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Post by Arthur Figgis on Mar 29, 2023 13:37:48 GMT
When i was 20 we had a French family visiting us for a holiday. I was slightly surprised (but not offended) when the 12-year-old called me “tu” rather than “vous” but i reckoned it was a generational thing rather than an age thing. Finnish (and Turkish, and whatever) also has the advantage of not having a third-person he/she distinction. If all languages adopted a single third-person singular pronoun to encompass he or she or he/she or ze/xir, then it would kill stone dead all the acrimonious nonsense about woke trans pronouns. Perhaps there could be a science-fiction film about a character who travels back in time to fix the Proto-Indo-European language(s) accordingly, to nip it in the bud. In French it can be a real minefield. One very effective way of changing the tone of an argument with a friend is (or can be) to change from "tu" to "vous". I have seen at least one joke about Chirac getting his wife to call him "vous" but I have absolutely no idea where it comes from (and am several decades to young to know as well) Does Macron call his wife 'vous' due to the age difference?
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Post by greenchristian on Mar 29, 2023 14:06:20 GMT
Dost ðou, þank you. And as none of us know each oðer, it should be "you" Its funny how lack of familiarity with "thou", and it's use in the bible makes people think it's the polite version. In archaic translations of the Bible which are rarely used outside the King James Only movement. These days people outside Yorkshire are most likely to encounter "thee" and "thou" in old hymns. Though this also fosters the same misconception.
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Post by greenhert on Mar 29, 2023 18:07:55 GMT
Update: The Conservative whip will not be restored to Julian Knight even though the Metropolitan Police have dropped the sexual assault investigation against him: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65115208
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Post by stb12 on Mar 29, 2023 18:13:51 GMT
Update: The Conservative whip will not be restored to Julian Knight even though the Metropolitan Police have dropped the sexual assault investigation against him: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65115208He really really doesn’t sound happy with the Conservative Whips Office
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CatholicLeft
Labour
2032 posts until I was "accidentally" deleted.
Posts: 6,245
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Post by CatholicLeft on Mar 29, 2023 18:39:00 GMT
Update: The Conservative whip will not be restored to Julian Knight even though the Metropolitan Police have dropped the sexual assault investigation against him: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65115208He really really doesn’t sound happy with the Conservative Whips Office Byelection?
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Post by LDCaerdydd on Mar 29, 2023 18:53:32 GMT
Which reminds me the MP that most of us know the name of who was asked by the Torries not to vote and attend Parliament last May is still absent. He (and I can call him a he) is however submitting a lot of written questions and is very active online including Social Media.
This position can’t be sustainable can it almost a year on?
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Post by rcronald on Mar 30, 2023 8:01:07 GMT
Which reminds me the MP that most of us know the name of who was asked by the Torries not to vote and attend Parliament last May is still absent. He (and I can call him a he) is however submitting a lot of written questions and is very active online including Social Media. This position can’t be sustainable can it almost a year on? Not allowing him to attend parliament and vote while not officially suspending his whip is very strange.
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Post by batman on Mar 30, 2023 9:10:51 GMT
of course, there's nothing else strange done by this government.
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Post by carlton43 on Mar 30, 2023 9:22:53 GMT
I hate "whom". It is a grammatical aberration that it remains in the language when it should have died with "thee" and "thou". I have recently endeavoured to replace it with who in all instances. carlton43 would be appalled. As ever, the solution is not more modernism but restoring the greatness of the past. Does thou not concur? Dost you absolute chav!
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Post by aargauer on Mar 30, 2023 11:39:24 GMT
As ever, the solution is not more modernism but restoring the greatness of the past. Does thou not concur? Dost you absolute chav! I'd go as far as "dost thou absolute chav"!
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CatholicLeft
Labour
2032 posts until I was "accidentally" deleted.
Posts: 6,245
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Post by CatholicLeft on Mar 30, 2023 12:47:13 GMT
Take it up with my Mum - you won't enjoy the experience. 😁😁 You may like to take it up with her because 'Whom are they?' is incorrect: it should be 'Who'.
If you don't care to raise the subject, just let me have her address and I'd gladly pop round for a cup of tea and a grammatical chat. I'll wear armour.
She'll be prepared:
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Post by markfoster on Mar 30, 2023 17:00:11 GMT
Brazilian Portuguese got rid of both T and V, and now uses a third-person pronoun ( você/vocês) for you. The singular matches he/she and the plural matches they. Due to the verb conjugation, it's possible to speak in Portuguese (Portugal) without using pronouns at all (or at least very minimally), but in Brazilian Portuguese this is much more difficult.
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neilm
Non-Aligned
Posts: 25,023
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Post by neilm on Mar 30, 2023 23:44:16 GMT
'Dost thou not concur' - get it right ffs Also 'whom' patterns with 'him' and 'them' so the case distinction has not quite disappeared Dost ðou, þank you. And as none of us know each oðer, it should be "you" The return of the thorn, and eth, is long overdue.
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Post by carlton43 on Mar 31, 2023 11:33:49 GMT
Dost ðou, þank you. And as none of us know each oðer, it should be "you" The return of the thorn, and eth, is long overdue. If there is an Eth then there must, without further Da-Do, be also a Ron.
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European Lefty
Labour
Can be bribed with salted liquorice
Posts: 5,517
Member is Online
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Post by European Lefty on Mar 31, 2023 11:52:27 GMT
Dost ðou, þank you. And as none of us know each oðer, it should be "you" The return of the thorn, and eth, is long overdue. Aside from anything else, extremely useful for distinguishing the voiced phoneme from the voiceless one
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Post by greatkingrat on Mar 31, 2023 11:54:23 GMT
Dost ðou, þank you. And as none of us know each oðer, it should be "you" The return of the thorn, and eth, is long overdue. No it isn't, you can eth right off.
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Post by batman on Mar 31, 2023 12:08:47 GMT
The return of the thorn, and eth, is long overdue. If there is an Eth then there must, without further Da-Do, be also a Ron. there would be 2 Rons
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Khunanup
Lib Dem
Portsmouth Liberal Democrats
Posts: 11,517
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Post by Khunanup on Mar 31, 2023 12:31:13 GMT
Dost ðou, þank you. And as none of us know each oðer, it should be "you" The return of the thorn, and eth, is long overdue. Pah, modern alphabetical affectations, both of them!
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Mar 31, 2023 12:41:47 GMT
The return of the thorn, and eth, is long overdue. Aside from anything else, extremely useful for distinguishing the voiced phoneme from the voiceless one It would stop people (mostly southerners) mispronouncing my surname which has an eth in it, not a thorn.
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Post by greenchristian on Mar 31, 2023 15:37:44 GMT
The return of the thorn, and eth, is long overdue. If there is an Eth then there must, without further Da-Do, be also a Ron.
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