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I have to agree with your Irish friend, although I use you guys there is something that grates when I use it. Its as if somewhere in the back of my mind there is an old English professor cringing at it's use. I've travelled a bit in the US and I have to say that Y'all is a serviceable solution but the next time you're in Texas as someone what the plural of Y'all is and the magical All'Y'All (and I know the spelling is off) will be heard. At this point I give up understanding and ask for translations.
Another interesting study/word oddity is Pop or Soda that changes its meaning depending on where you are in the US.
Simon
(Colloquial)
* Which include the pavlova, golden kiwifruit and extraditing Russell Crowe to Australia. There are probably others too.
Down here in Oz, I was busy commending the 'westies' (who speak their own brand of English) because they had naturally adapted the language the same way that the Spanish had, inventing a word where none existed in English.
The same is the case for the dime, or digame (formal) in Spanish for the words "Tell me. Starting and finishing a sentence with 'Tell me' makes so much more dignified, and makes sense that we're missing that word.
"Tellme (digame), what do you think about The Simpsons?" and "The time, tellme please?"
But I have two more interesting things to add. The Aboriginal's plural of a word is by repeating it, just like Indonesia. So my hometown Wagga Wagga means place of many crows.
The second point of interest is more of an interjection. Hopefully I will be lucky enough to cut the ebb by getting an early comment in, I will deny anybody the ability to be wrong be saying 'But the Eskimo's have 255 words for white, language is a matter of culture, and we shouldn't be so critical. Surely lolcats is just as right as Ze Germans'.
When we started talking with Eskimos, we misinterpreted the gap in between their words, they were saying white-snow, hard-show, yellow-snow. There was very limited words for snow, they were just using adjectives.
Also, the point of Lolcats is that it is bad English. If it were to become the norm by some sense of irony, in the same way that sms and IM speak has become popular in spoken English (among the under12's and manga fans).
Worst case scenario, it will become jargon or slang. Best case scenario it will be a phase. I'd prefer repeating a word for plural or you'se guys, which is people filling a hole that exists in a language than ROTFL. Rather than pop-culture continually recycling itself like an Andy Warhol exhibition, it shows an intelligent choice, creativeness and willingness to grow and adapt.
Signing off. Y'all come back later Y'hear!
Something you hear in South Central Pennsylvania is "a while". A waitress may say "Can I get your drinks a while."
As for Ken's comment about "wicked" not being acceptable as a term for "cool" in the south, I've got to disagree.
And Matt - down here you may be offered coke and Coke (aka Co'cola, ) and Pepsi. Non-capital coke is some other, unspecified brand of carbonated-twelve-teaspoons-of-sugar brown beverage that isn't root beer. Although I've lived here most-all my life, I have no idea how to ask for a coke that isn't Co'Cola or Pepsi. You're really better off with iced tea...but it WILL be sweet.
It may be interesting to consider the American South as yet another warm-weather British variant. Bill Bryson makes an interesting argument as to the source of our drawl, we drink tea more than any other beverage, scones=cathead biscuits, and I find Britspeak much easier to pick up than 'you guys' or 'pop' or...I can't think of another Yankeeism.
Also bear in mind that the South is not at all monolithic (another Brit similarity) - I live and speak Lower Alabam, but the Atlantan accent is entirely different, Charleston's is lovely and genteel, the patois of Loosiana and Lower Mississip is well known, and those folks up in Kentuk and Tennessee sound different again. Further, language and accent varies a lot by class background; we may as well have Etons and Cockney fishwives.
"You" was actual the plural/formal and "thee" or "thou" was the singular/informal.
But when it comes time to use "he or she" or the more pc neutral "one"... (as in: one should start using you-you to indicate plural you.)
I am glad you touched on this: y'all is singular, all y'all is plural.
I think non-southerners considering y'all plural is a common misconception, perhaps based on movie and TV caricatures...
I am from North Carolina, the middle of the state, and I don't hear y'all a lot anyway, but it would be used in informal situations, when relaxed or taken by surprise and not parsing you formally. I don't remember hearing it a lot growing up...but still I know the difference somehow. :)
When I was taking a beginning spanish lesson here in San Francisco, the teacher was trying to use y'all as a way to define ustedes. I informed her that all y'all is the more correct (only correct?) way to translate ustedes. After that in class discussions, she would make a point of using all y'all. She even used it on a written test I believe. :)
Anyway, just something I wanted to add.
