wondering how prevalent saying “y’all” is among english speakers
i’m (US) southern and say yall
southern and don’t say yall
i’m from a non-southern rural region and say yall
non-southern rural region and don’t say yall
i’m from another (US) region and say yall (non-southern urban/suburban)
another (US) region and don’t say yall
i’m from a non-US english speaking country and say yall
non-US english speaking country and don’t say yall
i’m a non-native english speaker and say yall
non-native english speaker and don’t say yall
other/show answers
Voting ended onAug 23, 2025
please note the map here as the regions considered the south here are the places labled: deep south, upper south (missouri and illinois you’re basically the midwest but i’m letting it slide. parts of oklahoma can stay bc they have good bbq), mid atlantic south, lower appalachia (im sorry but not you ohio, i have to draw a line somewhere), gulf coast, acadiana, texas (actually just all of texas), and low country. the ozarks and other appalachian regions are in a weird gray area , florida is just florida and some of these areas are basically the north to me but im going for linguistic patterns and don’t feel like hashing out cultural regions that much)
tbh this poll is currently focused on region and to honestly get the most accurate results i’d need to do several follow-ups breaking down things like ethnicity, gender, class, age, etc. (for example AAVE/AAE and dialects influenced by it are more likely to say yall regardless of region as it can be considered a dialect, ethnolect, or sociolect so is not as regionally determined) but let’s see how this goes first. the research designer in me is suffering bc of how broad this is but i honestly doubt yall would wanna fill out a google form for an internet stranger with no IRB and is really only doing this out of curiosity.
as someone from the “deep south,” even when i mask my accent i still can’t imagine not using y’all regularly. i feel like the word has become more prevalent as it kinda fills a linguistic gap but i want some yummy yummy data. if i missed something or you would like to elaborate on your specific region pls feel free to explain
I'm curious about people's word choices in day to day life. For this poll, please choose which term you would be most likely to use to describe this item.
Beanie
Bobble Hat
Woolly Hat
Knit Hat
Knit Cap
Toque
Tuque
Chook
Stocking Cap
Watch Cap
Toboggan
None of the above (comment what term you would usually use)
and some general thoughts about the Kidnappers Sketch on tour so far
Right it was SO good. I think that was the hardest I've laughed at any of the guest performances I've seen (even if nothing can quite match the sheer GLEE I felt seeing The Actor Kevin Eldon during my first viewing)
When Steve started the mime and the first word was "crisps" I was locked in. Chris Ramsey was on my predictions list and I knew it had to be him 🤩
For "crisps" Steve mimed eating snacks (Reece guessed "popcorn"), then for "ram" he formed a circle with his finger and thumb and mimed vigorously poking it with a finger from his other hand and Reece said "Ooh, you're fucking something." Steve shook his head and then mimed curly ram's horns (Reece guessed "Brian May"). And then Steve mimed looking out to sea for "sea" (putting his hand to shade his eyes and then making the shape of waves with his hands).
When Chris was revealed there was a huge round of applause, of course! When he ran down his credits he didn't mention Taskmaster but he did say that he won Celebrity Bake Off... Didn't get much of a reaction from Reece, though
The running gag was "Shagged, Married, Annoyed," which is the podcast Chris hosts with Rosie Ramsey. Steve's versions were:
I Shagged and Married a Boy
Shagged and Married an Android
Shagged, Married, Keith Floyd
A tiny thing that I loved was that the hostage usually says "you could let me go" and Reece repeats "Let you go? No!" But Chris said "just let us go" and Reece repeated "Let us go? No!" (saying "us" for "me" is a real North East dialect marker and it was so weird to hear it being said in the Yorkshire accent Reece uses for Tommy that it read to me like Reece was taking the piss out of the way Chris speaks. But it was probs just Reece echoing him without being conscious of it)
Chris acted SO scared of Reece, it was hilarious. The "I know how to answer a phone" jumps made him cringe and lean back in his chair and the audience laughed so hard and so loud Reece couldn't get his next line out for chuckling and had to say "This is serious!"
During the pimping section (Spanish accent, flamenco, trumpet) Chris was losing his shit, it was so funny. Every time they presented him with something he creased up. He called them dicks, said "the briefing was so fucking short!", went "OH HOW CONVENIENT" when the trumpet appeared and afterwards said "I didn't know any of that shit was going to happen!" Absolutely delightful to see tbh. Reece seemed delighted too, a real impish glee on his face. When Reece did his "fuckinell!" before he left the hostage with Steve, Chris totally broke again
For the I love you / You love me song Chris completely froze, cracked up, and then started singing the Barney the Dinosaur song "I love you / You love me / We're a happy family / With a great big hug / And a kiss from me to you / I won't do it all / In case you get sued." Steve threw his head back and gave him a big round of applause for that!
Chris was really enthusiastic about doing the pinkie promise with Steve, which tickled me because the night before Miss Rory refused to do it
Chris called Steve "a saggy fucking moose," which made R&S crack up, then called him a "big fucking spunk-filled weasel" and when he came out the wardrobe he said Steve was "really upsetting to look at" and gestured to the black snood saying "most people get better to look at when you cover more of their head but you get fucking worse!" and then pointed at Steve and yelled "NO MAN SHOULD SWEAT THAT MUCH." Steve was bent over double laughing and Reece was nodding and gesturing like "go on..."
Chris's stairs line was "I've had weirder nights in Sunderland." Then he paused on the stairs, looked back at R&S and said "pair of cunts." Which again made R&S crack up and got a round of applause
When Chris came out to take his bow he was really vocal, yelling "WHOO! COME ON!" and looking at his watch asking "is this enough?" Then finished with something about "I won't be let back in Shields wearing this!" while gesturing at the dressing gown
Other Kidnappers things...
