Re:Did English ever have a formal version of "you"? (2011)
by PaulDavisThe1st on Sunday December 24, 2023 @05:56PM
(#38757853)
Words change roles, and shit is a very good contemporary example. Among my children's generation (mid-20s to mid-30s) it is now just as much as stand-in for "stuff" as it is an expression of anger or insult. "Where am I going to put all this shit?" does still carry a hint of a negative tone (directed towards the stuff), but barely any.
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Re:Did English ever have a formal version of "you"? (2011)
by em-bee on Sunday December 24, 2023 @06:31PM
(#38758078)
ismo explains shit:
Re:Did English ever have a formal version of "you"? (2011)
by PaulDavisThe1st on Sunday December 24, 2023 @06:54PM
(#38758216)
he's wrong that "shit" is the most complicated word in english. That would be "jawn" - an adjective, noun, verb and more all in one little 4-letter package, which is also true of "shit", except that nobody not raised in Philadelphia knows the true scope of "jawn".
Re:Did English ever have a formal version of "you"? (2011)
by em-bee on Sunday December 24, 2023 @07:13PM
(#38758341)
well i look forward to when ismo gets to philadelpia and learns about "yawn". i expect he'll start out saying something like "i thought when i learned about the word shit, it was the most complicated word in english, but i turns out i still didn't know shit ..."