On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 5:22 PM, Robert Hoekman Jr <[email protected]> wrote:
> Is a plural form becoming used for singular cases somehow an impermissible >> form of evolution? >> > > Just pointing out that it's significantly less common. > Really? Because it sounded to me like you were stating some abolute rules with neither credible citations nor a sophisticated theory of linguistic evolution behind them. Also, it's less common, sure. So what? > I actually can't think of any examples of this happening in English. > How about "you"? We don't say thee and thou for singular "you" anymore, we use the "plural" word for them instead (and we also lost the polite vs. familiar distinction). > I'm not sure your German example counts — we're not talking about German > grammar. > Is that right? Thanks for clarifying that! Please keep informing me of which degrees of likeness and analogy are permissible in this conversation and which are offending your delicate sensibilities. -x- -- Christian Crumlish I'm writing a book so please forgive any lag http://designingsocialinterfaces.com ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
