When I Say Y'All, What I Really Mean Is You All

When I say “y’all”, what I mean is “you all” I don’t know why that is so hard to learn When I hear someone snicker at the word I bite my tongue while I do a slow burn Some say it’s not a word, just Southern slang It’s in the dictionary? take a peak There’s no need to make an issue of it Don’t we all use contractions when we speak? It’s never used in a singular sense Unless you just don’t know the word at all Y’all is considered a plural pronoun Some use it possessively, then its y’alls Called it bad English, outside my home state Yet where I grew up, it’s just common speech English teachers and College professors Would use the word y’all, even when they teach As time marches on, use of y’all will spread No second person plural without it I don’t think “youse guys" will come into vogue The contraction, y’all, will become a hit

Copyright © | Year Posted 2012



Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment

Date: 7/26/2012 5:46:00 AM
Congratulations on your win in Nancy's contest Charles. Love, Carol
Login to Reply
Date: 7/23/2012 3:26:00 PM
All y'all congratulate Charles for pointing this out. Good job, Charles.
Login to Reply
Date: 7/22/2012 10:45:00 AM
Charles congrats on your win, well said..David
Login to Reply
Date: 7/22/2012 9:37:00 AM
I love it and I like hearing the southern folk say it! Congrats on the win of your cute poem.
Login to Reply
Date: 7/21/2012 4:25:00 PM
HAha! This deep south woman spent 12 years living in Buffalo NY where she was the only one who said "y'all" instead of "you guys", "coke" instead of "pop", and "ones" instead of "singles". Love the write, Charles, thanks for supporting my 'test! Namaste~N
Login to Reply
Date: 6/30/2012 3:05:00 AM
Wow! You must feel strongly about it! And I like how you have explained it logically - including the dictionary and geographical connotations. Nice!
Login to Reply
Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Hide Ad