I grew up mostly in the north and talk very northernly, but somehow the only exception is that 'howdy' became my standard greeting. 'yall' feels like too much, but 'howdy' just rolls off the tongue so smoothly. Other greetings always sound too terse (hi, hey), too formal (hello), or are questions (how's it going, what's up) which I just loathe. Though technically howdy is sort of a question too, coming from 'how do you do'.

What's 'a piece'? Don't think I've heard that one.

"A piece" is a measure of distance, longer than "over yonder", shorter than "a ways".

"She lives up the road a piece."

In the midwest (originally from Chicago suburbs), I have the same sense from "y'all". I use "you all" often enough, but never shorten it to "y'all".

That's so fascinating to me! "Howdy" definitely ranks higher on my hokey-ness scale than "y'all".

Love a good "over yonder" though.