Current Events > The gentrification of the word "Y'all" irrationally bothers me.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I feel like it's something tied to Southern English and AAVE yet over the past few years everyone and their mother says it on social media in an attempt to be quirky and folksy.

So... the original "y'all"-sayers have been priced out of Twitter, but there's a coffee shop and weed dispensary on the corner now?

i agree, and i heard a british commentator say "ayo hol up" and felt the same

Yes I hate it

Y'all shut the fuck up now, ya hear?

I'm originally Southern, so I can do that

Yall stfu

I spent most of my life in a rural Ohio town so remote that we had to drive an hour to reach the nearest interstate. I think I've earned the right to toss off a 'y'all' here and there now that it's fashionable.

I got it from watching Reba 20 years ago

i say it at least 20 times a day

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Why is nobody acknowledging this as much as they should?

*shudders in yinz*

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that's because they find the slang funny not useful

bsp77 posted...

Y'all shut the fuck up now, ya hear?

I'm originally Southern, so I can do that

Lmfao okay Colonel Sanders

yeah it's weird

Did the whole "Y'all folx better be praxis." thing start on Tumblr?

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Same. Even after moving to the city, yall is still stuck in my vernacular.

I've lived in the south most of my life now and I still can't stand "y'all" and don't believe I've ever said it in conversation myself.

y'all need to go out more

this the kinda shit ppl only complain about online

BoyOfBattle posted...

y'all need to go out more

this the kinda shit ppl only complain about online

ayo you might be right tho fr fr

BoyOfBattle posted...

y'all need to go out more

this the kinda shit ppl only complain about online

Ironically you only see comments like this online too.

Anyway yeah, tired of hearing suburbian goobers saying stuff "y'all" it doesn't even sound right.

This applies to other stuff too. If you didn't grow up around people saying it, don't try to adopt that language as an adult.

Family on my mom's side is from the south, so needless to say I picked up saying y'all from them. Been a part of my vocabulary for as long as I can remember.

Isn't irrationally bothered like your default setting tho

My parents used to hammer me for using ain't but then it became a word and it drove them insane.

Murphiroth posted...

Isn't irrationally bothered like your default setting tho

Good point

Shouldn't be treated any different than any other contractions tbh.

I agreed. I grew up with "y'all" and "you all" in free variation with each other and now people tease me for saying "you all," either by people who think I'm saying "y'all" to be trendy, or people who newly use "y'all" and think I'm being pretentious.

Also "folks." The whole "rural poverty barnhouse aesthetic" bugs the shit out of me, too. Like, that painted-poorly-on-purpose table doesn't make you look like a homesteader's wife; paint existed in the 1830s and they took a lot of pride in keeping their small plots very tidy.

I personally don't really like saying the term since it doesn't really fit with my vocabulary but I understand why people like to use it. it's a good gender neutral alternative to "guys".

Y'all can't use that word. That's my word. Not even the south, just mine

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Oh

I thought it was something black people say that became more trendy with white people over the last few years

I know it was big in the 90s but it dropped off. At least in places outside the south.

EndOfDiscOne posted...

I thought it was something black people say that became more trendy with white people over the last few years

I know it was big in the 90s but it dropped off. At least in places outside the south.

It was an Irish phrase brought over and Americanized by Scottish farmers that became popular in the south and then became more well-known in the North over time. It's origin isn't AAVE anyway, so calling it gentrification in the first place doesn't make much sense.

s0nicfan posted...

It was an Irish phrase brought over and Americanized by Scottish farmers that became popular in the south and then became more well-known in the North over time. It's origin isn't AAVE anyway, so calling it gentrification in the first place doesn't make much sense.

If you go from a class perspective, gentrification makes sense. But class issues now have to have a racial cloud over them

I'm more annoyed by "my brother in christ" more than "y'all" personally lol

Dathrowed1 posted...

If you go from a class perspective, gentrification makes sense. But class issues now have to have a racial cloud over them

That's true, the TC would need to specify whether they're using gentrification in the general sense or in it's more colloquial use where it's specifically about white people moving into / taking something dominated by black people.

But if they're using the latter definition, then y'all being AAVE is cultural appropriation in the first place, so there still isn't really a case to be made for complaining about other people using it.

I'm from Florida and this doesn't bother me. Only thing that bothers me is when people use it wrong, like for instance if you're talking to or about one person that's not a y'all

My issue is that some people like to use AAVE and go "itz nOt AAVE neMorE iTz tRenDiii nOww" knowing full well that just a few years ago they were looking down on people that spoke AAVE.

They try and disassociate themselves from the origin of AAVE because they don't want to be a part of that "image."

Slaya4 posted...

My issue is that some people like to use AAVE and go "itz nOt AAVE neMorE iTz tRenDiii nOww" knowing full well that just a few years ago they were looking down on people that spoke AAVE.

They try and disassociate themselves from the origin of AAVE because they don't want to be a part of that "image."

stop chirping

pkmnlord posted...

I'm more annoyed by "my brother in christ" more than "y'all" personally lol

"My brother in Christ" dudes definitely go in a certain category.

Slaya4 posted...

They try and disassociate themselves from the origin of AAVE

...appalachia?

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Preach it, brother! It's so refreshing to hear another CEman who believes that all the country's social and political problems would go away in a flash if rural America didn't have Internet access.

I say yall because it's a useful gender neutral way to greet tables...

Honestly I agree entirely with the OP

Gonna gatekeep the fuck out of "y'all" after all of the (pretty much deserved) shit talking about the South

Im from rural Georgia I grant verbal sanctuary to all yall who wish to say yall