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Comment by mystified5016 | Hacker News Reader

This whole thread is extremely confusing to this Appalachian native. Y'all is used quite widely throughout the entire southeast. It's recognized, if not used, through the entire country. I've also seen its use increasing in the Midwest as it seeps out of the south.

Do many people actually see this as a novel word? It's incredibly common from my perspective here in Ohio.

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On the west coast or northeast it would be very surprising to hear someone say it.

I'm in Maine and say it all the time, but I'm definitely unusual in that regard.

an aggressively progressive set of new yorkers practically bullied me into using it a decade ago over concerns of sexism so at least when talking about people in those places in tech I can't say I share your experience. lots of coastal progressives say y'all nowadays. it's "inclusive"

I also hear people say "folks" when that is also borrowed from Southern US English

I say y'all because it has one less syllable than the other options while retaining clarity

Yeah in the PNW, I commonly hear the progressive/inclusive “y’all,” the AAVE “y’all,” and the southern transplant “y’all” - but personally I never use it unless doing it satirically.

I wasn’t raised to say it, and unfortunately I’ve got this lingering association with southern racist / ignorant hillbillies usage the term. “Y’all better get along now y’hear?” So it always feels weird coming out of my mouth.

Here in Massachusetts, I don't hear it often, but when I use it nobody even blinks an eye at it. It's well understood.

Maybe surprising to hear white people saying it, but most black people (or people who grew up in predominantly black neighborhoods) throughout the US have been using it for a long time. I would assume that's a byproduct of The Great Migration.

I've lived in the northeast my whole life, and I don't remember ever being surprised at the idea of someone saying it. That's at least partially because I'm just used to the idea of people I interact with potentially not being from the northeast though. Even at a young age in the suburb I grew up in (with around 25k population, so not a particularly huge one), it was pretty common to encounter people who came from other states or countries. I guess if you're from a town small enough you might not be as used to interacting with people from other places, but is that really a regional thing or just a small town thing?

You can always find the imposter when you see ya'll written. Some people just don't understand contractions.

Checking in from Louisiana, can confirm I hear and say "y'all" on a near daily basis.

I'm from the midwest with family from the deep south. I've ported y'all to NYC, but it took some convincing to get folks to be comfortable with using it.

> Do many people actually see this as a novel word?

Where I live, yeah. I live in Minnesota and I intentionally use "y'all" here because I think it neatly fills the need and I want it to catch on, but it definitely feels like an affectation. It's not something you hear unless someone is from out of town or going out of their way to use it intentionally (like me).

Yeah there are three types of Americans: those who say y'all, those who don't use it personally but are quite familiar with it, and no hablo ingles.

in northeast urban areas, if someone uses y’all it means they are probably a left-wing/social justice oriented person. use is correlated with “folks”/“folx”. no idea why, maybe to replace gendered “you guys”. weird but true.

Yep, it also replaces "ladies and gentlemen" and is a more informal "people."

I've heard of the the mythical gender neutral guys but having spent my life in classes and a career field where being the only woman is the standard, the amount of times folks are like "good morning guys… and girl" or "good morning fellas… and lady" is just comical at this point. Clearly speakers aren't imaging a mixed group when they say it.

It's been the same for me in the midwest and northeast.

Maybe it's that they were intending to address a group, but then realised that what they said might cause offence so they corrected themselves.

I think it's not so much they imagined what they were saying before they said it, it's that they reached for the handy phrase for addressing a group without thinking, and then only afterwards realised it. At least that's what I would do.

I wonder what it would feel like if I joined a majority female class and was addressed as "good morning ladies, and man". I've never been in the situation unfortunately.

Another phrase would be good. I vote for youse all.

Except that northeast urban areas are famously rife with transplants from all over the country, including me, who uses "y'all" because y'all don't know what "yinz" means.

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