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>>Incidentally, David108, do your older friends ever refer to you as DavidCVIII? << Thanks, paulb, for the best laugh of the day!  The answer is no, but those of my childrens' peers who have earned the right to do so, refer to me as one of the "wrinklies". I'm about ready for that face-lift, now, thank you! 
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Interestingly in Australia the term "youse" is used as the 2nd person plural pronoun (although admittedly not by "educated" Australians, who frown on it)
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Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
>>in Australia the term "youse" is used as the 2nd person plural pronoun<<
It is used that way plus the singular, if I listened to the
people on TV right, in parts of the northeastern U.S., too.
Maybe Brooklyn, or Chicago--one of them thar places! This may be a stereotype I picked up from TV, but I think it was
used by mafiosos.
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
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back on the subject of losing old fashioned pronouns. . .Is it possible that they were taken away in colonial rebellion against Britain? Often the colonies discarded old world customs because they were rebelling, and perhaps this is one?
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stranger
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stranger
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I'm interested that nobody past the first post in this thread mentioned the long-lamented 'ye'. Back in Middle English, the second person singular was (nominative, objective, genitive, possessive):
thou, thee, thy/thine*, thine
* similar to a/an which persists today
and the plural forms were:
ye, you, your, yours
(The sounds have changed a bit too, so I'm simplifying a bit.) Some time around King James, 'you' began its great levelling of the second person when it took over the nominative plural, changing that form to
you, you, your, yours
This was also the correct form for addressing a singular person who was your social superior, as in most of the other western European languages. In English, though, the use of 'thou/thee' fell completely out of favour for no apparent reason.
Amusingly, in modern usage, 'you' used generically means, almost invariably, the singular form. Think about it; if you're addressing a group, would you say, 'Do you want to go to the rink?' When I do it, I usually wind up saying, 'Do you guys want...' or 'Do you all want...' Or is this just a Canadianism?
Also somewhere along the way the use of 'mine' before a vowel, instead of 'my', fell out of favour. Why did it happen? It just did. Languages mutate, just like genes do. There doesn't have to be a reason, and usually there isn't.
--
Trevor Green
"Military justice is to justice what military music is to music."
--
Trevor Green
"Military justice is to justice what military music is to music."
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
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<we always used to call our parents' friends Auntie Pam or Uncle Godfrey or whatever their names were.>
Me too. It took me years to work out the real ones from the imaginary ones. The imaginary ones were always so much more fun. I've explained that to my children as they are sadly lacking in the aunt and uncle department. Fortunately my friends ahve been very happy to fill in the gaps (especially at Christmas and birthdays) but I think the practice of calling them uncles and aunts had fallen out of favour. I think we should have a new term for honoured family friend. We have a good collection of god-parents and have added quite a few honorary godparents to the list (it gets a bit tricky explaining the range of religions and un-religions involved), perhaps Aunt and Uncles would have been simpler.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
I like a caper of kids. One of my inventions is:
a vandalism of toddlers (especially when I had to tidy up the house after them)
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addict
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addict
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 444 |
>>you, you, your, yours This was also the correct form for addressing a singular person who was your social superior, as in most of the other western European languages. In English, though, the use of 'thou/thee' fell completely out of favour for no apparent reason.<< A possible reason would be that the English reputation for politeness is founded in fact? English speakers were so polite that they addressed everyone as a superior and the familiar 2nd person singular disappeared! 
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addict
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Joined: Jun 2000
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>>the long-lamented 'ye'<< is alive and kicking in Ireland. At least the west. >>'you' used generically means, almost invariably, the singular form. Think about it; if you're addressing a group, would you say, 'Do you want to go to the rink?' When I do it, I usually wind up saying, 'Do you guys want...' or 'Do you all want...' Or is this just a Canadianism?<< I'd say a North Americanism. Sorry, mrdeath, but I'd ask the question just as you first pose it. As for 'you guys', it took me a very long time to get used to being called a guy - where I grew up a guy was definitely male!  ...Ah, the joys of an international language!
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
>>where I grew up a guy was definitely male!<<
Same here, Bridget!! I am not, never have been, and never
WILL BE male!!
This drives me crazy! If I'm in a group and somebody says,
"You guys", I have to be feeling extraordinarily kindly disposed towards the speaker in order to respond at all.
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