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> And yet thou does use the word "you" routinely in its singular, which is also inaccurate The singular you is seldom used as such in written language intended
by dctoedt 12y ago
> And yet thou does use the word "you" routinely in its singular, which is also inaccurate
The singular you is seldom used as such in written language intended to be read by numerous others, so it's far less likely to be jarring or to cause confusion.
- tptacek 12y agoThou comest at the king, as it is said, and thou had best not miss: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002748.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002748.h...
- dctoedt 12y agoSee my comment down-thread about Jane Austen and bloodletting. (I'll stop now; we've hit diminishing returns.)
- idlewords 12y agoI'm going to use that first sentence as my stock rebuttal to everything from now on.
- tptacek 12y agoJust to be clear, it's Language Log that's Omar in this silly little metaphor. I was making an appeal to authority, but of a different sort than "yet another famous author using singular they". :)