Re: Gender

[Mary McWilliams Johnson <mary -at- SUPERCONNECT -dot- COM>]

At 03:06 PM 9/27/98 -0400, Hope Cascio wrote (among other things):

<Oh, and while we're at it, I'm on a crusade to popularize the second person
plural pronoun "y'all."
====================
Now, I second that proposal. Think it'll ever catch on? BTW, whur y'all
from, honeychil' ?

(In my neck of the woods (Texas), some folks use "y'all" when speaking to a
single person.)

I think "y'all" is right friendly and use it all the time, except in my
tech writing. Fortunately, when writing instructions, I am usually
addressing a single reader, so "You" or an implied "you" works just fine.

At one time, when we lived in Colorado, we had to studiously avoid the use
of "y'all." Instead we used the locally popular "you guys," which everyone
there seemed to use as a gender-neutral pronoun.  It seems that Colorado
natives typically don't like Texans (because they perceive Texans as folks
who brag, talk loud, and have bad manners), so we didn't want to give away
our Texas citizenship.

I'm wondering: How do folks from other states (outside Texas, Oklahoma, and
Dixie) look upon such phrases as "y'all" ??



Cordially,

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                                 Mary McWilliams Johnson
                               McJohnson Communications
                                  Documentation Specialist
                Web Site Design, Development and Graphics
                                  www.superconnect.com
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"One must learn by doing the thing; for though you think you know it,
                       you have no certainty until you try."
                             --Sophocles,  c 496-406 B.C
                             --Sophocles,  c 496-406 B.C

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