Oh and @Sarah: co'cola...I thought I was the only one who really noticed that! Memories! If you find any interesting southern expressions, please email me, I love them! (My current favorite that can be used for a few situations deals with transplanted "Yankees" who think that because their kids were born in the south, the kids would be Southern: if a cat had kittens in the oven, you wouldn't call em biscuits!)
You're right that it isn't so simple, and the fact that in many parts of the country, usage and vocabulary has been modified to make up for this glaring omission tells us that just adding -s, or utilizing "you" as both a singular and plural construct is not sufficient to convey the desired meaning.
I've started using "ya'll" regularly. Around here, it doesn't turn heads like it would if I was using it back in California.
"What-all is going on here?"
"What-all did you do about that?"
I've even heard "How-all", as in "How-all did they do that?"
As a transplanted northerner myself (for two months now), I must say that this has been the most difficult thing for my ears to date.
Of course, being from the northern US, "you guys" seems perfectly normal to me, whereas I'm sure it doesn't to most other people!
I'm now living in the states (California, and now Ohio), and have partially adopted y'all - which serves the purpose very nicely, although the word doesn't quite fit with my English accent, so I get some odd looks...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yinz
I usually make a conscious effort to keep a neutral dialect but I've caught myself more than once mimicking the accent of another person I'm speaking with whether southern, english, or otherwise. It's weird...
I can't tell you how hard I laughed when I heard two southerners arguing over the "proper" use of "y'all" vs. "all y'all". The point one of them was making was that "y'all" is used to refer to one of a group, but not a specific one, while "all y'all" was used to mean everyone. eg: "Y'all better pick up that trash you dropped." (Yup, "y'all" and "you" in the same sentence. Go figure.) vs. "It's time for all y'all to go home."
Pronounced of course as one syllable words.
Is it just because I'm a native to LA??
e
1. The introduction of the lively and multipurpose "dude" into international English usage, and;
2. The replacement of the tedious "he or she" and sexist pan-gender "he" with a singular "they."
Yeah, I know, grammar nerds, I know. But y'all have to get with the program eventually. And duuuuuude...it's so convenient!
People from the other parts of Dublin tend to mix everything including the 2 above and 'you all' & 'you guys'. I think the ambiguous plural 'you' is not used very much.
'You F***heads' would be the realm of Colin Farrel! :)
Also, apparently no one out side of New York says waiting "on line", instead of waiting "in line." This was news to me.
I'm still at a loss as to why Americans use "bunch" for almost any indeterminate quantity of all sorts in the most bizarre manner, e.g. a "bunch" of water?!
Oh, and don't forget the AAQI... Australian American Questioning Intonation at the end of a statement"?" :P
Funny how you guys over there - I am from the Netherlands - have such interesting ways of using the same words only to be pronounced differently or rather, more fluently.
I live in a small province - Fryslân - with about half a million people who speak the closest language there is to English: Frisian. The differences you lads/ you guys / ya'll come across from nation to nation or state to state, we have over here from county to county. Every 15 miles a different Frisian accent.
What I am trying to clearify with my example is that the difference(s) in a language are inevitable and part of the great constant of everlasting change. Therefor we should embrace it. I certainly love English in its every shape and form!
If that made any sense... anyway these were just my 2 foreign cents :)
Come to think of it, the origins of the current usage of "you" are pretty cool in spirit, even if they're lost on more or less everyone nowadays.
And as for he/she/they - the alternative that really cracks me up is "thon." But some other funny ones are xe, ve, shey and co.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-neutral_pro...
An aside: the familiar form of you, "thou", fell from use apparantly due to the excessive politeness of the English, though it can still be heard in the north.
Another aside: the Germans have a similar issue with "Sie", which is used for both "her" and "you (polite)".
One last aside: if I'd spotted you in Galway I would have bought you a pint! I hope you took the opportunity to sample some...
That having been said, at one point, I lived in the Midwest with a motley assortment of Texans, Southerners and other odd-speakers. We had friends from Louisiana who were watching their three-year-old calling out 'You *guys*!' to the other kids on the playground and saying 'Oh y'all... When he goes home, he's *so* gonna get beat up!' ;-)
I rather like the idea of hearing a pretty Guinness drinking Irish lass use the ideom of you lads. But then again I just like the idea of listening to the pretty Irish lass Guinness or no Guinness. She'll likely be a lot more fun though if y'all pony up for the Guinness.
