You Is Not Enough
A letter to the editor in today’s Journal Star laments (among other things) the use of “you guys” in everyday speech (particularly when the “guys” referred to by the speaker are not male). This letter points out a very obvious, but often overlooked, fact about the English language:
- Unlike nearly every other European language, English does not have two distinct second-person pronouns (singular and plural).
The necessity of having two distinct pronouns becomes clear when you see how English speakers have inforamlly created a number of new words for a distinct second-person plural pronoun: y’all, yinz, youse, you guys, etc. Of course, none of this would have become a problem if we had continued to use our original pronoun distinction; however, unless we all decide to revive “thou” for everyday use, I guess we’ll have to put up with the occasional cranky letter.
Mr. Wilson said,
February 9, 2006 @ 8:35 am
I’m a big fan of y’all (which I suspect may evolve to yall over time) and “you folks”. But a Lincolnite using y’all generates funny stares, while you folks is context-dependent.
I’m going to have to cast a vote against thou. It’s just too British for my tastes, although the over-ponders are welcome to use it if they like.
Henry Schimke said,
February 9, 2006 @ 10:02 am
I spent enough time in the south to think that “yall” (and not y’all) was a proper way to use english.
That’s what makes our language wonderful.
And yes, Thou is bullshit, and not part of American.