IIRC "you" was also the formal second person pronoun (like usted in Spanish or vous in French).
replyI think it's all just normal evolution of language. I actually think it's kinda neat how different English-speaking subcultures found different ways to reintroduce the pronoun.
So we get to fight sexism AND bring back cool anachronistic language? I'm in.
replyAustralia has 'yous' for plural you. Yous is used exactly how you might think it'd be used.
replyBeware! Y’all doesn’t necessarily include everyone:
reply> All y'all is used in the Southern United States when a speaker wishes to include everyone being addressed. Y'all may refer to an indefinite set of members of a group, but all y'all definitively includes everyone in the group.
I dunno, as someone who’s lived their entire life in the southern US this sounds really pedantic. At best.
replyAlso, is it just me or does that Wikipedia entry have zero citations? I thought Wikipedia was allergic to citation-free claims..
I just asked my SO and she confirmed that "all y'all" means everyone within earshot and "y'all" usually means a specific group of people. She also said "y'all" is similar to "on" in French and "youse guys" in the NE.
replyI'm guessing it's regional and/or group specific.