Uh Tim? She was pretty wasn't she?
At the time I liked the idea that y'all was gender neutral. This is of course after learning that every noun in German has gender. ..American nouns don't have gender! We've come further than that! So why shouldn't a plural you be gender neutral?
You guys sounds weird to me. You-uns and We-uns would also work beautifully and solves the problem of plural us...but y'all...it rolls off the tongue beautifully.
But y'all is just not happening in my neck of the woods.
Cool post as always. Love the fact that Galway is showing up in here. . .I lived there for two months back in 1994. . .worked at the McDonald's in the city near the hill. Best time of my life.
Quick note: As a writer/editor and owner of a marketing communications firm with deep Irish roots, I thought I would point out that you've got a "wee" typo in your blog. . ."Claddaugh" as you've got it in the blog post, should actually be "Claddagh". . gotta' love those typos. We all need an editor! Slan, Doc
Anda (formal) or kamu (informal) is "you"
Saya (formal) or aku (informal) is "I"
But you're right--Indonesian is a very efficient language. It was largely derived from Malay, and malay was mostly a "trader" language throughout the archipelego, thus it had to be simple and efficient.
Cheers,
Ashton
If I pull out my rusty Bahasa from uni many years ago, I recall "ibu" was more like "mother" or "madam" and to be used for women older than yourself, similarly "bapak" is more like "father" or "sir" and for men older than yourself.
I also recall "saudara" was for someone of a similar age to yourself or "friend". Child is "anak" and children is "anak anak", by the way.
Watch out for the "arak" too, its deadly.
Frodo.
Our teacher actually encouraged us to translate as either "youse" or "ya'll". In the end, function dominates the use of language rather than grammar!
e.g.
"How are you guys doing?" --> "How are all of you doing?"
"What do y'all want to drink?" --> "What would each of you like to drink?"
Are you in Ireland right now? If you're staying in Dublin it would be cool to hang out. Have you been to Whelan's? Best fun ever!!!
Liam.
Many years ago, I moved to the southern state of Florida. I started working for an upscale resort and the focus was on excellent customer service. Many of the people who worked there were from different states and countries, and along with myself there was a younger girl who worked there also from my home state of Michigan, and she used the phrase "you guys"...a lot.
An integral part of our job was to take groups of 10-15 people on a tour of the park to get them started. Because I was already annoyed with the amount of times she used that phrase, I decided to follow her tour and count how many times she used it. 47 times. Yes, she said "you guys" to a group of 10-15 people 47 times within about 7 minutes! I even heard a British woman in the back of the group say sarcastically to her friend, that she wasn't a "guy".
It was then that I made a conscious decision to use either the word "you" (plural), or the word "folks" for a group. "You guys" just isn't accurate.
I am sure I don't appreciate being called an idiot anonymously by some contributor to Urban Dictionary for saying "y'all" is singular. I don't know who contributed that definition, but if it's as easy as Wikipedia is to edit, let's take it with a grain of salt.
And to "get this straight", as you say, words carry meaning from the speaker to the receiver, and no other meaning can be assigned from an outside source. So I say "y'all" and mean singular, and the receiver interprets as singular, then that's good. And the same goes for plural.
But we are talking about learning another language which means some standards have to be set/established/agreed upon to help translations. So, while some of us are idiots I suppose, according to UD, perhaps we can agree that however the teacher/student define "y'all" takes precedent, without insulting anyone who disagrees.
Just read your recent article (today) on ETR (Early To Rise). I recognized the article from a previous post here. Just wanted to send praise your way. Not only is it a great article...but landing on ETR is huge!
Adios,
SPT
Part of the problem is that Scots isn't one language but varies from place to place much like teh point made about fresian to which it is closely related.
Again much like the points about Irish English 'Ye' is still very common in Scotland however informal it is. If you want to see some particularly fine examples of scots usage (from Glasgow) look for a copy of "The Patter" excerpts here - http://www.lexiconplanet.com/wklyscreenpatter_e...
Chunk and Sloth meet up with the rest of the guys and Chunk yells "Hey you guys!"
It's part of the American culture. We think using 'lads' and 'chaps' instead sounds gA.
Clearly, you are NOT from Philadelphia or South Jersey and have never spent any significant amount of time in that part of the world. Because if you had, you would be embracing this very flexible plural verson of "you" and reminding everyone how much more fun it is to say than plain old "you."
