X-Language: en_GB.UTF-8
Date: 20180922
Author: large.hadron.collider@gmx.com

                ON THE TU/VOS (THOU/YOU) DISTINCTION IN ENGLISH

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 English is the only language in Europe that formally lacks a tu/vos distinct-
ion. While unnecessary, and counter to the modern Anglo-Saxon morality of an
egalitarian society, the tu/vos distinction, formally absent, is still
represented in the English language, either by other honorific systems or, in
informal speech, a distinction between "you" and "y'all" that is not always
singular/plural.

 To quote Wikipedia as of 18:44 UTC, 21/09/2018, "Because __thou__ has passed
out of common use, its traditional forms are often confused by those imitating
archaic speech." Damn right. An additional point of concern for "thou"-revival
-ists and other such people is the correct pronunciation of "thou", which, un-
beknownst to practically everyone who uses it, rhymes not with "cow" but with
"you." 

 In my cursory research on the matter, I've discovered that uses of 'thou' and
'you' (more correctly: uses of words with exactly equal semantics) varies bet-
ween languages.

 In French, some people would simply just use the terms essentially interchan-
geably, often in the same sentence. This is also true in English. English and
French have somewhat cross-pollinated over the just under 1000 years since the
conquest of the then-Danish colony of Britain by various Norman peoples.

 For a good 400-500 years after that, 'thou' remained an uncomplicated single-
person second person pronoun, with 'ye' being the uncomplicated plural. Into
the modern era of English, 'ye' morphed into 'you' with simpler declension