On Mon, Jan 31, 2005 at 03:41:51PM -0600, Manoj Srivastava wrote: > On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 11:04:36 -0700, Joel Aelwyn <fenton@debian.org> said: > > *) English common usage (rather than formal usage) is rapidly and > > widely adopting "singular they" (much like a lot of the country uses > > "y'all", or "you all" for those who don't want to sound Southern, > > for a second person plural). This may be offensive to purists, but > > frankly, purists shouldn't be speaking English in the first > > place. It's a terrible language for purity. :) > A nit: y'all is singular. "all y'all" is plural. Notherners > often get this wrong. Amusing to have this juxtaposed with the statement that English is a terrible language for purity. ;) Yes, I'm a northerner, and yes, "y'all" is plural to me. -- Steve Langasek postmodern programmer
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