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[HillWilliam]

14. We southerners look down on

"you-all" when outsiders are trying to be "cute" (addressing a lone individual: "you-wall see how I can blend in?!?" "Uh, no, not so much&quot . You're right: when someone uses either "you-all" any time or "y'all" to address an individual, someone else is thinking "faaaaaaaaaaaaake... irritating fake at that."

The mid-state and northern "youse" has the same connotation as "y'all" and should be used in the same context: second person plural. (That is, if it is to be used at all.) To my regional ears, it's an inelegant construction, an attempt to pluralize a word that can already by plural simply by context alone. "You" alone doesn't have apparent number: "y'all" is always plural.

In fairness, it's as irritating to me when someone (not a northerner) tries to be "cute" (addressing a lone individual: "Can youse see how I can blend in?!?" "Uh, no, not so much.&quot Nobody likes that sort of fake, either.

While it's true that both "y'all" and "youse" are verbal atrocities, I'm southern to the core and can't give up "y'all". My partner grew up on the WV/Maryland state line and says "youse" (though after a decade in NC, he has discovered "y'all" but rarely employs it). When he does say "y'all" he does employ it correctly -- bless his heart