The trends that may end the “y’all” vs “you guys” debate

English speakers have been deprived of a truly functional, second person plural pronoun since we let “ye” fade away a few hundred years ago.
​“You” may address one person or a bunch, but it can be imprecise and unsatisfying. “You all”—as in “I’m talking to you all,” or “Hey, you all!”—sounds wordy and stilted. “You folks” or “you gang” both feel self-conscious. Several more economical micro-regional varieties (youz, yinz) exist, but they lack wide appeal.

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