Re: The future of the English second person plural (was Re: Aquestion)

Tom Wier wrote:

> [...] (b) the fact that <guy> on its own is very widely used with
> an epicene gender rather than merely masculine (especially in the plural),
Remark from female informant:  "Of course 'guys' can be used for a
group containing women only!  Why, even guys use it that way ... oops."

> This is in fact how Southerners deal with the fact that the standard language
> lacks the distinction.  George W. Bush, the son of the former President and
> the likely Republican nominee for the next President, was giving a speech
> yesterday in which he addressed the crowd as "you all".
Do you have the context?  After all, "you all" is used in the
standard language as a rhetorical variant of "all of you"
(dialectal form:  "all of y'all").

--
        John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan      cowan@ccil.org
Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis um dies! / Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau / Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.
                        -- Coleridge / Politzer