Comments on: Orwell: Timeless Guidelines for Writers

By: July 2007 « M. J. Maddox

July 2007 « M. J. Maddox — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:05:55 +0000

[...] 28: Who Is My Neighbor? * 26: Orwell: Timeless Guidelines for Writers * 24: Folks versus People * 24: English Spelling is Not Total Chaos * 19: “Putting on Airs” or [...]

By: Kristina

Kristina — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:52:49 +0000

In response to Ricardo’s query, here’s what Wikipedia had to say on this point.

“Early Modern English distinguished between the plural you and the singular thou. This distinction was lost in modern English due to the importation from France of a Romance linguistic feature which is commonly called the T-V distinction. This distinction made the plural forms more respectful and deferential; they were used to address strangers and social superiors. This distinction ultimately led to familiar thou becoming obsolete in standard English (and Dutch), although this did not happen in other languages such as French.”

Interesting!

Cheers,
Kristina

By: Escritura limpia y honesta según George Orwell

Escritura limpia y honesta según George Orwell — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:50:32 +0000

[...] cierto, he descubierto el ensayo y las 6 reglas a través de Daily Writing Tips, una bitácora que leo desde hace unas semanas. la autora de la anotación—que por [...]

By: No More Used Cars

No More Used Cars — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:04:30 +0000

[...] Rowan has gathered a fascinating list of very scary euphemisms from serious news stories. Many of the expressions are U.S. coinages. The Pentagon seems to be an especially prolific contributor to the class of words that “fall upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and covering up all the details.… [...]

By: Ricardo

Ricardo — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:47:18 +0000

Very interesting comments. English is not my first language, and since I first learned that there was a single form of “you” for both singular and plural, I have always wondered why and how this happened. “You all” and “yous” seem to be a reaction to this lack of distinction, but there has to be a reason why two distinct forms were abandoned at some point. Just wondering if anybody knew why