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> My pet peeve about using "they" is it seems to imply an undue politeness or superiority I suppose it could be considered similar to Spanish and French where
by richbell 4y ago
> My pet peeve about using "they" is it seems to imply an undue politeness or superiority
I suppose it could be considered similar to Spanish and French where you have "you" (peers) and then formal "you" (authorities).
- rqtwteye 4y agoSame in German. The formal address is in plural. “Sie sind…”
- OkayPhysicist 4y agoWe used to have that in English with the formal "you" and informal "thou", but politeness lead to the near-exclusive use of "you" until "thou" became archaic. And now that it's archaic, people think it must have been formal. Funny little circular journey.