At 03:23 PM 10/6/99 -0700, Erik Reikes wrote:
>At 04:55 PM 10/6/99 -0400, you wrote:
>>North of the Mason-Dixon line, all humans are "guys."  He specified that
>>with the "you" in front.
>>
>>Except in Pittsburgh, where a plurality of humans are "you'ins" or "y'ins".
>>
>>South of the Mason-Dixon line, it's "y'all" as everybody knows.
>
>I often use y'all, not because of the unisex gender ramifications, but
>because it has a nice friendly kind of twang to it.  While I'm pretty sure
>that San Diego CA is South of the Mason Dixon line in latitude, I think
>there was a Western boundary to it, but I don't remember where.  Was it
>Texas?  Come to think of it, was texas union or rebel?  I don't think they
>were a state quite yet...  Yikes I'm feeling pretty lax on my American
>History right now.  Its been awhile.

Since my forbears moved to Texas before it became a state, I think I
can speak with some authority.  Texas declared its independence from
Mexico in 1836 and became a state in either 1846 or 1847 (depending on
whether you pick the date Congress ratified or Texas ratified).  It
was undoubtedly Confederate in the War Between the States (saying the
Civil War is a giveaway that you are Yankee).  In Texas, they definitely
say "yall" for second person plural.  Since New Mexico and Arizona were
mostly settled by Texans and other Southerners in the early days, they
tend to say yall there also.

Bob McClure