1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to brainstud a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren 2 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:13,040 Speaker 1: volbebam here. The term y'all is as ubiquitous in the 3 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: American South as boiled peanuts, college football, and kudzu climbing 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: the trees. If it were possible to hold a giant 5 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,079 Speaker 1: microphone over the entire region right this minute, y'all would 6 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: probably be drowning out all the other words. It's as 7 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: Southern as grits, and as smooth and sweet as soft 8 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:37,160 Speaker 1: butter on a warm biscuit. And it's inclusive. Y'all means 9 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,639 Speaker 1: you all, and thus doesn't exclude anyone based on their 10 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: gender or class. Could this humble contraction turn out to 11 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: be the efficient second person plural pronoun the English lexicon 12 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: has long been waiting for. Of course, English has a 13 00:00:54,240 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: second person singular pronoun you, useful for addressing a solitary person, 14 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:05,040 Speaker 1: but unlike other languages, modern English doesn't have a word 15 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: you can use to address a group of people. Back 16 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: in the day, ye was used as in hear ye, 17 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: hear ye, meaning listen up, y'all, or come all, ye faithful, 18 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: but it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue in these 19 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:25,759 Speaker 1: are modern times, hey ye who has the Wi Fi password? 20 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: Sounds stilted. English speakers can colloquially bend the singular you 21 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:34,960 Speaker 1: to apply to groups. Let's say you're getting ready to 22 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: leave a restaurant with your family or a few friends. 23 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: You could say you ready to go to the table 24 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: at large, and it would be understood that you were 25 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: addressing them collectively. But that's not super precise. So a 26 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: lot of speakers have adopted phrases or contractions to pluralize you, 27 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: like you guys around America use in the Northeast, and 28 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: Yann's in Pittsburgh specifically, then you lot around Britain and 29 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: Ala in the Caribbean, and then there is y'all for 30 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: the article. This episode is based on hast To Works 31 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 1: spoke via email with linguist Paul E. Read, PhD. Of 32 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: the University of Alabama. He explained that in the past 33 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: you was actually plural the now archaic thou was the 34 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: second person singular, but somewhere along the line, thou fell 35 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: away and you became singular, thus forcing English speakers of 36 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: different dialects to come up with their own ways of 37 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,839 Speaker 1: pluralizing it. For a long time, now you guys has 38 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: been the dominant turn of phrase in most places when 39 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: addressing two or more people, but because guys is inherently masculine, 40 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,119 Speaker 1: lots of people have been looking for an alternative that's 41 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: more inclusive. Of course, some feminine and non binary humans 42 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 1: don't mind guys, and that's cool too. How a person 43 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: would prefer to be addressed is up to them, but 44 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 1: it is a small easy thing to attempt to not 45 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: exclude anyone with your language, and certainly to change your 46 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: language if someone asks you to in that way. Y'all 47 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: has mosied its way across America and around the globe 48 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: as far as Australia. It's been picked up by everyone 49 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: from CEOs to queer advocacy groups. Since I moved to Atlanta, 50 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: I've certainly picked up the word and gotten ribbed by 51 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: my northern family a bit for using it. But where 52 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: did this jewel of a word that's easy to use 53 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: and flat out fun to say come from? It turns 54 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: out the exact origins of y'all are a tadhard to 55 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: pin down. Reid said. Some of the earliest attestations of 56 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: y'all come from English poetry in the eighteenth century, and 57 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: there are some possible attestations in the seventeenth century. It 58 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,400 Speaker 1: doesn't appear very common, and it could have reflected certain 59 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: usages and was available also to fit the poetic meter. 60 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: There's about a century of distance between the English attestations 61 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:06,200 Speaker 1: and the first American attestations in the eighteen twenties. In 62 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: the US, it was primarily a Southern US usage. Some 63 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: have theorized that it had the English you all origin, 64 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: and also was supported by the Scott's Irish term y'all, 65 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:21,840 Speaker 1: which basically means the same thing you all. Once it 66 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: was in use, y'all has often been disparaged as it 67 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:28,599 Speaker 1: made its way to regions beyond the South via caricatures 68 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,799 Speaker 1: like the Beverly Hillbillies and musical genres like old school country, 69 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:35,679 Speaker 1: hip hop and R and B, spreading from the ground 70 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:40,039 Speaker 1: up for decades a Many linguists agree that y'all's current 71 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:44,520 Speaker 1: assent and acceptance is fruit born of the grassroots dialogue 72 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:48,520 Speaker 1: that's taken the word from social media into the mainstream. 73 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:53,039 Speaker 1: Reid said the current embracing has emerged from a desire 74 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: to use non gendered and inclusive language. Since you guys 75 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: literally started out to mean only a group of men 76 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:03,280 Speaker 1: even though many folks don't use it in a gendered way. 77 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,360 Speaker 1: Many people want to use a term that's non gendered 78 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,360 Speaker 1: in any way, y'all already had fairly wide usage and 79 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: was there to spread. Depending on how you define the South. 80 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: You're talking about tens of millions of users across roughly 81 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: fifteen states, as well as folks from the South who 82 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:24,920 Speaker 1: moved and the great migrations African Americans and Appalachians, which 83 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: took Southern language practices to many other places. So y'all 84 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: was known further the South, and its language practices are 85 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: often considered friendly and polite. And you can make slogans 86 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: like y'all means all if you haven't heard that one. 87 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 1: It's been picked up by groups like the Southern Poverty 88 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 1: Law Center and the Human Rights Campaign since the early 89 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:52,320 Speaker 1: twenty twenties to indicate solidarity amongst different justice and equality 90 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:55,360 Speaker 1: movements in the South and beyond, and has even made 91 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: its way into country pop songs. It's a good slogan. 92 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:08,359 Speaker 1: I dare say that y'all is for all y'all. Today's 93 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: episode is based on the article y'all Isn't just for 94 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: Southerners Anymore? On how stuffworks dot com, written by Kerry Tatrow. 95 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:16,919 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with 96 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: how stuffworks dot com and is produced by Tyler Plang. 97 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: But four more podcasts from iHeartRadio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, 98 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,360 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.