On the death of thou
I recently (like within the past few days) began learning German. Like nearly every other modern European tongue, it has a formal "you", used to address one's elders and acquaintances. For me, this is no problem. I have studied Russian, French, and a bit of Romanian, all of which have this formal "you" form. It got me thinking, though. Latin, the base of the Romantic languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, and (arguably the only true modern Romantic tongue) Romanian, does not have this familiar and formal distinction. It has only two words for you: tū (sing.) and vōs (plur.).
English, believe it or not, had an informal "you". What most people don't know is that the forms of "thou" were in fact the familiar "you" and our current form, "you", was used formally. Before I go further, I feel that I must explain the great importance of culture and linguistics. You cannot affect one without affecting the other. It is impossible, trust me. How a language works directly impacts how a person thinks and views their world. In turn, culture influences language evolution. Most people walk around using their native tongue (read: English, or as I like to call it, Inguish), never truly learning the mechanics behind their mother tongue (no, not muscles) or even thinking about what they are saying and why. We take our mother tongue for granted, largely due to American and English arrogance; the thinking that everyone should know English and that it is useless to learn any other language (immigration is another topic for another day).
The loss of a formal and informal distinction was a major cultural loss to English-speaking countries. I believe it has led to more confusion than it has eliminated. This confusion is not lingual, rather cultural and even identity confusion. There seems to be a loss of distinction between "friend" and "acquaintance". No one has acquaintances anymore. Everyone is a friend whether or not a relationship fits the definition of friendship. This seems to be more of a problem amongst, at the very least, the younger American population (that is, my generation: 20-30 year olds). This seemingly leads to strange and awkward conversations more often than not. This is not to say one can't have a deep conversation with a complete stranger, but if I meet you at a bar I don't want you to introduce yourself as, "I'm Bob the gay Jewish republican." I don't care. You are not my friend and chances are I will never see you again, or if I do I certainly won't remember you and certainly will not want to associate with you.
As for the issue of respect, I believe that is also largely lost. Loyalty, which comes out of respect, is also dead. Respect, I believe, is something default and that which must be maintained. If I meet someone new, they have my respect until they do something to warrant a loss of respect. Loyalty, on the other hand, must be earned. You can have respect without loyalty, but you cannot have loyalty without respect. I am loyal to the handful of people I can truly call my friends. I am loyal to certain businesses because they have maintained my respect. Prime Motor Group, for instance, has my loyalty. Long before my summer as an employee, I was a customer. Throughout my experience as a customer-from buying my current car to maintaining it-the company has treated me well, despite having bought the car at 18 and being amongst the youngest of their customer base. At 20, they were able to give me a summer job as the lot manager at their Benz store in Maine. After I quit due to school starting up again in the fall, the company has continued my employee discount. This shows me that they too are loyal to me, and in return I will continue to buy and maintain my vehicles there (as long as I live in the vicinity of the company). This is not so for most people. Even when a company shows its loyalty to a customer, the person will go somewhere else if the price is right (even though most businesses will match a price in order to maintain your loyalty). This leads to another issue of American society: egocentrism. But, I think I will save that for another day, as it involves some philosophy and sociology.
English, believe it or not, had an informal "you". What most people don't know is that the forms of "thou" were in fact the familiar "you" and our current form, "you", was used formally. Before I go further, I feel that I must explain the great importance of culture and linguistics. You cannot affect one without affecting the other. It is impossible, trust me. How a language works directly impacts how a person thinks and views their world. In turn, culture influences language evolution. Most people walk around using their native tongue (read: English, or as I like to call it, Inguish), never truly learning the mechanics behind their mother tongue (no, not muscles) or even thinking about what they are saying and why. We take our mother tongue for granted, largely due to American and English arrogance; the thinking that everyone should know English and that it is useless to learn any other language (immigration is another topic for another day).
The loss of a formal and informal distinction was a major cultural loss to English-speaking countries. I believe it has led to more confusion than it has eliminated. This confusion is not lingual, rather cultural and even identity confusion. There seems to be a loss of distinction between "friend" and "acquaintance". No one has acquaintances anymore. Everyone is a friend whether or not a relationship fits the definition of friendship. This seems to be more of a problem amongst, at the very least, the younger American population (that is, my generation: 20-30 year olds). This seemingly leads to strange and awkward conversations more often than not. This is not to say one can't have a deep conversation with a complete stranger, but if I meet you at a bar I don't want you to introduce yourself as, "I'm Bob the gay Jewish republican." I don't care. You are not my friend and chances are I will never see you again, or if I do I certainly won't remember you and certainly will not want to associate with you.
As for the issue of respect, I believe that is also largely lost. Loyalty, which comes out of respect, is also dead. Respect, I believe, is something default and that which must be maintained. If I meet someone new, they have my respect until they do something to warrant a loss of respect. Loyalty, on the other hand, must be earned. You can have respect without loyalty, but you cannot have loyalty without respect. I am loyal to the handful of people I can truly call my friends. I am loyal to certain businesses because they have maintained my respect. Prime Motor Group, for instance, has my loyalty. Long before my summer as an employee, I was a customer. Throughout my experience as a customer-from buying my current car to maintaining it-the company has treated me well, despite having bought the car at 18 and being amongst the youngest of their customer base. At 20, they were able to give me a summer job as the lot manager at their Benz store in Maine. After I quit due to school starting up again in the fall, the company has continued my employee discount. This shows me that they too are loyal to me, and in return I will continue to buy and maintain my vehicles there (as long as I live in the vicinity of the company). This is not so for most people. Even when a company shows its loyalty to a customer, the person will go somewhere else if the price is right (even though most businesses will match a price in order to maintain your loyalty). This leads to another issue of American society: egocentrism. But, I think I will save that for another day, as it involves some philosophy and sociology.