There isn't really an equivalent to "all y'all" in standard English is there? Nothing that works as well anyway.

"Heeeey yoooou guuuuys!" in a fat albert tone is pretty close :)

I'm endlessly entertained that my mother fired a babysitter when i was very wee because her southern accent was thick enough to cut with a knife and my parents didn't want to burden me with that. Talk about discrimination!

(I was born and raised in Richmond, VA. My mom is from NoVa and my dad was an army brat, so neither of them has a discernable regional accent.)

"O, you with them queers and whores?"

Maybe, but you may be confusing me with someone from Black Mountain, or Warren Wilson College (my MFA alma)... you see, mr. asheville guy, there's this great hub of imagination here. You might want to try it.

oofh.

hey Omnis, when were you in Asheville? Did you ever eat at a place called Spirit on the Water (run by the tribe). All the writers at WWC used to call it the Roadkill Cafe. Maybe I'm feeling like I've brought this up before (because, yes with the tired), but it was the best frybread ever.

I was down in Flat Rock. Only ventured north to Asheville a couple times. Once was to go to Poplar Lodge. The. Best. Food. EVER. To this day, I list it as a favorite restaurant. Never heard of Spirit on the Water or Roadkill Cafe.

O, when. I was there...[thinking]... summer 1993.

eta: about the only thing I remember of Asheville was a big statue of a Confederate Soldier that looked like they didn't allow any pigeons near to poop on. And I kept getting lost for my few trips there. Where was GPS then??

Mmmm...I'm having a carbolicious dinner--whole wheat pasta with tater tots. Life is good.

Oooh, good earworm, Kristin!

"Come with", I have been told, is an anglification of a German phrase. I think I was told that by my German teache, who was from Minnesota. And now I don't know if it requires salt or what.

We were all so proud of Ron Guidry when I was a kid in Baton Rouge, but it was confusing that he was a Yankee.

I will get you, Laga. I don't know where. I don't know when. But it will happen.

"all y'all" means "all of you, and your immediate families," right?

Y'all is useful because English is sorely lacking the second person plural. If you are talking to one person, it's "you," which is one of many things the horrible fake Southern accents do wrong. If you're talking to one person and say "y'all," that means you're including more than one person in your statement, e.g. "Are y'all coming to the party?" is asking if the person and his spouse, family, friends and so on are coming.

you might get charged a late fee penalty.

yeah basically I'd be paying an extra $11 so I could try the recipe. My registration doesn't expire 'till the end of the month but the sooner I renew the less it costs.

Y'all is useful because English is sorely lacking the second person plural.

Technically, it's that we've made the second person plural all-encompassing. ("Thou" vs. "you".)

Edited because I reread Juliana's post and realized that that was exactly what she was saying. Doh!