"Y’all take care now, ya hear?”

Just how old would that phrase be? It is spoken in the movie “Ragtime” (1981), and I was wondering if it was apropos for the time period (early 1900’s).

I don’t see why not.  I doubt attestations of that exact sentence will turn up, but all the elements are old as the hills, and it’s certainly been common currency in the South for a long time.

D’oh! Complete misreading of post. I gave cites for y’all!

Quickly edited to save what is left of face.

Thanks, LH.

I gave cites for y’all!

See, now this is why it’s useful to italicize words and phrases discussed as such: when I first read that, I thought “you gave cites for us?  How nice!”

Quickly edited to save what is left of face.

Alas, poor facetiousness! I knew him, Horatio…

languagehat - 18 June 2007 02:37 PM

I gave cites for y’all!

See, now this is why it’s useful to italicize words and phrases discussed as such: when I first read that, I thought “you gave cites for us?  How nice!”

Ha! You’re quite right, I didn’t notice. Unconscious bias at work, I’m sure, as I don’t use the construction myself it never occurred to me that it could be misinterpreted.