Puzzle Description Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

#1: robert svanberg (tango) on Mar 30, 2017 [SPOILER]

Comment Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

Nice yawl. (I would say nice yawl, y'all but there is only one of you. Isn't there?) The internet says that on occasion y'all is used in the singular.

Loved your research info.

I am an avid reader and if I read a book by an Australian author that takes place in Australia I sometimes have difficulty following the conversation. Same for the British Isles. If they get into Irish, Scottish, Cockney, etc I can get easily lost.

I've always wondered why the spelling is usually "youse" instead of the more logical "yous". When I was a kid and came across "youse" in reading, never having heard it used as the plural of "you", I pronounced it to rhyme with house, louse, mouse and spouse.

I prefer "you guys," even though I grew up in the American South. I had always thought that "youse" was a New York/New Jersey thing. It sounds gangster-y to me. :)

Comment Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

Thou hast made a nice puzzle, Robert. I'm a traditionalist.

Thou hast lost an Eighth for the bad pun, but earned it back for the great puzzle.

Cool!

I think Hollywood had all the mobsters saying youse guys no matter where they were from.

I grew up in New Jersey just outside of NYC and never said "youse" in my life. It's more of a lower Manhattan saying. Go to Pittsburgh PA and they say "yintz". I personally prefer you as the plural of you.

I'm completely in agreement with Pam. Why do you need to pluralize "you", anyway? Some languages don't even pluralize anything. (Never pluralize any noun with a Japanese origin! It doesn't look right.) All that aside, Robert, yawl better never apologize for a pun. They are a gift to the world. ^-^

Thank you everybody. I thoroughly enjoyed everyone's comments. I'm so glad that y'all/you'se/youse/yez/you/yinz had some fun with it.

I'd never seen "yinz" before so just had to Google it. The Wikipedia entry starts with "Yinz is the most recent derivation from the original Scots-Irish form you ones or "yous ones". ----- Thanks for alerting me to it Pam.

I was expecting a female sheep...

Me too. Or multiple female sheep. :)

#13 and #14 The first time I ever heard the word "you'se" I was 9 years old and our teacher said "I don't want any of you to say you'se". But, being a farm boy, I could only identify with the homophone "ewes". I didn't understand why, but for some reason I couldn't talk about female sheep at school. At home was still OK. I could draft wethers from ewes and say the words and not get into trouble.

Funny!

Grammar is weird.
Puns are underrated.
This puzzle was so fun.
You all are so interesting.
This is what makes webpbn the best place to be.

Great puzzle, pun and comments. I for one think we desperately need a plural you that's distinct from a singular you. While in informal conversation I've actually resorted to "youse" or "y'all", either one sounds awful here in Connecticut (which must be said with clenched teeth, of course!). So in a more formal setting I often fell compelled to use "all of you".
Then again, the ambiguity can actually come in handy!

On a trip through the southern U.S. I heard the wonderful expression "both of y'all." "Y'all look so much alike -- are both of y'all sisters?" "Yes, ma'am, we both are." (As if one of them could be sister to the other without the reverse being true!!)

Or they could be cousins, and only one has a sister. :D

Excellent image!

This is a great puzzle, and a very entertaining discussion. Thanks y'all for putting a smile on my face!

Nothing useful I can add to this conversation except to say that I consider "youse" to be crass - and even more so when written down. But I do like the American "y'all" and remember if well from a popular televsion series from my childhood:
"Y'all come back now, hear!" (Beverly Hillbillies)

Very nice. A lot of fun to solve.

Show: Spoilers

Goto next topic

You must register and log in to be able to participate in this discussion.