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A comment on Did English ever have a formal version of "you"? (2011). Parent comment

Re:Did English ever have a formal version of "you"? (2011) by actionfromafar on Sunday December 24, 2023 @07:26PM (#38758412)
Well one empire (sort of empire) defeated another, so it’s related.
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Re:Did English ever have a formal version of "you"? (2011) by 8372049 on Sunday December 24, 2023 @10:05PM (#38759283)
The reason German(y) was widely unpopular after WW2 wasn't primarily because they lost.

ETA: They lost WW1 too, but German remained our #1 foreign language.

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Re:Did English ever have a formal version of "you"? (2011) by dragonwriter on Sunday December 24, 2023 @10:07PM (#38759292)
OTOH, the reason those feelings were free to be expressed...
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Re:Did English ever have a formal version of "you"? (2011) by 8372049 on Sunday December 24, 2023 @10:47PM (#38759520)
Yeah, we would all be speaking German now if they had won. But to put it another way, German remained the second language after they lost WW1.
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Re:Did English ever have a formal version of "you"? (2011) by Hunpeter on Tuesday December 26, 2023 @01:34PM (#38774499)
>we would all be speaking German >now if they had won I hope you're saying this as a joke/deliberate hyperbole.
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