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In German, we have the formal "Sie" and the informal "du". The formal means of address is dying incredibly fast. It's been a huge change just in the past 10 yea
by bradley13 3y ago
In German, we have the formal "Sie" and the informal "du". The formal means of address is dying incredibly fast. It's been a huge change just in the past 10 years or so. I'm not a linguist, but I'm pretty sure this is due to the influence of English, which is everywhere.
Just as an example: as a gray-haired professor, I use "du" and my first name with my students. I may be an outlier in my generation, but that is entirely normal for younger colleagues. 10 years ago, that would have been...strange. 20 years ago, it was unheard of.
- boernard 3y agoI think English definitely has it's influence but I think another big factor is the general idea that this hierarchic thinking just gets outdated and younger Germans strive to have a sense of equality.
- MandieD 3y agoI used “Sie” with my now mother- and father-in-law until the first time I visited them after we got engaged and my mother-in-law brought out a bottle of sparkling wine and asked if we could be on “du” terms. That was when I started using their first names. That was in 2008, and was, from what I gather, already rather old-fashioned. It was common enough in the past that there’s a verb for it that my mother-in-law used when making the offer: duzen.