Carol H Tucker Passionate about knowledge management and organizational development, expert in loan servicing, virtual world denizen and community facilitator, and a DISNEY fan
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beladona Memorial Be warned:in this very rich environment where you can immerse yourself so completely, your emotions will become engaged -- and not everyone is cognizant of that. Among the many excellent features of SL, there is no auto-return on hearts, so be wary of where your's wanders...
Recently I treated myself to a pedicure. The slim young woman lectured me about dry skin and then asked me if I wanted my toenails trimmed. I replied “Trim them please”. She repeated the command back to me, and then to a co-worker “trim ‘em” complete with a significant look and eye roll…. And I rather defiantly refused to clear up my diction as she asked the question during the manicure too. I looked at her and realized that I had just been cast in a stereotype of “low class crap she has to put up with” even though she was perfectly polite and did a good job.
It got me to reflecting about how we speak every day, well how I speak. I have to admit that I really did swallow the “th” and it did sound like I said “trim ‘em” – but I have no idea why it was so amusing or type-casting. Is slackness with such contractions a symptom of lower class behavior or poor education? What about a regional pronunciation, such as calling a stream a “crick” or making Baltimore only two syllables? I certainly wouldn’t write a sentence with ‘em or crick or Bawlmer unless I was quoting someone actually talking. I guess that is the difference between pronunciation and the use of a colloquial expression such as “you all”
Adding “all” to a pronoun isn’t just done willy nilly, there are rules. Say you went to the grocery story, just you, one person. No “all” would be added. But if the whole family went out to get ice cream? Then I would expect to see you all at Twin Kiss if you live hereabouts. Of course, the further South one goes and people start drawling, the “you” and the “all” kinda run together and the ubiquitous “y’all” makes an appearance. I’m not even going to talk about “yous” or “youse” – go read someone from further North to find out what that means and how to use it. And it beats me why yours isn’t spelled your’s, I rank that up there with its and it’s. And don’t get me started in invariant verbs like “let” because I frustrate my grammar friends by using “left” as the past pluperfect instead of “had let”
I can tell you that “you all” isn’t the only use of “all” because at times, “all” might be added to “we” or “they”:
We all wanted our ice creams in a waffle cone.
They all decided to get their ice cream in a cup.
In this case, “all” doesn’t indicate “more than one person”, it indicates uniformity. We all wanted a waffle cone, every single one of us, and they all wimped out and wanted cups.
By the way, the young lady got a tip because she did a good job and no I didn’t grumble about her making fun of me.
And now I need a soft ice cream , in a waffle cone, so I’ll catch up with you all later.
CEOExpress
