Message text written by "A wine-dark proprietary product of insult,
intrigue and innuendo."
>Y'all never said "yous guys" until we showed up, either.  But meanwhile,
Ruth
is staying home.  Too bad for you.

Ralph<

I, growing up in the Northeast, habitually use "you guys" (but not "youse"
as I am not from Noo Yawk) as the plural of "you" regardless of gender (the
liguistic vacancy created by the demise of the old second person singular
"thee" being filled by this form). In the South, of course, that plural is
"y'all." When I was in Miami (1971-74), the Northern influence (among we
Anglos) was strong enough that "you guys" was common usage except among
those of unmixed Southern heritage. But when I moved to NC (1975-76), only
those of us from Up North used it. I recall witnessing one such person (not
me) addressing a mixed (or possibly all-female) group of fellow students as
"you guys" and having one pretty Southern belle reply in a hurt tone,
"We're not guys, why did you call us that?"

Come to think of it, I guess she'd have objected to being called a "fellow
student" too! 

Moving around as I have, I have become (as all military brats do) aware of
regional language differences and good at learning to use them--a
protective coloration, since being different is the worst offense among
children.  
Nomad

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