Date: Sat, 15 Jul 1995 02:24:42 GMT

From: Barnhart Lexik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HIGHLANDS.COM

Subject: "all"



With minimal evidence from print sources _The Barnhart Dictionary Companion_

(Vol. 7.3, c. 1993) suggested, in part, the following:



all, v. {u} In the verb phrases (am, is, are, etc.) all. say or says or

saying or said. Compare go (PDSUE, .. 1970's) and like (PDSUE, ca 1955).

Nonstandard (used in slang contexts; infrequent in print)



And like this girl I know, Tamar, she went to the University of Vermont

last year and during orientation this girl from the South is all, "Hi, you

all." And Tamar, she's all, "I'm about to ask her if she's from the South

because she has this Southern accent? And she's all, "Are you from

California?" And I'm all, "How did you know?" And she's all, "By the way

you say 'all' instead of 'said'." And I'm all, "Ohmygod." Alice Kanh,

"'Said Is Dead; Long Live 'All'; The Kids' all-purpose verb," The San

Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 30, 1992, p D30



Origin unknown. Perhaps a grammatical shift from all (OED, adv.).





For those unfamiliar with the Companion, {u} signals a change in usage (as

opposed to {w} for new word and {m} for new meaning) and PDSUE = Partridge

Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. The remaining abbreviations

are selfexplanatory.



Barnhart[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]Highlands.com