o2-04-2025

Press Coverage for Y'All

In early December, my famous colleague John McWhorter wrote in his NYT column about the pronoun y'all, with muted enthusiasm. Speaking of the lack of a distinct pronoun for the second person plural, John noted that

[some] critics advise us to substitute “you all,” “all,” “folks” or “people.” Some have even suggested “y’all,” a word that reads as much too slangy, regional or what you might even call ethnic to ever gain universal acceptance.

The magazine Texas Monthly felt called upon to rectify this slight on y'all's reputatiton. Initially, shooting somewhat from the hip in this piece that could have used some input (or at least fact-checking) from a linguist. 

In the February '25 issue, David Courtney now follows up by dedicating his "Texanist" column to the issue, on the occasion of a reader question that he received. In it, I am quoted as saying that y'all is proof that "Texas English is superior" to Mainstream U.S. English, something I have wanted to say in a media piece for a long time. Read Courtney's piece below, starting with UT's publicity for it.