Lachlan - Posted - 02/05/2010:  21:29:29

"Y'all" is spelled y apostrophe all, short for "you all." Ya'll is likely the shortened form of "you will," much like this: he will = he'll; she will = she'll. Now, taking into account geographic differences and colloquial pronunciations, y'all is frequently understood to be the form one uses to address others, both singularly and as a group. Yawl (a boat) yoll (to tell something, as a story) or yule (a pagan celebration) are all (y'all?) different. Using a quantifying modifier before y'all, as in "all y'all, can phonetically lead to trouble. For example, yelling to the harbor, "All yawl get out of here!" could lead to a mass fleeing of the fleet. On the other hand, if a bunch of people are all (y'all?) talking at once, and you said to them, "All yoll shut up." although impolite, it would be grammatically feesible. What you would have meant is "All storytelling shut up." which would be a rough translation, but passable in modern American English. For clarity, however, please spell it y apostrophe all.