Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 08:21:47 -0500

From: Ron Rabin RABINRL[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SNYBUFAA.CS.SNYBUF.EDU

Subject: Re: singular "we"



1) we as singular: I heard it growing up in Los Angeles in the 50s, at

school at Berkeley in the 60s.

2) youse as singular: in Buffalo, NY, I have only heard youse as a plural

form of you. I was told/read (reference long lost) that youse comes

from a 2nd person plural in Irish Gaelic that found its way into English

(in Ireland? in the US?) of the Irish (some identifiable subset?) and was

adopted by other groups living/working with them as the others learned

English in the US. In the greater Buffalo area, it's found geographically

rather than ethnically, giving the borrowing theory some vague support.