First things first: I have moved on to Moll Flanders. It's not the most compelling read, although it's better than I expected. Definitely slow going. I'm trying to be okay with that.
At the moment, though, I am not reading. I'm listening to this old episode of Lexicon Valley about modernizing Shakespeare (a discussion we won't enter into at this moment) and I just learned (how did I not know this already!) that "thou" was, way back when, the English second-person (and familiar) singular.
I use "y'all" more frequently than you might expect from a Midwesterner. I got in the habit of using it when I was taking Latin, because my professor used it as a simple way to differentiate the translation of second-person singular and plural verbs. I have continued to use it when I need a second-person plural (especially in group emails at work - it emphasizes the fact that a message is going out to more people than just the reader) and I occasionally get teased about it. I always explain that it's the best second-person plural we've got in English, but now I can be even more obnoxious and offer them a lecture about linguistics and then give them a choice between my using "you" and "y'all" or "thou" and "you."
(I'm really fun at parties.)
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