dwl@hou4b.UUCP (D Levenson) (11/02/84)
The lack of distinction between you(singular) and you(plural) in English keeps being used as an example of something that's missing. While it is, in deed, missing from modern usage, the language did have this distinction, and our ancestors disposed of it. Originally, thou meant the second-person singular, and you meant the second person plural. There was an exception, however, in that when addressing Royalty, it was considered correct to say `you' even when addressing only one of them. (They still use `we' to refer to themselves, even when the speaker is singular.) In later years, it was a compliment to address someone as `you', even if he were not one of the Royals. (Just as we address someone as Sir who has not been knighted, today.) This usage prevailed, and `thou' has disapeared from modern English, having been replaced by `you'. The need to compliment one's listener apparently was greater than the need for two second person nominative pronouns. Even more recently, it seems, a need to distinguish re-appeared, and we began addressing multiple people as `you all' or `youse' or `y'all' `you folks' etc. Dave Levenson AT&T-ISL Holmdel