Also, "ya'll" is a perfectly acceptable word in the Northeast, but mostly in the cities. I'm from Philly, and I grew up using ya'll (as well as youse guys) on a regular basis.
I have been reading your blog since I stumbled upon it.
I noticed your entries are really well structured, thought out and you can definitely see you make a lot of research. Coud you one day maybe write about the effective ways of doing a research...
Thank you,
Anna
I'm actually living here in Galway. What we frequently use is 'Ye'. What I'd like to know is when was Tim in Galway? Just plain nosiness :)
If still in Galway, check out O'Maille for a hand-knit Aran sweater. (I have no affiliation with shop ... just like the sweaters.) Slainte!
Paul
how ye doing?
can't understand why it isnt used by people more often- makes sense- most language have a plural you from - vous/vosotros/etc
Solution:
Formally:
You Gentlemen / You Ladies / etc
Informally:
You guys / You Gents' / You lads / You trouble makers / etc
I read ur book...the four hour work week..
Well to start with, I think you have catered only to the outsourcing phenomenon (the equation of difference in currencies)and the time zone difference.
Was your book only focussed for the readers in the US ? How do you suggest the DEAL be applied in countries like India and China?
Are you a religous or of the christian faith because I think that you concepts line up with christian princpals, would you consider a version that use biblical references, i noted that you quoted several source but statyed away from the Bible.
http://tinyurl.com/2tcnbl
Believe it or not, I'm Canadian, and yet I use y'all at times. (Okay, that sounds a bit odd...)
I also use you guys, but it bugs me when someone says the same to me. I'll often say you gals if talking to all women...but there doesn't seem to be an appropriate short cut for mixed genders. I suppose I could say you guys and gals...
But the point is, we're lazy at heart--all of us.
That's why you'd never hear us saying: "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ear..."
It would be more like: " Hey y'all, listen up!"
Maybe I should just stick to YOU.
Eh? :)
In my perspective, that may sound horrible to your ears but It enables people who are not native english speakers to speak quite correctly even though they don't master the language. I prefer hearing 'you guys' than the horrible things I can hear here in Montreal. Depending to who you talk to, you have to ajust to understand what they mean. The conversation could be half french half english or it could be all french words with an english meaning to it. Sometimes you have to ask someone if they use this one word with they english or french meaning!!! How bad is this?
Oh, and I'm not talking about all the old words and the misspelling...
It's just horrible. And we need a law to make sure people keeping on speaking it...
Crazy...
How about "YINS GUYS." Hey I say it because I think it's comical. I love the diversity in language and it doesn't bother me that people use different words, but then again I don't let much bother me anymore!
Y'uns is a contraction of "you ones"
The exact pronunciation of Yinz varies throughout Western and Central Pennsylvania. (And apparently beyond, from above comments.)
And to respond to the earlier post, y'all is shortened "you all" so it is plural. Saying "all y'all" is redundant and another example of Southerners adding extra words when unneeded. We also like to drop out words and letters that are needed.
Only Yankees use "y'all" as singular. However, when one Southerner asks another Southerner "how y'all doing?" it is assumed he means you and your family (or friends). It's like saying, "How's Mamma and them?"
As we say 'round here to folks we will never see again in our lives, "see y'all later."
I high school, my friends and I prided ourselves in speaking “proper” English: “chest of drawers” instead of “chestadraws”, “Tuesday” instead of “toosdee”… partly due to being in the theatre department where you could be graded harshly at competition if you spoke with an accent when your character didn’t have an accent.
After years of work to eliminate my southern drawl- sometimes I want one. The word “ya’ll” is a guilty pleasure. It’s the smoothest and sweetest of all the plural “you” options. It makes the most sense to me, but I hesitate when I say it for fear of “sounding country”. If I could pick up a certain accent, it would be the refined Georgia drawl. Sounds like home-canned peaches and old money.
I don’t actually know many people who say “all ya’ll”, though. I mean, we just went through the trouble of cutting down you and all, why would we want to add another all to that? Our drawl has us talking slow, the overuse of conjunctions helps to bring us back up to speed. Most people just use “ya’ll” for groups and a conjunctive you for singular.
“Have you eaten yet?”
Singular: “Ya’eat yet?” (This was actually on a local billboard)
Plural: “Have ya’ll eaten?” (proper) or “Ya’ll’ve eaten?” (informal)
“What are you doing?”
