interesting. i just used this word today because my usual "you guys" suddenly felt like a teenage, immature phrase. we do need a word for this so that we don't have to explain every time, "i didn't mean YOU specifically, i meant you as in plural or you as in EVERYMAN." that just takes too long.
Y'all as a second-person plural pronoun is not just “the quintessential Southern pronoun.”
A linguist has found uses going back to 1631 in England, hundreds of years before the more recent usages cited by the Oxford English Dictionary.
And its inclusiveness is also gaining new respect, you hear?
As a midwesterner I habitually use “you guys” for the 2p plural but it kinda feels when the group contains non-guys. I can’t pull off y’all but “you all” or “you folks” works fine. I am from Philly so could also claim “youse” - which is pretty bad. I am partial to the western PA “yinz”
