MONTREAL — Local woman Molly Blackmore recently expressed concern to friends and family about her overuse of the contraction “y’all.”
“I just find it handy!” explained Molly. “It’s casual and kind of fun. It just keeps things really low pressure.”
Molly has been known to start work e-mails with “Hey y’all,” send texts to tardy friends that read “Are y’all on your way?” and leave voicemails like “Hey y’all, if y’all could get back to me as soon as possible, I would really appreciate it. Thanks y’all!”
Molly says she realized things had gone too far when, before Christmas holidays, her boss asked if she would be going back home to Arkansas.
“I’ve never even been South of Michigan…” said an embarrassed Blackmore.
She knew it was time to give up the word for good when a coworker from Oklahoma took her aside and expressed concern about her “appropriation of Southern white male culture.”
“I just wanted a second-person plural pronoun of my own,” explained Molly. “Maybe I’ll start saying ye all…” she mused.
Blackmore says she plans to limit her use of ya’ll in the future and will next turn to phasing “cool beans” out of her everyday conversation.
