Ya’ll

I embark upon this blogging adventure for the purpose of offering up one Yankee’s experiences and observations of life in Dixie land. I hope these observations and experiences make you smile, laugh, or shake your head and would love to hear some of your own!

There is not better place to start my blog on life in the south then with the plural second-person pronoun of ya’ll. This term most likely originated in the Southern states of the US, and continue to be one of the defining markers of a southerner.

I being born in Canada and raised in New York had a very strong aversion to the use of ya’ll when first moving to the south, “you guys” was far more natural to me and ya’ll was just to southern. But, what I quickly realized was that just as much as “ya’ll” was a tip-off of being from the south, so to was “you guys” was a huge tip-off of my being from the north. The question was two fold, should I succumb to using “ya’ll” in efforts to remain under the southern radar? Or should I hold fast on to the term “you guys” proclaiming proudly my northern roots?

I must admit I have folded, I use “ya’ll” quite frequently now, but I have to say to my credit that it took me three years to add the term into my vocabulary. I stood strong for a long time, and now am teased by my northern friends for my ‘southern’ accent. But what can I say, when in Rome!

Ya’ll come back now ya hear!