"y'all" fills a legitimately useful gap the English language has. Other languages have a word like this.
Edit: also something cool I just found out, some languages have a way to disinguish "we" (you and I), and "we" (me and the rest of us, not you). It's called clusivity and is missing from European languages. Many indigenous languages of the Americas and Oceania have this, as well as Vietnamese and northern dialects of Mandarin.
"Vous" is the first one that comes to mind in french. But since it is also a more formal (and/or "respectful") version of "tu/toi", it can both designate a group of people or a single person, depending on the context (just like "you" in English). Sometimes people will use "vous tous" (literally "you all") to make this clear.
It is a little better than the "you" situation in English since if you are speaking with someone that is not using the singular form of "vous" to speak about you (which is basically anyone you are familiar with unless they are your boss or In-laws and kind of oldschool), it is instantly clear what they mean at least.
In Portuguese (especially Brazilian), there are singular and plural forms of "you": "você" (singular) and "vocês" (plural). In English, "you" behaves like a plural because it's followed by "are" instead of "is". The only exception I can see is "yourself" and "yourselves" that refer to both singular and plural forms.
However, In Portuguese, even though we have "vocês" as plural form, we also use "vocês todos" or "todos vocês" ("you all"/"all of you") sometimes.
I’m from Australia and I’ve started calling all groups of people yall because it’s gender neutral… very unaustralian term, and I love so much the irony of iconic southern terms being used to support trans activism
I'm German and I use y'all all the time when speaking English. it's funny, most of my English is from the internet so it's the most crazy mix of english
Why bother with importing y'all when we already have yous (or youse depending on how you want to spell it)? Or you could just treat 'you guys' as gender neutral, it effectively is these days with how people use it.
I feel like y'all is the newer American version of 2nd person plural, while yous/youse/yinz are the non-American English counterparts.
I have always used you guys in a gender neutral manner historically, but people occasionally got offended by that. So I started using y'all several years ago and it's been going pretty good. Although I did initially spell it like ya'll until someone corrected me on reddit 😅
People where I am from call everyone "you guys" - men, women, trans, doesn't matter, everyone is just "you guys" even when it's a woman addressing a group of women.
The literal meaning isn't gender neutral, but in actual practice, it 100% is.
As for "y'all" or "you all", I don't see how it could possibly be interpreted as offensive to any gender.
Dude is also situationally gender neutral. Saying "Hey dude" to a trans woman is misgendering her but exclaiming "Yo dude check this out!" or "Duuuude no way" is perfectly acceptable.
I don't see the issue with using the term "guys" in the plural when referring to a group regardless of sex. That would align with the definition of the word. I'm pretty sure that's how they meant it.
That's how people use it, whether you like it or not. I did not invent the language, but that's how people use it.
Saying "guys" on its own is also not the same thing as "you guys" in regions that do this.
You can shoot the messenger all you like but it is what it is and I have no power over how people in a region use a language, I am merely informing you of that fact.
Y'all is the opposite of offensive for trans people. I lived in the south for a while, and I now use y'all specifically to be inclusive. I wouldn't say "you guys" is offensive to trans women, but I would say for me and likely other trans women it briefly brings to mind being misgendered in the past, so I would call it a small kindness to ube as gender neutral as possible.
I feel like I have watched in real time as Y'all has gained usage up in the Canadian Queer community.
I am old enough to still regard "hon" as demi hostile but "dude" seems to be drifting more and more gender neutral. At heart we may all just be ninja turtles all the way down
I'm not from the south and use "y'all" all the time. Find it very useful for filling in a gap that English has and slightly faster than saying "you all". Its gender neutral in my opinion.
Y’all actually has gained particular traction in the north through the queer community. Most trans people I know use y’all even if their geographic location doesn’t indicate they should
I'll throw in "folks" as another gender neutral option. I say "you folks" all the time, especially in professional contexts. I'm not from the South, but I have family there so y'all is a part of my vocabulary. I use it in more informal situations pretty commonly.
(this is by no means exhaustive list, the point is there are plenty of existing and perfectly acceptable alternatives, pick one, or more, and get comfortable with it)
Having exported myself from the deep South to Yankee land, "Y'all have a good one!" never fails to brighten the day of someone working a cash register.
In general, folks up here really like southern politeness. They think sugar wouldn't melt in my mouth. I get stopped in stores to talk all the time. Pretty frequently, they just give me a discount. I thought Yankees were supposed to be rude, but they're actually really nice in public.
I'm from Maryland and I said "howdy" in New York and I got roasted by the CVS clerk for 2 full minutes. And then I said "do y'all have Tylenol" in hopes that she could point me in the direction. Another minute of her roasting me...
It feels like a standard case of it's fine until it isn't.
I wouldn't worry about it and only drop it from your vocabulary if you notice it causing harm.
Out here in the you guys zone making yall happen. 10 years and you guys will be nearly gone cause people get tired of having to ubsubltly tack on "and gals" or "gals and nonbinary pals".
I can't speak for anyone else, but you seem to be missing the biggest issue with this map: saying "you guys" excludes anyone but those identifying as male. You may not mean it that way, but I've had women be offended when I used that in the past, and I wouldn't like being referred to as a "gal" in a group of women. It's just not accurate.
Personally, for a gender-neutral way of addressing a group, I like "you folks".
English is not my native language. I felt kinda weird about using "you guys" until I heard a woman that used "you guys" to a 100% woman group. I stopped caring about that shit because natural languages are weird and it all doesn't matter. What matters is the intention of what you say, not its form. Y'all should stop caring about fixing other people's speech too.