Are you familiar with that cute little contraction, "y'all"? I'm sure if you are from the southern United States you smiled a bit or giggled. If you are from the northern United States you probably rolled your eyes and thought "O no, here we go again!" If you are not American then you may not be familiar with it.
Y'all is one of those terms in the vernacular that natives just use without thinking. How y'all doin'? Where y'all goin'? Y'all come back and see me! It is used to refer to a group of two or more. If you prounounce it just right you just swallow those l's at the end. There really isn't any reason to enunciate them. Y'all need to get on to the next word! Y'all can be young folks, or old folks, mean or nice, ugly or pretty it really doesn't matter it's all y'all to us here in the south.
I used to look down my nose a bit at people who used "y'all" on their blogs. I mean, my middle school english teacher would probably take a permanent marker and put a big red circle on her computer screen if she saw this lil' essay with that contraction! But y'all know what? I'm moving past that and I'm gonna use y'all on my blog now. I might even use some other bucolic aphorisms from time to time if it suits me. I think technology is a wonderful thing, but By Cracky, I think regional language is too! It has history. It is passed on through generations from family to family. I fear it may become extinct from all this technology and new slang that has emerged from rap and hip hop. I'm going to do my part to preserve it. I might even use "ain't" once in a blue moon if I take a notion. Who knows? I'm going to live a little and ignore a few rules! I think y'all will enjoy it too!
Y'all remember that winter kale I planted? Well we have had a mild winter and even the collards survived and I've had plenty of fresh greens to eat on. Here is a mix I picked Sunday.
Siberian Kale, Red Russian Kale and Georgia Collards
Y'all see that? That's a "mess" of greens. It is an ambiguous unit of measurement but any southerner that cooks can tell you when they have a mess. It just depends on how many of y'all are coming to eat! We also use that term to refer to a person that is sassy funny. That ole So And So, he's a MESS!
I better be going now, lunch is about over and my boss don't pay me to jabber away telling people the proper usage of our dear southernisms. But before I leave y'all I'll show y'all one of the scarves I made this winter for a friend.
Well, I'll see y'all later. Come back and see me y'hear?
6 comments:
Wow Mary!! I just love your post, and I love your pride in your language and sayings. I'm familiar with all those terms you've used as, over the years, they've been in books I've read, movies etc. It's what makes your blog uniquely yours. That's what I love about blogging - we each have our own style and, slowly, we find the blogs we most enjoy visiting.
Yes ... you have been missed Mary, however, there are no set rules as to how often we should blog - that too is of our own choice.
Ah, you got this old girl going didn't you lol ;D) Welcome back, thanks for your visit to mine and I look forward to popping over to say g'day to you now and then. Cheerio for now xx
um, p.s. am having trouble with those shockers of double word verifications though... back again, for a second try :(
nah, back again - blogger is making commenting difficult!! 'praps third try lucky???
Argggh Mary - with all my blabbing I forget to say how absolutely beautiful that scarf is too. So soft and warm looking :D)
Lovely to see you again Mary. Crickey! I've been so worried about you.
Love the scarf too. Susan.
Awwwwww shucky durn Susan! I feel so loved!
Now how do I disable those verifications?
Hi Mary, the way to disable the word verifications is:
From the Dashboard go in to Settings, then into Comments.
Scroll down through Comments nearly to the end and you'll see the Question "Show Word Verification for Comments?" ... choose the No box.
If you wish, you can have comments sent to your email address, as they appear on your blog. I do that and it works fine. Even if I'm not blogging, I can still keep an eye on what kind of comments are appearing on my blog and take action if necessary in regard to spam or whatever.
That email option is a little further down from the word verification option.
Then, finally, go to the end and click on Save Settings so that your changes will be saved :D)
If you have a lot of spam problems, there's always the option to have comments moderated. You'll see that also in the Comments section.
Cheers! Hope that helps, and it will be beaut not having to decipher those stoopid words - I always fail!! :D)
"y"all stay happy Mary. I love that word I love your scarf I love this post. B
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