@somuchwatersoclosetohome has also mentioned that they're using Sophie Moyle as the voice of Lady Linda instead of Anna Francolini. But I don't think this bit is pre-recorded. I've always thought it was live so that the actor can respond to the timings or any curveballs from the guest and the fact that Moylie is doing the voice now supports that - especially as they've kept a pre-recorded line from Christina Tedders, the other member of the original main cast who didn't come on tour
Instead of saying "he grew up in Newcastle" they say "he grew up in Cardiff" for this leg of the tour
The physical comedy continues to exaggerate. Now Reece picks up the chair and does a sideways bunny hop right at the top of the sketch and scampers about looking in the wardrobe with lots of exaggerated movements
I feel like Reece's guesses are getting filthier compared to the start of the West End run? Thinking again about my first show, Steve did the same mime for "in" and Reece said "Eurgh! What are you doing?" But when Steve did the same thing for Kevin Whately in MK, Reece said "You're fucking something."
As previously noted by @somuchwatersoclosetohome the "stick of celery" line has been quite subdued on tour so far. But last night Steve really went for it (ISSONLEHASTICKASELLEREH) which made Reece start laughing. And then Steve lowered the celery down to his crotch and waggled it about as if 'twere an penis, which made Reece lose it even more and have to turn his face away and start wafting his hand at Steve. Surely Steve must have used the celery as a fake dick before this show? SURELY?
When Chris opened the wardrobe the Sardines reveal got a HUGE roar, which leads me on to...
Other Sunderland things...
Goddd I am loving how vocal and enthusiastic the crowds are being in Sunderland😆I remember them saying on the League tours that the crowds were louder and laughed more in the north and I am proud that's being borne out on my home turf (Yes there is rivalry between Sunderland and Newcastle but we can put that aside when it comes to North East regional pride)
The applause at the first curtain call has gone on for so long each time! On the first night Steve even had to tell the audience to quieten down so that he could give his speech. He said "I hate to stop you clapping!"
Last night the front rows of the stalls gave a standing ovation during the final curtain called, and remained standing through the final section of the musical number, clapping along in time. I got some eye contact and a grin from Becky Bainbridge, teehee
On a similar note for the opening night in Sunderland I shouted "woohoo!" when Steve gave the trigger warnings and he looked up at where I was sitting and said "Well, we are in Sunderland!"
Some other tiny Sunderland things... Antonia & Daddy still have an Itsu bag during the House Divided sketch. There isn't an Itsu in Sunderland. There's a Yo! Sushi kiosk in the big Tesco so I was expecting them to use one of those, but I'm guessing they've brought a supply with them! (Because it gets scrunched up by Daddy so I don't think they're reusing the same one)
Similarly, there isn't a Pret in Sunderland. So the line "he's just nipped out to Pret" doesn't work quite as well as it does in other places. (As mentioned above they have crept this pre-recorded line from Christina Tedders). Nipping to Pret would involve a 40 minute Metro journey to Newcastle Haymarket and another 40 minutes to come back. But h/t to @spcvarney for suggesting that the company are sending the stagehands out on ridiculous errands like that because they can't bear having coffee from anywhere else!
Another pre-recorded bit I kinda wish they'd tweaked is Tommy's line about "people have got trains to catch." Just feels ever so slightly jarring, but if they'd said "people have got metros to catch" it would have been chef's kiss (I understand that we're one of the only places that has its own underground system so it would be extra work for not much payoff, so please don't take this as a complaint)
As I mentioned the other day, the Sunderland Empire is the first venue on the tour that's properly suitable for Stage/Fright and the overarching meta. In the West End Reece says the play "takes place right here at the beautiful Wyndham's Theatre." When the tour opened in Bromley he nearly choked saying "the... "beautiful"... ehhh... Churchill Theatre." (Steve doing his classic long-suffering "I can't take you anywhere" look at that point) But he can say it with all sincerity at the Empire because it is a beautiful Victorian theatre, they can talk about La Terreur de L'Asile taking place 100 years ago (unlike in Milton Keynes where the theatre opened in... 1999)
There's also an open orchestra pit in front of the stage which to my mind makes Reece's death-by-trapdoor more of a realistic proposition. You couldn't see under the stage at the Wyndham's, but here the audience can actually see the space where he would have fallen and imagine it
And on a personal note it's so special to me that they're in the North East. There are people going every night this week who are there because of me raving about the play so much, then I keep bumping into other people I know at the shows, and I keep meeting lovely new people! (Not having to take an 8 hour coach trip to LDN is an added bonus but travelling from NCL in the rush hour is still bloody tiring 😅) On Tuesday I sat next to a family who were big fans and had been to the IN9 book tour show at Newcastle City Hall and the TLOG Live Again tour at the Empire. Then after the show I hung out with 3 American tourists who were holidaying in Edinburgh and had come down to see the show especially. Yesterday the family from the first night came to find me again to specifically say hi! And then the woman two seats over from me had a spare ticket so let me move up and I was in seat A9 last night 😍😍😍 which is the seat number I had in my very first West End viewing! And we had some delightful chats over the course of the evening
IN9 fandom yet again being an incredibly wholesome bunch of nerds 🖤
A special interest of mine is accents and regional dialects. I decided to do a little dive into the different Australian accents and found this:
I’m South Australian, and though I’ve been told by a lot of people from inter-state that I clearly have a South Australian accent, I honestly can’t tell. Most Australian accents sound the same. Only difference is how someone pronounces ‘dance’ and ‘plant’
