Re: USAGE: Singular <y'all>? (was Re: Californian vowels [was Re: Liking German])

I should point out that with the below, the entire sentence doesn't seem to
make much sense in isolation like that, and there really should be an
'only' added after the 'if'. Please ignore this obvious error in any
discussion that might ensue.

Tristan

At 07.17 a.m. 3.10.2001, I wrote:
>At 03.52 p.m. 2.10.2001, you wrote:
>>Ah, if only Nik were not on vacation! :)
>
>For me, and usage appears to rattify this,
>  'If Nik wasn't on vacation!'
>and
>  'If Nik were not on vacation!'
>and
>  'If they weren't on vacation!'
>and
>  'If they were not on vacation!'
>are all gramatical (although the latter two don't mean exactly the same
>thing; the latter is subjunctive, the former either), but
>  ??'If Nik was not on vacation!'
>is highly marked and just barely gramatical and
>  *'If Nik weren't on vacation!'
>is ungramatical.
>
>Can anyone suggest why?
>
>Tristan