Can I complain a little bit without sounding too bitchy? It’s about a book I just read where there’s a southern woman whose way of speaking really gets on my nerves. Well…it’s mostly one thing. Yes, the author dropped her “g’s” where the “ing” is used, and that’s pretty accurate for most southerners. I do that a lot. But here’s the problem. Southerners do not use “y’all” to speak of ONE person. “Y’all” is short for “you all”. It’s not short (or long) for “you”. I would not say to a friend “How long have y’all been waiting here?” or “I hope y’all feel better soon.” I would say the above phrases to more than one person, but not to one person. (If anyone from the south is reading this and disagrees, then you certainly speak differently than people do where I’m from. But the person in the book was from my area.) In the north, the same phrase is usually “you guys”. At least in northern Ohio where I have cousins who say “you guys”. I always teased them about that, saying “I’m not a guy”. I would say “y’all”, they would say “you guys”. But when referring to one person, we both said “you”. In the book I read, it sounded so awkward when that word was used referring only to the person she was speaking to. It drove me absolutely crazy.
Anyway, do things like that bother you? If you’re from a certain area, and the author portrays the speech in that area much differently than it really is, does it make you want to scream? I don’t usually mind when little things are wrong, but when they mess up our southern speech, it really bothers me.
lauralynnelliott.com 
Oh hell yeah, this drives me nuts. Or those people who think y’all is spelled ya’ll. Um, no. There are a lot of books set in the south by people who are CLEARLY not southern and don’t know southerners and I just can’t read them.
I figured you would be the first to weigh in on this one. 🙂 Southerners are often portrayed totally different than we are. I actually had someone ask me on the phone (here at work) if we wear shoes here. What?
Of course then there is the term you’uns which really throws people for a loop. Hahaha (not even sure I spelled that right and I hear it a lot, mostly by uneducated southerners though) 😉
I used to say that one sometimes when I was younger because my grandparents weren’t very educated (though very intelligent!), and I guess I heard it from them. But, yeah, that one is kind of red-neck. LOL. And it often comes out sounding like “yuns”.
I didn’t know that – good to find out!
Things like that bother me a little – but not enough to give up reading. If I let it really annoy me, I’d never get through a lot of books or films either set in Ireland or featuring Irish characters. 🙂
That’s why I don’t usually write characters that are from other places besides the US. I don’t want to mess up the accents and things they might say. I didn’t stop reading this book (actually there are three in the series) because the stories are really good, and I love them. And, luckily, the southerner isn’t the main character, so I don’t have to “listen” to her much. LOL
Even I knew that one. 😛 I find it really hard to read books set in Ireland sometimes. Although the problem here is that you can walk a mile away and probably come across a whole new set of slang words (not to mention the “right” way to cook). 😀
Omigosh, THIS. Case in point: The Irish (at least not where my family’s from), do not, in fact, holler “Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!” to all and sundry. Of course, sometimes, the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak. As soon as folks discover I’m visiting from the States, they want to put American cheese on everything. Also, apparently all Americans know one another. Ha!
Cate, my doctor actually comes in and says “top o’ the morning”. And he’s definitely American. LOL. People have all kinds of misconceptions about people in other places, don’t they? Sometimes that can be a lot of fun, though. 🙂
Apparently, that phrase was created in Hollywood. Lol. Although I know plenty of Irish people who tease tourists with it. We’re mean and sarcastic that way. 😉 And people always think Irish people know each other too – maybe because the place is relatively tiny? Farrell is one of the most common names in Ireland – I’m always being asked if I know Farrells across the country. 😀
My favorites are along the lines of “Cousin so-and-so visited Buffalo after the war–do you know him?” Me:”Ummm, the States are a mighty big place and, well, that was THIRTY YEARS before I was BORN and all…so no. But that’s okay because I loved John Wayne in The Quiet Man.” 😉
Like I told Emma, I don’t write characters that aren’t from the US for that very reason. I did have a Greek vampire in my last book, but his accent was so slight, that it wasn’t something that would look different in writing. Because he had lived in the US for awhile. We actually have a Greek restaurant across the street from where I work, and I love to hear those guys talk. And they are GORGEOUS!. Oh, sorry, off topic. 🙂
Lol! I’m always afraid of writing characters who aren’t Irish, but if they live in a certain country then they pick up the slang and all of that good stuff eventually, right? 🙂
I love writing characters with accents, and I probably have screwed them up everytime. I tried out a southern accent on a character in my currant WIP, but I didn’t feel it was working out to well so I dropped it. But more to the point, I don’t dwell to much on enunciation as much as I do certain phrases or nuances. Such as ‘soda’ vs. ‘pop’ or ‘bbq’ vs ‘grill out’. Heck, where I live they call drinking fountains ‘bubblers’ and traffic lights are ‘stop and go lights’. And I love how nobody here ever goes anywhere, they all go ‘by’ somewhere, as in “I’m goona go down by the bar after work.” Living all over the U.S. this has always facinated me.
Wow that was quite a little ramble I had there. Wheeeeeeee
Here in the south, it’s not pop or soda. It’s Coke. It doesn’t matter if it’s Pepsi, RC, or some off brand, it’s still Coke. LOL.
Bubblers? Stop and go lights? Wow, never heard of those.
This is why I try not to write about places I’ve never lived or visited, with the exception of Virginia or England (for the Regencies). Up in North Dakota “go with” is a popular expression and that’s how they end their sentences. “Want to go with?” But of course, that’s today. 😀 I grew up in Ohio, and when I moved to Florida, I remember how shocked I was to hear about grits. LOL We didn’t eat that up there. So I guess in addition to what people say, you have to consider what they eat.
I don’t know if I used a “y’all” in my Florida romances, but I remember my dad and sister talked like that after they lived there for a few years. I didn’t stay in Florida for long. I ended up moving to North Dakota. 😀 I love winters too much.
If your dad and sister said y’all, i bet it was referring to more than one person! 🙂 That expression “want to go with?” has always bugged me. I know it’s said in a lot of places, but I keep wanting to say “with who?”. LOL.
You were shocked about grits? They are pretty good! 🙂
Crap! I hear “you guys” a lot in Michigan, but the closer you get to Detroit, the more you’ll hear “y’all.” A Detroit area accent isn’t southern. There’s more “twang” in it than “drawl,” and there’s something else in there as well.
Example: I need y’all to sign your time sheets when you pick up your check. (This would be said with authority. If you need to break out a “y’all,” it’s for a good reason!)
You would NEVER say this to ONE person here in Michigan. NEVER. You’d say this to a group of co-workers.
Exactly. I don’t know why this author thought “y’all” could refer to one person. I’m sort of surprised to hear “y’all” is used in Detroit. I thought it was just a southern thing. 🙂