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Forums - General Discussion - Yous is a word

"Youse" is commonly used in Dublin as the plural of you. In other parts of Ireland "ye" is more often used.

Most other languages have both a singular and plural form of "you", but English doesn't. Maybe it should.



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It's not a part of "standard English", but it occurs in "non-standard dialects". English teachers generally try their best to stamp out any dialects. Trust me on this, I'm a a linguist. =P



Parokki said:
It's not a part of "standard English", but it occurs in "non-standard dialects". English teachers generally try their best to stamp out any dialects. Trust me on this, I'm a a linguist. =P

And a cunning one at that!

BenKenobi88 said:
"phase it out"? I was not aware that it was ever a legitimate word...and I'm a grammar nazi...

Maybe on the East Coast or something...I'm pretty sure nobody bastardizes the language like that here in Chicago.

 I am somewhat sometimes too though I make mistakes as everyone does, but I have several dictionaries right here next to me right now as I verified they all have "youse." As mentioned, it may be more of a dialect at least now. I can't say about if it used to be more common. I also know a couple of people from Pennsylvania who use, "yinz" as a plural of you, so I guess if you consider it to be a legitimate word if it is in the dictionary, then "youse" is one. Then again newer dictionaries also have "google" as a verb, so take it as you will. The phasing out was about how they usually try to decrease the use of non-standard and dialect words.



 

Most of youse agree.

Some of you don't agree :P



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misterd said:
Parokki said:
It's not a part of "standard English", but it occurs in "non-standard dialects". English teachers generally try their best to stamp out any dialects. Trust me on this, I'm a a linguist. =P

 

And a cunning one at that!

You might be a cunning linguist ... but I'm a master debator. 



Booooooh. That joke is old.



Yes ... well ... somebody had to say it. And someday, I wanna be somebody!



It's actually used less by rappers and more by 'guidos' or italian americans. I live around a lot of them in the NY/NJ area so I hear it a lot. The common phrase is 'hey, yous guys" that everyone knows. Well people here actually say it and just like y'all has entered into the dictionary, so has you's [unfortunately].

Dialects are part of common life though and language is always evolving so I don't have any qualms with it. I just wish our language would evolve from words used by smart people [this coming from a half italian]. Guidos are retarded. In case you don't know what that is or you need proof...

http://user10337.websitewizard.com/images/guidos_small.jpg