Re: English: Thou
From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
Date: | Tuesday, June 20, 2000, 22:37 |
Muke Tever wrote:
> Actually I think many people, perhaps as a combination of the archaism of
> "thou" and its use towards God, have reanalyzed "thou" as a _formal_ form.
> I know that's what I thought
Yeah, that's definitely how's it's seen now. In Star Wars (Episode 6, I
think?), Darth Vader asks the Emperor, "What is thy bidding, my master?"
- definitely a reversal of the original usage!
> Also I think 'thou' /Dau/ is kind of a mouthful. Maybe it oughtta be /Du/,
> to rhyme with 'you'. Or maybe I'm just used to 'gotcha'-forms. ("Gottha?
> Whadja got?")
Or /D@/, which I believe is used in some English dialects. Of course,
/Du/ was the Old/Middle English pronunciation, before the Great Vowel
Shift diphthongized it.
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