I’ve heard it explained that “hey” used to be more of an urgent way to get someone’s attention, rather than a casual “hello” like it is now, so it sounded rude to some older folks.

    • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      9 months ago

      Many languages have a plural second person pronoun, English can too y’all. It’s a legitimately useful linguistic feature.

      • NABDad@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        English used to have “ye”, but we dropped it. Then we all looked around wondering where it went and had to recreate it.

        “Y’all” down south. “Youse” in Philly, New York, Boston, etc. “Yinz” in Pittsburgh.

        I think “y’all” is the best choice. I’m not a fan of “youse”. “Yinz” doesn’t even deserve consideration in my opinion.

        Are there any others?

    • FarFarAway@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      9 months ago

      Tell that to every kid in Texas, that the teacher ever made write “yall is not a word” on the blackboard 100 times.