>>> >>in Australia the term "youse" is used as the 2nd person plural pronoun<<
It is used that way plus the singular, if I listened to the
people on TV right, in parts of the northeastern U.S., too.
Maybe Brooklyn, or Chicago--one of them thar places! This may be a stereotype I picked up from
TV, but I think it was
used by mafiosos.
>>the long-lamented 'ye'<< is alive and kicking in Ireland. At least the west.
Apologies people - I've come back to this forum as it is well and truly ending.
I hate to be one to break the news but 'youse' is most definitely an Irish term. Australia, Chicago and Brooklyn all contain Irish communities and 'youse' is commonly heard on Irish streets as an alternative for the plural 'you'. Not many Italian (Sicilian) mafioso types on this sceptered isle!
Bridget is spot on. 'Ye' is used as the singular 'you' in the west of Ireland and in Dublin by migrants from those parts. I went to school on the west coast for two years and it took me aback when I heard it for the first time in conversation. I really thought they were joking. It was like listening to a Dicken's novel. I never use (sic) it myself but I have been known to say 'youse' in my youth. Here aswell it is frowned upon as uneducated and common but very much part of the dialect.