Singular: “Wha’ya doin’?”
Plural: “Wha ya’ll doin’?”
“You just did something dumb and I hope you have learned a lesson from it.”
Singular: “That’ll learn ya”
Plural: “Ya’ll’s ignant:”
There are some things that I believe Southerners say better than anyone. Case in point: Pecan. “Pehcahn” is a tasty pronunciation where as “peecan” sounds like what country folks use when their toilet stops working. I mean really, which would you rather have made into a pie?
Oh, a little lagniappe for you: the coastal town of Biloxi is pronounce Bu-lux-ee. =^) I’m just sayin’.
Why not just say "you all" when you mean 2nd person plural? e.g. "Would you all like something to drink?"
How about "Who'd like some lemonade?" or "Is anyone ready to order?".
I grew up on The Electric Company's "HEY YOU GUUUUUUUUUUYS!!!!!" and that's what I think of every time I hear it or say it. Plus I'm not a guy so it just doesn't feel quite right when I'm addressed that way.
If I'm trying to convey a casual, colloquial feeling I'll say "Y'all" but I think I might switch to "Ye" - that's a little more fresh, in a retro kind of way!
Thanks for the post!
A polite way to address them would be "you folks", or "folks".
I agree with the entry above that recommends "you gentlemen" and "you ladies" for formal situations and for mixed gender groups, formally it becomes "you folks".
In California, if a public speaker repeatedly addresses the audience as "y'all", we cringe!!
What about just adding as “s” and calling it a day?
Wouldn't it be wise to go back and correct as to an? You probably allow this to happen as a "small bad thing". However, you are promoting proper use of language and using it inproperly.
###
LOL... good idea! In a final twist of irony, I think you mean "improperly" and not "inproperly" :)
Tim
Tu - singular you (informal/casual)
Vous - plural you
But there is a subtility (it's french you know, just a tad complicated). You can substitute 'tu' by 'vous' to obtain a formal singular form. But it's only contextual because there is no difference in spelling whether you are adressing a single person or a group.
That is all :)
Thanks for the interesting topic. Just a few responses to these posts:
(1) Speakers need to be able address a group of people that doesn't include them and well, they will use whatever resources are available. People will use whatever resources are at hand "you" to "you, no, not just you, I mean all of you" to "you guys" to "ya'll" to "youse" and "youse guys." The thing is, we all use language as a way to differentiate ourselves from others, so when we hear something other than "you" which is the Standard English form (whatever Standard English is), we apply social meaning to it. So when someone uses "ya'll" we link it to the South--and all of the possible social connotations of southern folks--even though, "ya'll" is used, and has been used for a long, long time across other parts of the U.S. We link "you guys" to teen or young adult speech--and the stereotypes about being teens--even though "you guys" is something that has been around for quite a while, people who are in their 30s and 40s have been using "you guys" most of their lives, so it's not really a teen thing, but we can read it that way. All of this is to say that people (me included) make some pretty harsh judgments about other speakers based on language use. We can't do this with race or gender anymore, but we sure can judge others based on the way they talk.
(2) The contraction "ain't" was mostly used by upper class folks until the turn of the 20th c. Once common folks started using it, it fell out of fashion (i.e., it was no longer considered grammatically correct) and became the uncouth word it is today.
(3) And, by the way, everyone, and I mean everyone, me, you, your mother, your uncle, Dan Rather, and everyone else in the world has an accent!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/conversat...
"We need to decide what to do about that now innit." (don't we?)
"Now I can start calling you that, INNIT!" (can't I?)
"I can see where my REAL friends are, elsewhere innit!!" (aren't they?)
"I'll show young Miss Hanna round to all the shops, innit." (won't I?)
"I heard he was good in TNA when he was there so he can still wrestle good innit?" (can't he?)
(via Kottke: http://www.kottke.org/remainder/08/04/15486.html)
I am from Phoenix, and we don't use the word "yall" normally. But at Arizona State I had a roommate from the south who did every once in a while. I love it now...its like soup for the soul. I even brought it on my exchange abroad, although it was not received well, in fact most slang is not.
Another word worth examining is the word; eh. Like the Canadian colloquialism. I use it once in a while, when I am in a cheeky mood. At least the word chesterfield (thanks grandma) when used in reference to a sofa is not around anymore, too clunky.
