Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Every other variety of English (British, Australian, Indian, etc) appears to get along very nicely without it  . There are really VERY few circumstances in which it's necessary to be able to distinguish, and, if you do, there are ways around it. It's interesting that US English has come up with this, especially given the fact that "you" actually IS plural in the first place. |
I frequently need a plural you instead of a singular you. (I seem to recall the Monty Python trope got several good sketches out of the vagueness of English forms of address.)
Then again, I was born and raised in the southern USA, so it's possible there's a cultural difference I'm grasping that you're not. I'm also strongly suspect of anyone claiming to know all the varieties and dialects of English spoken all over the world -- I used to have an Australian friend who said "yous all" as one word. I've no idea if he was unique in that way, but he at least seemed to find a need for it.
Speaking as someone with an English degree, I'm always surprised at how many people don't recognize that English is a constantly evolving language. And it irks me when time travel movies don't take that into account, for the record.
