Writing Wednesday: Listen up, y'all!

Phew! It's been a long time since I've posted anything for Writing Wednesday, due to vacations and different posts that took its place. This one has been on my mind a lot lately since I've seen it misspelled so frequently, even by my writer friends.

Y'all.

It seems simple, right? Unfortunately, there are far too many people who write it as ya'll. Here's the skinny on why that's not correct:

• Y'all is simply a contraction of the words "you" and "all." 
• Apostrophes are always placed in between words or phrases to show that letters have been omitted. Thus, you write y'all instead of ya'll because you've removed the "ou" from "you.

That's it! Go forth and show your friends from Texas (or even from Idaho, since there are plenty of westerners who use it, too) that you know how to write y'all properly.

Is there a particular Writing Wednesday topic you'd like me to cover? Please share it in the comments!