Interesting, "you was" was considered acceptable English in early 1800s America.

[Odin2005]

On a language message board I frequent I was reading a very interesting post stating that in the early 1800s US the singular "you was" was perfectly acceptable in most places and thinking that it is "wrong" was the result of the influence of formal British English on the speech of the middle and upper classes in the US.

This usage goes back to when "you" started replacing "thou" in the 2nd Person Singular, originally it was only the 2nd Person Plural. Because of this "you were" is a plural verb form (they were, we were, but I was, he was, thou wast) even with a singular meaning.

In some English dialects there developed a distinction between a singular "you was" and a plural "you were", and these dialects were common among the colonial settlers.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Interesting! I remember my College Freshman Grammar prof giving us

all permission to use "ain't,' provided we used it correctly. :)