All's i need

Although you will hear "Alls you need to do..." or "Alls I have to do is..." it's colloquial and NOT standard.

If you try to write it or say it as "All is I need to do..." then it's completely unnatural.

The "apostrophe-s" version is regional, and adds nothing to the meaning.

"The only thing necessary for me to do"

"The only thing remaining for me to do"

I've always understood this to be a contraction of "all as", not "all is".

I've never seen it written so I never "heard" the apostrophe at all - I thought it was a random, colloquial pluralization, like "Anyways."

continuing from my post above ...

... "as" having the obsolete, nonstandard or dialect meaning of "that"...

I'd never actually stopped to wonder why we sometimes say "all's". Your theory certainly seems quite plausible, MrWordy. [Y]
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/as%5B3%5D

Hi,

I've always thought of the phrase as characteristic of street-type Black English in the USA. Perhaps I'm wrong?

Best wishes, Clive

CliveI've always thought of the phrase as characteristic of street-type Black English in the USA.

I've heard it in the UK too, and not, to my knowledge, from people emulating American slang. I think it's associated particularly with certain region(s) but I can't quite put my finger on which one(s). One might be Liverpool... not sure.

This reminds me of a discussion a few months back. Some "regional uses" are typical of school children from poor families whose parents had to quit school prematurely in order to work.

All's I know is it was very common in my town, and we didn't have any black children.

CliveI've always thought of the phrase as characteristic of street-type Black English in the USA. Perhaps I'm wrong?

To me, the usage just sounds slangy or colloquial (as GG mentioned). I do not associate the usage with "Black English". In fact, if anything, I'm probably more likely to associate it with a tough guy in a gangster movie from the 30s or 40s. I