Opinion, please . . .

[jsluder]

The real problem, of course, is that we have no plural form of "you" in English.

I thought the problem is that we stopped using the singular thou.

But that got too confusing when addressing sand.

[I.D.10-t]

The real problem, of course, is that we have no plural form of "you" in English.

I thought the problem is that we stopped using the singular thou.

But that got too confusing when addressing sand.

It does leave "Ode to a grain of sand trapped in the waist band of my knickers" a bit difficult to understand when read aloud.

[fearfaoin]

According to my southern belle sister in law, y'all is singular. The plural is "all y'all."

Where's she from? I've been wondering where in the south this is true.
No native North Carolinian that I know would ever use y'all as singular,
unless they were just messing with some Yankee...

[Coffee]

Far back as I can remember ya'll has always been plural in Texas. 'Course now I gotta link the wiki page on't.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ya%27ll
Typical caveats for wikipedia pages applies.

[jsluder]

To be honest, I was being facetious when I claimed "y'all" could be singular or plural. Growing up in Tennessee, I only ever heard it used in the plural sense unless we were exagerating for the sake of out-of-towners. (Back in the '70s, a family moved into the area from somewhere in California. They embarrassedly admitted they were surprised we wore shoes.)

[Jerry Freeman]

You could say "you all ..." without it being necessarily Southern, and it would work nicely..

"Could you all please email your reports ... ."

Best wishes youse (living in the state of New York, as I do),
Jerry

[CHasR]

You could say "you all ..." without it being necessarily Southern, and it would work nicely..

"Could you all please email your reports ... ."

Best wishes youse (living in the state of New York, as I do),
Jerry

also a Phillyism (south- "yooze", west- "y's", north& northeast-"yiz"),
or in Glaswegian "you's",
but in Pittsburgh: "yinz".

[WyoBadger]

unless they were just messing with some Yankee...

That is a distinct possibility. She's from Nashville.

T

[Cork]

The real problem, of course, is that we have no plural form of "you" in English.

Youse.

Yes, you (singular) + you (singular) = youse (plural), the "s" marking the plural, and the "e" added to show that the user could be a person of some culture.

:-D

[Dale]

I do have to confess, though, that when I answered Lambchop, it was tempting to add "but, don't you worry your pretty little head about it."

[cowtime]

Youse.

According to my southern belle sister in law, y'all is singular. The plural is "all y'all."

"Y'all" can be singular or plural. "All y'all" is always plural. (I ain't no belle, but I did grow up in the south.)

"You'uns" is another possibilty.

or all a y'all...or all a you'uns's

Thank you for setting these folks straight in this matter.

[Flyingcursor]

I do have to confess, though, that when I answered Lambchop, it was tempting to add "but, don't you worry your pretty little head about it."

I would have choked with laughter. You could even add, "little filly" at the end.

[Scott McCallister]

OK, I need some serious opinions here. Seriously.

Check out these sample sentences. Assume they come from a 28-year-old male who is sending the email to a group of female professionals, almost all of whom are old enough to be his mother. He's a professional, too, and a supervisor, but he's not the supervisor of the individuals to whom the email was sent.

Version 1: "Would you gals enter your data so I can . . ."

Version 2: "Would you girls enter your data so I can . . . "

Let's change the scenario a bit. Let's say the group are all male professionals.

Version 1: "Would you boys enter your data so I can . . ."

What if the professionals are all black males?

Version 1: "Would you boys enter your data so I can . . . "

Help me out here, please. Help me express what I'm feeling. I'm feeling something, but I just can't get a grip on it.

Honestly I'm impressed that a twenty-something year old (manager or no) used such a respectful term as "gals". Lucky it didn't read:

Would you chicks enter your data so I can...

or even more likely

Would you be-otches enter your data so I can...

Probably best just to get the data entered. Never a good thing to have a supervisor of another department beotching that you didin't get your work done...

[Lambchop]

Honestly I'm impressed that a twenty-something year old (manager or no) used such a respectful term as "gals". Lucky it didn't read:

Would you chicks enter your data so I can...

or even more likely

Would you be-otches enter your data so I can...

Probably best just to get the data entered. Never a good thing to have a supervisor of another department beotching that you didin't get your work done...

Oh, sure, make the assumption that WE were at fault.

I left it off so as not to confuse the issue, but that was part of the insult . . . he was demanding that we do something we had already done ages before. And we don't do it for HIM, but for someone else. He was just attending a meeting for them and decided to be a big shot. It wasn't just us, either. After I posted that, it became apparent that it was everyone.

We normally do not encounter individuals like this. We have a very solid EEO program and formalized equality procedures and policies, so this man is just shocking.

He's shot himself in the foot, though. At this point, we no longer bother providing helpful information. When he issues his screeching emails demanding that we immediately correct our negligence and fill out that spreadsheet, or, in my case, generate piles of data-cum-analysis he is clearly intending to use for self-aggrandizement -- and, no, he does not know how to do it himself -- we just murmur "umm hmm" and never bother mentioning whose spreadsheet it really is or that we have no intention of assisting him.

He's short, too, but he's perceived by others as being far shorter than he really is.

[Denny]

and shrinking rapidly