Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Grammar lesson for today

One of the problems with English is that they only use one word for "you".

Most languages have two (one for "you" singular, and one for "you" plural). And some languages have three (one for "you familiar and Singular, one for You formal and singular and one for "you" plural).

In some languages, like Chishona or German, the plural form of "you" is used for addressing a superior as a term of respect . Similarly, in Tagalog, there are two words to use for "we": We (me and you but not them) or we (me and you and them).

In the olden days, English used "thou" for the familiar, used for close friends similar to the way Germans used "du" instead of "Sie", (which is used for formal "you" or plural "you").

But after a couple hundred years of the King James version, people started assuming "thou" meant the formal "you", and only used it to refer to the deity.

Ah, but some dialects in English do have a word to use for you/plural: The southern term "You-all" usually pronounced "Y'all".

So now there is an app to revise your bible into Texan dialect.
link2





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