That’s right.  I used “y’all”.  And I’m not stupid for doing it.

English doesn’t have a good non-gender specific objective plural pronoun.  Really.  Seems like that’s something we wouldn’t have forgotten to include over the years.  But there it is.

Plus, I’m from the south, so I get to pick and choose at will when I can use the word.  It’s a thing we have- ask around.

A lot of people might write me off as soon as they see the word “y’all”.  There are attitudes and stigmas and predispositions associated with it that no amount of persuasion can help.

But I use it anyway.  Sometimes.  If the situation is right.  Call it artistic license.  (And the same thing goes for grammar.  Double.)

Correct word choice depends on more factors than calculus.  Audience.  Style.  Tone.  Structure.  They all play a part in what words you use, and also whether you decide to go out there and dangle your participle for the whole world to see.  Embrace it.

Because word police are cold, sad people whose mamas didn’t love them.

But they’re not entirely wrong.  There’s a difference between the diction mistakes a writer makes intentionally and, well, all the other mistakes a writer makes.

So, like I said, I’m not stupid for using “y’all”.  But I would be if I didn’t realize what goes into choosing the word.  If I wrote an article for the WSJ that used “Y’all” without the quotation marks, the editor’s head would explode, Scanners-style.  But if I included it in a column in the AJC, the Atlanta paper, I’m one of the family.

Same thing goes with your blog.  Your word choice calls to the audience you’re looking for.  Blogs are informal by nature.  Put your sales writing in one at your own peril.  Choose your words.

But choose them carefully.  If your diction is screwed, so are you.  Don’t say “It is readily apparent” when you should use “See?”

(Same goes with grammar, BTW.)

You can have the best design in the world, but if your words are all wrong, your site will suck.

Correction:  Y’all’s site will suck.

Tags: blogs, content, content marketing, Copywriting, writing

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 8:21 am and is filed under Content Creation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.