person plural, but why don't dey do by Wisconsin a version once yet?
posted by LionIndex at 10:28 AM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by LionIndex at 10:28 AM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
But while "Y'all" is the contraction for "You ALL", "Y'uns" means something like "You and yours". [...]
It was common with people of my grandparent's generation to ask someone "How are you and y'uns?", meaning, how are you and your family/extended family/football team/church congregation.
When I lived in that part of Appalachia I always thought of Y'uns as a contraction of "Your ones," but I agree with all of your description of how it was used and what its meaning was.
posted by OmieWise at 10:35 AM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
It was common with people of my grandparent's generation to ask someone "How are you and y'uns?", meaning, how are you and your family/extended family/football team/church congregation.
When I lived in that part of Appalachia I always thought of Y'uns as a contraction of "Your ones," but I agree with all of your description of how it was used and what its meaning was.
posted by OmieWise at 10:35 AM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I've lived my entire life in NYC and have never heard the word "youse" uttered by someone that wasn't a character in a bad movie.
posted by Aversion Therapy at 12:14 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by Aversion Therapy at 12:14 PM on March 4, 2016
I've found that the immediate Pgh area is more "yinz" and the more outlying areas/Appalachia are "yunz".
posted by Chrysostom at 12:59 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Chrysostom at 12:59 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Anyone who is not familiar with Pittsburgh English and wants to hear it, this is pretty canonical: CSI - Pittsburgh.
posted by namewithoutwords at 1:58 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by namewithoutwords at 1:58 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've found that the immediate Pgh area is more "yinz" and the more outlying areas/Appalachia are "yunz".
Then there's the pronunciation of the word "wash" or the first syllable of "Washington," which I have heard said like wäsh, worsh, wärsh, or wush. It would be very interesting to see some sort of research to see which pronunciations connect between different words.
A friend I went to high school with in the rural area west of Pittsburgh "wushed" his clothes at a laundromat in "Wushington," PA, and pronounced "yins" as "yunz," which I attribute to his family being of German ancestry. I went to elementary school in a suburb of PA, and used the "wäsh" and "yins" pronunciation, and my family came from the Scotland and Britain in the early-mid 19th century. While that seems a clear enough to see a pattern, another one of my high school friends whose ancestry is very geographically close to mine (and very likely fought with and/or against each other, depending on which side of our families we're talking about) says "wärsh" and "yins."
It's an interestingly tangled mess, this melting pot of a country.
posted by chambers at 5:22 PM on March 4, 2016
Then there's the pronunciation of the word "wash" or the first syllable of "Washington," which I have heard said like wäsh, worsh, wärsh, or wush. It would be very interesting to see some sort of research to see which pronunciations connect between different words.
A friend I went to high school with in the rural area west of Pittsburgh "wushed" his clothes at a laundromat in "Wushington," PA, and pronounced "yins" as "yunz," which I attribute to his family being of German ancestry. I went to elementary school in a suburb of PA, and used the "wäsh" and "yins" pronunciation, and my family came from the Scotland and Britain in the early-mid 19th century. While that seems a clear enough to see a pattern, another one of my high school friends whose ancestry is very geographically close to mine (and very likely fought with and/or against each other, depending on which side of our families we're talking about) says "wärsh" and "yins."
It's an interestingly tangled mess, this melting pot of a country.
posted by chambers at 5:22 PM on March 4, 2016
Bleh. "You guy's" is so awkward and clumsy, and if you're not from the south you can't say "y'all" without sounding like a ass.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:59 AM on March 5, 2016
posted by Room 641-A at 7:59 AM on March 5, 2016
We moved to pittsburgh about 4 years ago, and I felt an odd sense of pride the first day I unconsciously pronounced "out" as "aht".
posted by nakedmolerats at 3:25 PM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by nakedmolerats at 3:25 PM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
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