this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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[–] [email protected] 93 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I refuse to accept Texas' claim on y'all. Its a word collectively owned by everyone south of the mason-dixon line and I will fight to the death over this.

Signed, floridaman

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (7 children)

…Am I not allowed to use "y'all", north of the 49th parallel? Do we have to bring back "thou" so "you" can be plural again? Or is this part of the Quebecois plot to force everyone to parler en français donc nous pouvons utiliser "vous"? C'est bien, anyway, j'suppose.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fun fact:

"Thou" and "you" were the same word.

The "th" sound used to have its own character in written English called the thorn. When typefaces came along, it was excluded and sometimes replaced with a "y."

Also why "Ye" and "The" are the same.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is it bad that I'm more bothered by "j'suppose" than the inclusion of "anyway"?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

C'est un trait quebecois, je pense.... les cowboys fringants la dit ("anyway"), donc je ne sais, c'est probablement ok.... J'ai entendu "j'suppose" avant aussi, vraiment, je pense..? Est-ce que ça n'est pas comme "I'spose" en anglais? Reverso a beaucoup des examples pour "j'suppose", quand même. (Je ne suis pas quebecois ou francophone, si tu ne peut pas voir pour quelque raison; je suis un idiot anglophone.)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"I'spose" est facile. "J'suppose" est dur à dire, parce qu'on ne peut pas dire "j's" comme "i's".

J'ai dû sortir mon français rouillé. Merci pour la pratique. Et oui, j'ai utilisé Google.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

“I’spose” est facile. “J’suppose” est dur à dire, parce qu’on ne peut pas dire “j’s” comme “i’s”.

Eh, je ne sais. C'est plus difficile que "I'spose", oui, mais je pense que c'est ok.. Les cowboys fringants dit aussi "j'te", "j'rentre", et probablement les autres consonnes aussi, donc, généralement, je l'imagine comme si on bredouille un peu.

J’ai dû sortir mon français rouillé. Merci pour la pratique. Et oui, j’ai utilisé Google.

Et la même à toi! Mais j'utilise Google pour traduire du français vers l'anglais, après avoir premièrement écrit la français avec Collins et quelquefois Reverso (mon professeur français a toujours aimé ça). Je fais des corrections alors peut-être. Ainsi, Google me dit si j'ai fait des grosses erreurs, mais je pratique mon français tout seul.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I hear it all the time. I use it sometimes

-just south of the 49*

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Well, I'm doing my best to import it into the New Zealand vernacular, we are South of the 49th.

So, uh, I dunno.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It's not that it can't be used elsewhere. We just don't want Texas to take all the credit.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Take it from the south; it will kill them inside.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

You can use yall but the "L"s are quieter the further north you go such that they're silent near the border

"How ya doin" is simply plural above the 49th

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Everyone gets y'all. It fills the dumb gap in English where the plural of you is you. Now if we could only get a singular neutral 3rd for people that isn't also the plural.

E: Or we could start pronouncing They singular like latchkey, for a thee sound. So we can get fun words like they's (thees). It will also make English even more confusing for newbies. What's not to love?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

If the plural of goose is geese, then the plural of moose is meese.

I approve of this message, are y'all with me?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So long as we can still claim "Y'all'd'nt've"

It's our greatest contribution to the lexicon and extremely efficient.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

You can't, that's Appalachian territory.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's also second person plural (or singular), second person is always ungendered.

First and second person, plural and singular are never gendered: I, you, we, you / y'all / all y'all. The only pronouns that are gendered are the third person singular: he / she / it. Third person plural (they) is also ungendered.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The most common form (at least where I'm from) of second person plural behind "you all (y'all)" is gendered: "you guys". It's used in an ungendered way increasingly commonly, but "guy" is still gendered to plenty of English speakers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

"Guys" is sometimes gendered, sometimes not. There really isn't a female-gendered equivalent to "you guys". You could say something like "you gals", but that's just not used. Most often you could say "could you guys follow me?" to a group of women and nobody would think twice about it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As someone who grew up in North Carolina, I agree. Texas might be the first thing some people think of when it comes to "southern" states, but it doesn't get exclusive claim to the quirks of the whole region

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I have never thought of Texas as southern (yes, I know they're the south-most state). Western movies were in Texas, so Texas is western (don't judge my very clearly faulty logic). South Carolina is south for sure. Georgia. Mississippi and Alabama are no brainers. But Texas? That's where western cowboys live... sorry.... cowyalls.