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   julesh (julesh@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Monday, 18-Nov-2024 20:14:13 JST julesh

   Centuries ago English lost the thou-you distinction because the English were so socially awkward that they dropped the familiar "thou" completely and used the formal "you" for literally everyone, even in situations that should be informal like “thou sucketh" or "I love thee”

   My proposal is that singular “they" be used for the formal case, leaving "you" to become the new informal case. This would simultaneously bring English back into line with most European languages, and put enbies at the top of the social hierarchy

   • Embed this notice
     julesh (julesh@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Monday, 18-Nov-2024 21:29:35 JST julesh

     in reply to

     • Grey Pilgrim
     • Ionica Smeets

     @EregLoch @ionica I think most English speakers think the same thing!

     Shakespeare systematically uses "thou" for commoners and "you" for royalty. And in the King James Bible (first bible translated in English, contemporary with Shakespeare), "thou" is used systematically to refer to God as familiar, which is a bit of theology that can't be expressed in modern English

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     Grey Pilgrim (eregloch@mastodon.coffee)'s status on Monday, 18-Nov-2024 21:29:36 JST Grey Pilgrim

     in reply to

     • Ionica Smeets

     @julesh
     Interesting, since I (dutch) always assumed the thou/thee to be the more formal since it only appears in (pseudo) older texts.
     @ionica