John McWhorter

I would enjoy there being thou, but I'm trying to imagine it imposed on a whole society. And I cannot see my 10 and 13 year old feeling differently about it. But then again, there are aspects of them that I may never know. I'll ask them next time I see them.

Well, in that case, we use you colloquially. Well, why suddenly can I not talk? And he had a stroke that night. You, colloquially. But we would actually say, you can't do that, can you? And so you gets dragged even into that one usage, which ended up replacing, it was originally a word mon, which was not man, but it was mon. And then mon just dropped away.

Well, in that case, we use you colloquially. Well, why suddenly can I not talk? And he had a stroke that night. You, colloquially. But we would actually say, you can't do that, can you? And so you gets dragged even into that one usage, which ended up replacing, it was originally a word mon, which was not man, but it was mon. And then mon just dropped away.

Everything drops away in English like autumn leaves. for some reason. But you have the one, and you're saying, does that allow space?

Everything drops away in English like autumn leaves. for some reason. But you have the one, and you're saying, does that allow space?

Because you is overstretched. Because not only is it used in the singular and the plural, but you also use it for this indefinite. Real Germanic languages, normal European languages, have some dedicated pronoun, as we call it, for the indefinite. That's one thing that a pronoun should do. That book should have an extra chapter. In Old English, it was mon. Then mon shortened to muh.

Because you is overstretched. Because not only is it used in the singular and the plural, but you also use it for this indefinite. Real Germanic languages, normal European languages, have some dedicated pronoun, as we call it, for the indefinite. That's one thing that a pronoun should do. That book should have an extra chapter. In Old English, it was mon. Then mon shortened to muh.

And so you would say, you know, you got to do it. And you would say, muh got to do it. That's not very accurate Middle English, but you get my point. And then it just, that muh flew away. And you ended up being dragged in for that too. We work that little word so hard. It's a miracle that we don't trip over our linguistic shoelaces with it more. But Languages aren't usually like that.

And so you would say, you know, you got to do it. And you would say, muh got to do it. That's not very accurate Middle English, but you get my point. And then it just, that muh flew away. And you ended up being dragged in for that too. We work that little word so hard. It's a miracle that we don't trip over our linguistic shoelaces with it more. But Languages aren't usually like that.

There's one I know of in New Guinea. It's called Beric, and all they have is I, we, then you, and then there's one word that means he, she, it, and they. One word like quack. It's not quack, but it's just one thing. But we're more like that than we are like the European languages that we're actually related to.

There's one I know of in New Guinea. It's called Beric, and all they have is I, we, then you, and then there's one word that means he, she, it, and they. One word like quack. It's not quack, but it's just one thing. But we're more like that than we are like the European languages that we're actually related to.

In order to give you a break? Yeah. In order to give one a break. Right. But we can't because if you use one in that way, you sound like you have a big mustachio and you walk with a cane and you're in black and white in an old movie played by an actor named C. Aubrey Smith. One mustn't do that. It's too high.

In order to give you a break? Yeah. In order to give one a break. Right. But we can't because if you use one in that way, you sound like you have a big mustachio and you walk with a cane and you're in black and white in an old movie played by an actor named C. Aubrey Smith. One mustn't do that. It's too high.

Or Fats Waller saying, one never knows, do one. But that was Arch. He's saying that while he's knocking back the djinn. That was funny. In his real life, he certainly wouldn't have said, you know, one never knows. And so one, for arbitrary reasons, is marked. And so it has that upper crust meaning. And most of us are only upper crust on occasion. And so we need something more casual.

Or Fats Waller saying, one never knows, do one. But that was Arch. He's saying that while he's knocking back the djinn. That was funny. In his real life, he certainly wouldn't have said, you know, one never knows. And so one, for arbitrary reasons, is marked. And so it has that upper crust meaning. And most of us are only upper crust on occasion. And so we need something more casual.

And it ends up being, yeah, poor little you all the time. Yeah. It's a heartbreaking chapter.

And it ends up being, yeah, poor little you all the time. Yeah. It's a heartbreaking chapter.

Words are on the move. That was the title of one of my books, actually. Words are on the move all the time in all languages. Some of them are moving faster. than others, but there's no such thing as a language where the words just stay where they are. And it can be hard to process that the words are on the move, because usually, not always, but usually, happens very slowly.

Words are on the move. That was the title of one of my books, actually. Words are on the move all the time in all languages. Some of them are moving faster. than others, but there's no such thing as a language where the words just stay where they are. And it can be hard to process that the words are on the move, because usually, not always, but usually, happens very slowly.

But words' meanings are always kind of morphing. Obnoxious used to mean vulnerable to harm. And so don't render yourself obnoxious by wearing too few clothes to the jousting tournament. You take my point. So it only came to mean noxious because it sounded like noxious. And so we now use it to mean that. If you look in a grammar guide in about 1900,