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English is weird
JoeCovenant:
--- Quote from: pwhodges on 13 Feb 2017, 16:46 ---You is originally plural; the singular thou etc has fallen out of use and the originally plural you stands in for it.
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English might not have it, but Scots does.
Hence, 'Ye' and 'Yez' :)
(And Scouse actually.. You and Yous)
pwhodges:
It is typical that local dialects retain older forms, of course (and formal language, such as church rituals).
cesium133:
--- Quote from: Tova on 02 Jun 2017, 00:59 ---So, why is English so weird?
--- Quote ---English speakers know that their language is odd. So do people saddled with learning it non-natively. ... Why is our language so eccentric? Just what is this thing we’re speaking, and what happened to make it this way?
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From the article:
--- Quote ---According to a fashion that reached its zenith in the 19th century, scientific things had to be given Greek names. Hence our undecipherable words for chemicals: why can’t we call monosodium glutamate ‘one-salt gluten acid’? It’s too late to ask.
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This isn't unique to English, and there's a reason for it: Scientists often have to communicate across languages. Today, that's done by everyone just using English, but in the 18th and 19th centuries there was no language as dominant as English is today. So instead scientists published stuff in Latin/Greek, since those languages were taught in schools throughout Europe. If you open the Wikipedia page for 'monosodium glutamate' and look at the language links on the left side (hover over to see the URL), then you'll see most other languages have a closely-related name for it (perhaps with a different name for sodium... many languages use the Latin-derived 'natrium').
Kugai:
One of the interesting things I noted growing up here in NZ is how Maori pronounce English and, to a certain extent, how that pronunciation has deteriorated among a fair few of the young in the generations since WWII
This has to do of course, with how the Education System worked here in the generations before then, and how Maori was treated much the same way Welsh was in Wales in the preceding generations and how there was a concerted effort to 'Integrate' Maori into European society here.
The upshot of that was that many who went through the Education System of that era were taught to speak in a clear English (almost Queens English) diction while, mostly with urban dwelling Maori, their native tongue was either never taught or sometimes harshly suppressed
In ensuing years, that has thankfully changed, with many Maori becoming fluent in their language while reconnecting with their culture. That's not to say there aren't still problems the fact that there are still far fewer Maori familiar with their native tongue than many would like, and also the fact that, among many young of the Post WWII era right up to now have a standard of diction that can sometimes make even a person like me cringe., and I ain't exactly someone who the BBC would hire as a broadcaster :D
Morituri:
--- Quote from: pwhodges on 13 Feb 2017, 16:46 ---You is originally plural; the singular thou etc has fallen out of use and the originally plural you stands in for it.
--- End quote ---
Wow, that gives me flashbacks to visiting my granddad when I was a kid. As long as we behaved we were "thee" and "thou" and things were great, but if we got in trouble and he started using "you" and "ye" we knew we had screwed up.
It's sort of an ambiguity actually. Among the rare groups of people (and rarer still since my granddad's time) who still use thee and thou, "you" is a formal singular as well as a general plural, and "thou" is a familiar or personal, not just a singular. Or, formal-to-get-your-attention the way my granddad used it, like addressing a child by their full name.
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