{"items": [{"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621017508812", "anchor": "fb-621017508812", "service": "fb", "text": "Because English be a fluid language, constantly evolving according its use by living speakers.", "timestamp": "1374441906"}, {"author": "David", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621018421982", "anchor": "fb-621018421982", "service": "fb", "text": "That makes me wonder if we'll ever have \"they\" be only singular and \"they all\" or \"th'all\" be only plural.", "timestamp": "1374442365"}, {"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621022394022", "anchor": "fb-621022394022", "service": "fb", "text": "So you are offended by carelessness in speech but not by carelessness in dance?", "timestamp": "1374443677"}, {"author": "Todd", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/112947709146257842066", "anchor": "gp-1374444118694", "service": "gp", "text": "Nicely done.", "timestamp": 1374444118}, {"author": "Christine", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621024444912", "anchor": "fb-621024444912", "service": "fb", "text": "People use the word \"ye\" in common speaking? I've only come across it in historical novels and SCA events.", "timestamp": "1374444359"}, {"author": "Cecile", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621028232322", "anchor": "fb-621028232322", "service": "fb", "text": "Why indeed", "timestamp": "1374446108"}, {"author": "Cecile", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621028556672", "anchor": "fb-621028556672", "service": "fb", "text": "...though given that saying \"Mr. Smith I thought I gave it to you\" would be appropriate, is this a grammatical complaint or a formality one?", "timestamp": "1374446319"}, {"author": "Richard", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621029494792", "anchor": "fb-621029494792", "service": "fb", "text": "I like your phrase \"recent assault\" since the OED indicates this process started about 1300 or 1400. From what I could gather from the OED etymological entires under \"you\" and \"thou\" the change happened, first, because people valued a way to indicate a \"respect\" distinction more than they valued a way to indicate a \"number\" distinction, turning the formerly plural-only \"you\" into a respectful way to address one person. Later people wanted to express equality in their speech, and so used singular \"you\" for everyone. (Interestingly Quakers retained \"thou\" for singular for the same motive of equality.)  I discovered \"you\" is also a verb in this context, and found this sample (among others dating back centuries): 2007   P. Freedman Power &amp; Passion in Shakespeare's Pronouns iii. 66   Lysander is deliberately \u2018thouing\u2019 Helena and \u2018youing\u2019 Hermia in order to make his change of feeling brutally clear to Hermia.", "timestamp": "1374446950"}, {"author": "Sasha", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621034375012", "anchor": "fb-621034375012", "service": "fb", "text": "What is the difference between 'ye' and 'you'?", "timestamp": "1374449616"}, {"author": "David", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621040652432", "anchor": "fb-621040652432", "service": "fb", "text": "A+++++ comments thread.", "timestamp": "1374452314"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621047269172", "anchor": "fb-621047269172", "service": "fb", "text": "@Sasha: \"What is the difference between 'ye' and 'you'?\"<br><br>At the time that this post is pretending to have been written, the distinction between \"ye\" and \"you\" was the same as between \"they\" and \"them\".", "timestamp": "1374455253"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621048002702", "anchor": "fb-621048002702", "service": "fb", "text": "@Cecile: \"is this a grammatical complaint or a formality one?\"<br><br>At the (imaginary) time of this post, English had \"thee/thou\" as the singular 2nd person and \"ye/you\" as the plural, but people were starting to use \"ye/you\" in the singular when indicating formality.", "timestamp": "1374455552"}, {"author": "Mike", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621064205232", "anchor": "fb-621064205232", "service": "fb", "text": "Except in Ireland where \"ye\" is a common form of address to individuals.", "timestamp": "1374464031"}, {"author": "Yaron", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621067124382", "anchor": "fb-621067124382", "service": "fb", "text": "It's quite common in European languages to use the plural 2nd pers. as a formal singular 2nd pers.  (Or at least, I know it's done  in French, Spanish, German, and Greek.)  Did this come to influence English at a certain point?  Or, did all these languages go through a similar process?  