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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 OJFord on Sunday December 24, 2023 @09:28PM (#38759091)
How is that not essentially the same point? The second language was determined by international politics, not linguistic merit.
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Re:Did English ever have a formal version of "you"? (2011) by 8372049 on Sunday December 24, 2023 @10:54PM (#38759557)
Depends on your level of abstraction, I guess. GP stated "We all speak English because at one point the English practically owned the entire planet."

Which in our case is false. We stopped learning German as a second language because of the Nazi aggression and atrocities during WW2, and started learning English as a second language due to their aid and closer relations during the war.

But yes, it's obviously not because of any linguistic merit.

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