Internet English story

[TRex]

BBC has an interesting story: Learn English online: How the internet is changing language

[ada]

It is all happening rapidly too.  It is much easier to accept multiple spellings
of words these days.  English seems to absorb change well. 
I read a while back that the French were trying, rather unsuccessfully, to keep
their language 'pure'.
ADA

[Gaye Christine]

I can live (albeit grumpily) with variant spellings, but I cannot bear the abbreviations which come with social networking / texting / etc.  I received a message the other day "u r l8" yuckgrrruugghh!!

[pat]

I'm with you on that, GC!

[mkenuk]

The only problem with Webster's spelling amendments was that he died before he finished the job.
It's not just texters who use 'unauthorised' spellings and abbreviations - advertisers also try similar tricks: 'Q8' petrol (from Kuwait) is quite common here in Thailand.
Years ago, long before mobile phones and 'textese', I remember buying an 'E-Z' tin opener and wondering about this strange brand name, until someone pointed out that the opener was American and said 'easy' in 'Yankspeak'.
MK

[bobbi]

My personal pet hate regarding English being influenced by other languages is the plural of you.
Come on people, it is you, not yous (or even worse, in text-speak - use!)

I know I'm on the losing side with this one. However it is a small consolation that the spell checker agrees with me  ;P

[TRex]

My personal pet hate regarding English being influenced by other languages is the plural of you.
Come on people, it is you, not yous (or even worse, in text-speak - use!)

I know I'm on the losing side with this one. However it is a small consolation that the spell checker agrees with me  ;P

I think it unfortunate that English dropped the distinction between the singular and plural forms of 'you'. In U.S. English, the South is well-known for its ya'll (you will never hear a real Southerner use it to refer to a single person). Less well-known is the Northeast's youse. Other regions probably have other ways of making a plural 'you'.

Obviously, spelling English can be very difficult. A local business here (now gone) had a sign declaring they could help you 'loose weight'. Just the other day I drove past a business advertising '[Name's] Oriental Rugs - Clean, Mend, Upraise'!!

[Gaye Christine]

Ah, TRex, are you sure they didn't mean as in "raising up the pile" - that would go with clean and mend 

[mkenuk]

English in earlier times did have singular and plural second person forms ('thou / thee' and 'you'). They are similar to (for example) French 'tu/toi' or German 'du/dich'. They still survive in some dialects in England. You'll still hear something like 'What'st tha want?' (What do you want?) in parts of Yorkshire for example. 'Youse' and even 'youse all' (transcribed in various ways in writing) can be heard for 'you' in parts of western Scotland ('What are yerz all looking at?') None of these forms is regarded as standard of course.
MK

[birdy]

Obviously, spelling English can be very difficult. A local business here (now gone) had a sign declaring they could help you 'loose weight'. Just the other day I drove past a business advertising '[Name's] Oriental Rugs - Clean, Mend, Upraise'!!

Are you sure they weren't talking about flying carpets, TRex?   

[rogue_mother]

In U.S. English, the South is well-known for its ya'll (you will never hear a real Southerner use it to refer to a single person). Less well-known is the Northeast's youse. Other regions probably have other ways of making a plural 'you'.

TRex, it is absolutely not true that you will never hear a real Southerner use "y'all" to refer to a single person. "Y'all" does indeed refer to a single person, although usage is not strict on this point. Real Southerners know that the plural of "y'all" is "all y'all". ;-)

I am given to understand that the use of "youse" in the Northeast stems from its highly concentrated Irish population, since "youse" can be heard in that country. And Pittsburghers are well known for "yinz".

[TRex]

TRex, it is absolutely not true that you will never hear a real Southerner use "y'all" to refer to a single person. "Y'all" does indeed refer to a single person, although usage is not strict on this point. Real Southerners know that the plural of "y'all" is "all y'all". ;-)

I grew up in the South, have lived in several areas in Dixie, and have family members from most of the Southern states (southwest Virginia through Texas), and have never heard a real Southerner use y'all for a single person — but have heard lots of people trying to imitate Southerners do so.

Of course, inside the Beltway isn't part of Dixie. :-D

[Tom44]

Oh come now, TRex.  Where do you draw the line for the South?  I grew up hearing "Y'all" referring to singular all the time.  Go shopping and they call out "Y'all come back now, hear?"  The plural form is indeed "all y'all" and the plural possessive is all y'all's.  You also hear "we'uns" and "Us'ns" and "they'uns" and other colloquialisms but nothing is more common that y'all used as the singular form for you.  Might this have something to do with social class?  BTW, I grew up in Missouri.  Maybe you Chicagoans don't consider that South enough, but my gradnma sure did.

[TRex]

Oh come now, TRex.  Where do you draw the line for the South?

Virginia (southern and western), both Carolinas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida (northern), Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas (eastern). (Not Missouri.)

And I'm not a Chicagoan even if I live near it.

I grew up hearing "Y'all" referring to singular all the time.  Go shopping and they call out "Y'all come back now, hear?"

I've only heard that from people trying to sound Southern.

The plural form is indeed "all y'all" and the plural possessive is all y'all's.

I have never heard anyone use that combination.

[ensiform]

Well, you don't live in Texas.  I have heard all of these, y'all.  So all y'all can get all y'all's non-Texan minds blown!