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This question deals with the use of y’all in written vs. spoken English, gender neutrality and group dynamics.

I often find myself writing emails to a group of both men and women asking if they would like to participate in some event, as in:

Would y’all like to join me for a hike this weekend?

A lot of my peers would ask:

Would you guys like to join me for a hike this weekend?

Despite “guys” being somewhat accepted as applying to men and women, it really isn’t gender-neutral in my head and truly annoys some of my friends.

I spent some time in Texas as a kid and picked up “y’all” which I have no qualms about using in speech. However, in writing it irks me.

Other possible options include:

Would anyone like to join me for a hike this weekend?

But “anyone” seems to have a defeated and/or annoyed connotation, as in:

Would anyone like to do the dishes tonight?

“Everyone” doesn’t work because a subset of the group would be perfectly acceptable, if not preferred. There's also “who of you” and “would any of you” but they sound too formal and again defeated, respectively.

Thus, I’m looking for suggestions on how you would ask a group of your friends if they wanted to go hiking with you this weekend.

I feel the need to add that I’m in my 20s and thus do need to be using younger/more hip vocabulary. If I were 70 and inviting my retired friends to tea, I believe the answer would be slightly different.

Tyler James Young
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santeko
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    How about "Who's joining me for a hike this weekend?" – oerkelens Oct 08 '14 at 18:15
  • Thanks for the quick reply! This seems a little terse, I could see this working in a meeting with people but less so in a written invitation. I could see "Who's interested in joining me for a hike this weekend?" although this is ambiguous and non-committal, if someone replied "I am" I wouldn't know if they're just interested or actually free and will be there... – santeko Oct 08 '14 at 18:28
  • Use y'all! It must be propagated to all the dialects to avoid the sexist you guys from spreading. :) In all seriousness, you could go with "Who's up for...?" if you're looking for the younger/hip style. – user0721090601 Oct 08 '14 at 18:33
  • You folks ... or Any of you ... or a bit of slang You peeps ...? – bib Oct 08 '14 at 18:44
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    The same ambiguity exists in your original. If someone replied to your "Would y'all like to join me" question with "Yes" it's impossible to say whether they would like to but can't or if they will actually join you. How about "Who would like to join me?" (with same ambiguity as original) Other than that, "guys" in my mind is perfectly fine for addressing a mixed group. I use it with my family, my parents, my coworkers, etc. See: George Jochnowitz: Another View of You Guys – Jim Oct 08 '14 at 18:44
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    Related: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11816/is-guy-gender-neutral/11817#11817 – Jim Oct 08 '14 at 18:48
  • No y'all. Outside of the American south (and some of east Asia) it has a decidedly negative connotation. – Telastyn Oct 08 '14 at 18:56
  • I say if you're going for a young hip sound, just pick something and own it -- either go way formal: "Would any of you people like to engage in a refreshing hike with me this weekend?" Or go way informal: "Yo, yo, yo, w'dja'll wanna come hang with me in the mountains this weekend?!" – Calphool Oct 08 '14 at 19:53
  • "Yo, homies! who wants to disconnect this weekend and get out into the Big Blue Room?" – Hellion Oct 08 '14 at 21:08
  • Well, it depends whether or not you mean 'hike' in the 'younger/more hip vocabulary' sense. – Dave Magner Oct 08 '14 at 21:16
  • You can be used singularly and plurally. – gud with Inglesh Oct 08 '14 at 21:58
  • @Jim do you have the next page of that article? I'm intrigued by the beginning of that last sentence, "Guys may refer to women as well..." but I can't read the next page without an account. – santeko Oct 09 '14 at 18:02
  • Women will use "Hey, guys..." when addressing other women. – JenSCDC Oct 29 '14 at 22:42
  • Hipness is like jazz: "If you have to ask, you'll never know" --L. Armstrong – StoneyB on hiatus Oct 29 '14 at 23:19

2 Answers2

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In my office, emails addressed to groups commonly begin with “Hi all”. That seems like a fine way to establish the audience as the whole group.

After that, you could say “would you like to join me for a hike?”

“You”, after all, isn’t necessarily singular.

Even if people feel like interpreting “you” as singular, they can see that you are addressing the whole group and could interpret this “you” as addressed to each person as an individual.

Tyler James Young
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If you like using "y'all" when speaking but dislike it in written form, why not split up the contraction to make it the more formal "you all"? E.g. Would you all like to join me for a hike this weekend?

Liam
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