On Tue, 9 Sep 2003 17:00:28 -0600, Lyle D. Gunderson wrote:On Fri, 05 Sep 2003 14:18:37 +0100, uilleann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> is alleged to have written:
I know that (although it sounded more like he quoted a reply from someone else at the company and not a written policy), and I was directing my mail at Stalker, the company, itself ("you" was "you plural", i.e. Stalker, for which English has no word).
In proper English you _is_ plural, thee is singular as in
Hmm... Not exactly. For one thing, 'proper' has no really clear meaning in English because we do not have one obvious entity akin to the Academie Francaise trying to act as the language police. What you refer to as 'proper' can also be referred to as 'archaic' or (by the Quakers, who consciously used it until about 1950) 'plain.'
Present day English is one of very few Indo-European languages (and I think the only Romance or Germanic language) without distinct formal and familiar second person singular pronouns and at least one distinct plural form. Du/Ihr/Sie in German. Tu/usted/vosotros/ustedes in Spanish. Note that new world Spanish has pretty well lost vosotros, bringing it closer to the French tu/vous model which approximates Shakespearean or King James usage.
For the period usually referred to as 'Early Modern English' the usage norms were:
Thou was second person, familiar, singular, nominative. Thee was second person, familiar, singular, objective. Ye was second person, singular formal or either sense plural, nominative. You was second person, singular formal or either sense plural, objective.
That of course only defines ~1400-~1700, since language is always a moving target. There are many references to 'thou' being an insult in some circumstances, as it was 'properly' used as almost an endearment, and so was somewhat akin to addressing someone as 'dear' or 'honey' would be today.
-- Bill Cole [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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