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

On Sat, 14 Aug 1999 02:03:30 -0500 Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
writes:
>> You left out <yous>, which is not uncommon in speech that I hear.
>> Sometimes when I'm not careful, I use it myself.
>You're right;  I should have included that one. I think that form is
>also used in
>the New York area.  (But Steg or John can tell us better on that,
>yes?)
>
>===========================================
>Tom Wier <artabanos@...>

As far as i can tell, "yous" is dying out and being replaced by "you
guys" and "you all" around here.  Notice that it's specifically "you all"
and not "y'all", due to the fear of being thought of as a 'hick'.  I
usually say "you guys", although because it sounds non-formal, it causes
some problems.  I remember talking to two teachers at once last year and
automatically stopping myself from saying "you guys" because the word
"guys" sounded disrespectful - i think i substituted "you" with an
inclusive hand gesture, or maybe "you two".


-Stephen (Steg)

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