Is this part of the influence of French on English in consequence of the occupation period?", "timestamp": "1374466146"}, {"author": "Barry", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621084160242", "anchor": "fb-621084160242", "service": "fb", "text": "Mike, it's not a common form of address to an individual in Ireland, I don't recall ever having been referred to as 'ye' in my 42 years on this island.", "timestamp": "1374490771"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621084749062", "anchor": "fb-621084749062", "service": "fb", "text": "@Andrew: clarify?", "timestamp": "1374491851"}, {"author": "Gabe", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621085592372", "anchor": "fb-621085592372", "service": "fb", "text": "Yaron beat me to it. The plural \"you' ought to be acceptable as a polite form.", "timestamp": "1374493003"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621085647262", "anchor": "fb-621085647262", "service": "fb", "text": "@Gabe: \"The plural 'you' ought to be acceptable as a polite form.\"<br><br>To use (plural) \"you\" in a singular context is just as bad as to use (plural) \"they\" in a singular context!", "timestamp": "1374493082"}, {"author": "Gabe", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621087593362", "anchor": "fb-621087593362", "service": "fb", "text": "This is interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%E2%80%93V_distinction", "timestamp": "1374495399"}, {"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621090238062", "anchor": "fb-621090238062", "service": "fb", "text": "Jeff, you seem to have a strong opinion on conserving English linguistic tradition - your note discusses it in terms of perversion (not sexual) and vandalism.  You go even further than most modern English language purists who bemoan things like verbifying nouns or other careless usages.  You focus here on ye and you, asking finally, \"Why would we want to give up this ability of expressive subtlety?\"<br><br>I asked my question because I see more discussion on facebook about the tension between traditional and modern contra dancing, which focuses on the same question (why would we want to give up this ability of expressive subtlety?).  And I'm under the impression that you are more bothered by the absence of English grammatical elements that most people consider long lost, than by the \"perversion and vandalism\" in contra dancing, where dancers dip and twirl and dance carelessly, ignoring the expressive subtlety of the contra dance form.  I am inferring that you are more comfortable with the changes in contra dance practice than with the linguistic practice you describe here.", "timestamp": "1374497512"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621107229012", "anchor": "fb-621107229012", "service": "fb", "text": "@Andrew:  I think I was too obscure.  This post is a response to people who object to using \"they/them\" in the singular by making an analogy to the now fully accepted usage of \"ye/you\" in the singular.<br><br>(I'm actually on the ok-with-change side of both of these issues: linguistic change with singular \"they\" and dancing change with increasing flourishes.)", "timestamp": "1374506938"}, {"author": "William", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621179289602", "anchor": "fb-621179289602", "service": "fb", "text": "@Gabe, Yes, WE do find it interesting.", "timestamp": "1374549122"}, {"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621185382392", "anchor": "fb-621185382392", "service": "fb", "text": "Jeff, thanks, now I have a better idea of what you meant.  I didn't think you were so doctrinaire as it seemed in your note.", "timestamp": "1374553815"}, {"author": "Andy", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621203975132", "anchor": "fb-621203975132", "service": "fb", "text": "I have to wonder where the author stands on regional variations on second-person plural forms, such as \"All Y'all\" and \"Youse.\"", "timestamp": "1374583793"}, {"author": "David", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621209449162", "anchor": "fb-621209449162", "service": "fb", "text": "...or plurals of those: Y'alls and Youses.", "timestamp": "1374588094"}, {"author": "Andy", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621222408192", "anchor": "fb-621222408192", "service": "fb", "text": "I suspect that \"Youse Guys\" is the real plural form, but \"Youses\" will do.", "timestamp": "1374596097"}, {"author": "Andy", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/621016810212?comment_id=621222597812", "anchor": "fb-621222597812", "service": "fb", "text": "And, having lived in the south, I've learned that' \"Y'all,\" while appearing to be a plural form, is actually singular (e.g. \"Y'all wanna pass the peaches?\"), while \"All Y'all\" is plural (e.g. \"All Y'all need to get them cars out the yard afore Pappy gits home!\").", "timestamp": "1374596238"}, {"author": "Lex", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/111102660583646544610", "anchor": "gp-1375227008244", "service": "gp", "text": "Cute!", "timestamp": 1375227008}]}