Where I live 'guy' singular is commonly replaced with Bro, or dude. However, we do say 'Guys'. Example; "Hey Guy" is not an acceptable greeting, but, "What are you guys doing for Cinco De Mayo" is perfectly acceptable. There is a HEAVY Southern California flavor in Phoenix.
Very interesting subject, thanks for the thread.
I have expounded on my use of ya'll, and how everyone should use it at great length on more than one slightly tipsy (and not at all tipsy) occasion. My biggest pet peeve, aside from misuse of the word whom, is people who use y'all as singular. And "you guys" is tacky, unless you are addressing "the guys" specifically. My girlfriends and I are not about to grow penises just so that grammatically confused English speakers can plural their yous at us.
Yes. Y'all is elegant. Let us embrace it.
"ya'll" is plural. "you" is singular. The southern Kentuckians were pulling your leg Bill (who posted on April 16). I am from and live in central KY. I occasionally here "all ya'll" which is redundant, however, it is generally used for emphasis. I don't use it at all, but I grew up in Lexington (I didn't move here from another county, and didn't spend much time in either of my parents' hometowns when I was growing up). Generally speaking, ya'll is used more by people here if they moved here from a more rural area. Native Lexingtonians and probably native Louisvillians use it less. You will hear it a lot, if you're passing through, because there has been, and continues to be, a lot of migration from smaller towns in KY to Lexington and Louisville, and the greater metro area of Cincinnati.
And for those innocents on the board who naively believe they "have no accent"... *sigh* .... Everyone has an accent!!!!
"You don't have an accent" is something people tell you when you speak with a modified version of the accent they expect you to have, or with an accent you picked up from the television or which doesn't have a clear connection to your geographic origins.
Most actors (at least those who aren't from the south originally), butcher the usage of "ya'll". The only non-southern actor who (in my opinion) does a passably authentic southern accent is Kurt Russell, who nailed not just a southern accent in "Dreamer" but more specifically the central KY accent, which has some subtle variances. IMDB shows he is from Massachusetts, so he really did his homework. I was impressed...
Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, and Ashley Judd are all from KY.
End of my 2 cents...
And just so you know, the usage of "y'all" isn't limited to the southern states. I'm a native of Central Oregon and amongst the old-timers, the ranchers, farmers, and cowboys "Y'all" and some weird expressions are still used such as "Well, we're fixin' to head on outta here" or "What can I do ya for? (What can I do for you?)".
Though I have to say its getting pretty rare to hear things like that ever since the Californian Invasion of the 90's.
In perfectly standard American English one can use "you" and "you all" to distinguish 2nd person singular and plural where that is important and not immediately obvious from context (language class being a prime example of a setting in which something usually perfectly well understood from context needs to be made explicit). Sure, abbreviating it and adding a twang make it a cute Southernism, but it can be used without either and be perfectly well understood throughout the U.S. Is this not so?
The distinction between "y'all" and "all y'all" is one of emphasis not number (If I'm not mistaken, the corresponding singular form is something like "yer" ;)).
All the discussion of "you guys", "youse", "y'ns", etc is just a discussion of local vernacular, I'm afraid, and none is actually necessitated for unambiguous communication.
Certainly "you lads" sounds infinitely better with the appropriate Irish accent, as does "y'all" with a Southern lilt, "youse guys" sounds tough if a bit on the under-educated side and, I suppose, if I were more used to it, I would find "you'ns" to have positive emotive associations, as well. But is there really anywhere that one could not use "you" and "you all" to cover all the ground that needs covering without slipping into a more provincial vernacular?
If I'm wrong, here, I'd definitely be interested in hearing about it!
For those of you that remember, the catchphrase of a character named "Sloth" happened to be "HEY YOUUU GUUUYS!"
So if you want to blame anyone for "You Guys," blame Speilberg and his writers.
I try to avoid using "you guys" and I am Canadian but yes it is the standard.
It's completely common to use "you guys" in California, although I realize its a generational thing and not really appropriate. However, I can't think of another option that's not equally awkward/out of place. I'm just glad people quit using "hella". That was definitely a Northern Californa thing, as I had never heard it until I moved here from Phoenix.
Y'all have a nice day.
I can't help but comment on the OP's remark: "After all, German is basically Old English with a funny accent, right?". Unless I am missing a tongue-in-cheekish attitude here, it needs to be noted that of course it's the other way round: English is basically (very) old German... ;-)