I grew up in the southeast US and while I don’t think I have a strong accent and have tried to cut other southern things out of my speech, I quite like “y’all”. In my opinion it’s the best gender neutral second person plural word. Most others are needlessly gendered or sound even weirder.
I hear you on the needlessly gendered words. I also try not to use words like “guys.” Instead, I use words like “everyone” or just “you.” They work just fine in most instances. On rare occasions, I sneak in a “you all.” Same content without the southern sound.
Politics has always held sway over the spread of dialects. You’ll be happy to know that the language lasts longer than any associations, most people don’t even know about Willie the Bastard anymore.
I try actively not to use it, because I associate it with a backward culture.
I grew up in the southeast US and while I don’t think I have a strong accent and have tried to cut other southern things out of my speech, I quite like “y’all”. In my opinion it’s the best gender neutral second person plural word. Most others are needlessly gendered or sound even weirder.
I hear you on the needlessly gendered words. I also try not to use words like “guys.” Instead, I use words like “everyone” or just “you.” They work just fine in most instances. On rare occasions, I sneak in a “you all.” Same content without the southern sound.
I’m pretty sure I sound like even more of a hick than usual if I try to say “you all” over just admitting defeat and saying “ya’ll”.
Politics has always held sway over the spread of dialects. You’ll be happy to know that the language lasts longer than any associations, most people don’t even know about Willie the Bastard anymore.