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Mr, T
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 1:01 pm
Post subject: yous |
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Hi everyone,
If I want to refer to "a group of you" during a conversation, what word
should I use ?
For example:
Paul want to ask Peter,Mary and Sam what will they do after dinner.
Then What will Paul ask ?
"What will you three do after dinner ?" or
"What will you do after dinner? " or something else ?
Cheers,
T
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QT
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 1:14 pm
Post subject: Re: yous |
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Mr, T wrote:
| Quote: | Hi everyone,
If I want to refer to "a group of you" during a conversation, what
word should I use ?
For example:
Paul want to ask Peter,Mary and Sam what will they do after dinner.
Then What will Paul ask ?
"What will you three do after dinner ?" or
"What will you do after dinner? " or something else ?
Cheers,
T
|
My guess is:
What will you all do after dinner?
or
What are y'all going to do after dinner?
qt
-- |
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Alan OBrien
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 2:47 pm
Post subject: Re: yous |
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"QT" <quicktransREMOVABLETEXT@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
news:xn0e88txzqn123000@news.individual.net...
| Quote: | Mr, T wrote:
Hi everyone,
If I want to refer to "a group of you" during a conversation, what
word should I use ?
For example:
Paul want to ask Peter,Mary and Sam what will they do after dinner.
Then What will Paul ask ?
"What will you three do after dinner ?" or
"What will you do after dinner? " or something else ?
Cheers,
T
My guess is:
What will you all do after dinner?
or
What are y'all going to do after dinner?
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Or "What are y'all going to do after dinner?
YEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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Iain
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 5:44 pm
Post subject: Re: yous |
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Mr, T wrote:
| Quote: | Hi everyone,
If I want to refer to "a group of you" during a conversation, what word
should I use ?
For example:
Paul want to ask Peter,Mary and Sam what will they do after dinner.
Then What will Paul ask ?
"What will you three do after dinner ?" or
"What will you do after dinner? " or something else ?
|
It's youse, with an E at the end, although one seldom actually puts it
in writing.
"What are youse doing?" "Youse two, etc".
~Iain |
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Numeromania
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 3:53 am
Post subject: Re: yous |
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Mr, T wrote:
| Quote: |
If I want to refer to "a group of you" during a conversation, what word
should I use ?
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"you guys" |
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Tony Cooper
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 7:00 am
Post subject: Re: yous |
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On 8 Oct 2005 19:50:41 -0700, "Raymond S. Wise" <mplsray@my-deja.com>
wrote:
| Quote: |
Numeromania wrote:
Mr, T wrote:
how about if there is a gal ?
Doesn't matter, it's still "you guys".
"You guys" is also used when speaking to a group composed entirely of
women and/or girls, but there's no simple rule which tells when it is
appropriate to do so, and there are no doubt occasions when women or
girls would take offense to such a use. (Just as there are occasions
when women or girls would take offense at being referred to as "gals.")
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Just this afternoon when my wife and I went to Panera's, the counter
girl asked "Are you guys ready to order?". |
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Mr, T
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 7:00 am
Post subject: Re: yous |
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| how about if there is a gal ? |
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Numeromania
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 7:00 am
Post subject: Re: yous |
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Mr, T wrote:
| Quote: | how about if there is a gal ?
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Doesn't matter, it's still "you guys". |
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Raymond S. Wise
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 7:01 am
Post subject: Re: yous |
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Numeromania wrote:
| Quote: | Mr, T wrote:
how about if there is a gal ?
Doesn't matter, it's still "you guys".
|
"You guys" is also used when speaking to a group composed entirely of
women and/or girls, but there's no simple rule which tells when it is
appropriate to do so, and there are no doubt occasions when women or
girls would take offense to such a use. (Just as there are occasions
when women or girls would take offense at being referred to as "gals.")
