tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Feb 13 18:08:49 1995
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Re: "Bon appetit"
On Sat, 11 Feb 1995, yoDtargh wrote:
> On Sat, 11 Feb 1995, Jeremy Cowan wrote:
> > Almost every natural language I have studied uses the second person plural
> > for the second person singular formal. It seems a popular thing to do.
> > And what makes you say that DIvI' Hol doesn't use it. When (in English) I
> > want a second person singular formal I certainly use the pronoun for
> > second person plural. :)
>
> What kind of second person plural pronoun do you use to address a single
> person formally? Y'all? Youse guys? Or are you using "thou" for the
> second person singular and "you" for the plural? {{:-)
I am very impressed with y'all's knowledge, but the entire discussion has
nothing to do with modern English which is what I speak! I was making a
joke about the fact that in English we *currently* use the same word (and
even the same conjugation) for second person singular and plural.
> > Does someone have a grammar explanation for this apparent mistake?
My favourite yet is that it's simply become a stock Klingon phrase that
no one bothers to make grammatically correct any more.
janSIy }}:+D>