Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 08:45:37 -0500

From: No Name Given NOLANDD[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UNCWIL.BITNET

Subject: Re: y'all



I was told yesterday by an informant currently providing tableside

service in a New Hampshire restaurant that "waitron" is used by the staff in

a self-consciously derisive manner to refer to the way they are treated all-

too-frequently by customers: not really humans but automatons. The stress is

often on the second syllable for emphasis.

I have heard y'all used in the singular on occasion, but only in Texas.

There's a related Appalachian form, "y'uns," which can be used when addressing

one person but refers to their whole family; "Y'uns come to the house."