--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com |
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Numeromania
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 6:59 pm
Post subject: Re: yous |
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Raymond S. Wise wrote:
| Quote: |
"You guys" is also used when speaking to a group composed entirely of
women and/or girls, but there's no simple rule which tells when it is
appropriate to do so, and there are no doubt occasions when women or
girls would take offense to such a use. (Just as there are occasions
when women or girls would take offense at being referred to as "gals.")
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I'd say "you guys" is a lot safer than "gals" in that regard. |
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fred
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 8:04 pm
Post subject: Re: yous |
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Iain wrote:
| Quote: | Mr, T wrote:
Hi everyone,
If I want to refer to "a group of you" during a conversation, what word
should I use ?
For example:
Paul want to ask Peter,Mary and Sam what will they do after dinner.
Then What will Paul ask ?
"What will you three do after dinner ?" or
"What will you do after dinner? " or something else ?
It's youse, with an E at the end, although one seldom actually puts it
in writing.
"What are youse doing?" "Youse two, etc".
~Iain
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which culture/dialects/country or region of English would you most
associate this usage with? |
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fred
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 8:31 pm
Post subject: Re: yous |
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Numeromania wrote:
| Quote: | Raymond S. Wise wrote:
"You guys" is also used when speaking to a group composed entirely of
women and/or girls, but there's no simple rule which tells when it is
appropriate to do so, and there are no doubt occasions when women or
girls would take offense to such a use. (Just as there are occasions
when women or girls would take offense at being referred to as "gals.")
I'd say "you guys" is a lot safer than "gals" in that regard.
|
Hey, wouldn't the most grammatically logical (heh!) solution to all
this be to re-instate the use of 'thee' and 'thou' alongside 'you'?
After all, isn't it actually the case that we've ended up using the
polite *plural* form of the 2nd person as the *only* form available to
us for addressing another person ('You' is surely equivalent to the
Spanish 'Usted' - a form of the 2nd person which is pluralised as a
mark of respect).
Hence we are left with just 'you', which is a plural form even when
applied to a single person (i.e. 'you *are*', rather than 'you *is*' ,
or should I say 'art' as in 'thou art'?)
I guess this development came from always taking a safe option when we
weren't sure whether to use a respectful or intimate form of address -
the equivalent of not knowing whether to use 'tu' or 'vous' in French,
and opting to use 'vous' universally to avoid this problem.
But this means we can't make that singular/plural distincion in that
way any more.
Mind you I have to admit this point could all be total bollox on my
part, because I don't really know how the archaic 'thou' mode of
English actually worked!
In the days when that was in common usage, did it allow the speaker to
distinguish between a 'you' meaning and a 'youse' meaning?
If the situation was one of familiarity, was it possible in that
archaic mode of English to distinguish directly between plural and
singular 2nd person forms? |
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Numeromania
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 9:02 pm
Post subject: Re: yous |
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Iain wrote:
| Quote: |
It's youse, with an E at the end, ...
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"Youse" and "yous" are alternative spellings of the same word. |
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Numeromania
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 9:06 pm
Post subject: Re: yous |
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Raymond S. Wise wrote:
| Quote: |
"You guys" is also used when speaking to a group composed entirely of
women and/or girls, but there's no simple rule which tells when it is
appropriate to do so, and there are no doubt occasions when women or
girls would take offense to such a use.
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Or you can say "you people" and take any suggestion of gender out of the
picture. |
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Mike Lyle
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 9:27 pm
Post subject: Re: yous |
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Numeromania wrote:
| Quote: | Raymond S. Wise wrote:
"You guys" is also used when speaking to a group composed entirely
of
women and/or girls, but there's no simple rule which tells when it
is
appropriate to do so, and there are no doubt occasions when women
or
girls would take offense to such a use.
Or you can say "you people" and take any suggestion of gender out
of
the picture.
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"You people" can accidentally slip into the wrong tone, of course.
It's actually not usually a problem simply to say "you" to a group;
and often something like "Hello, everybody" will do.
--
Mike. |
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