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Subject:Re: Gender Bias in Pronouns From:David Ibbetson <ibbetson -at- IDIRECT -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 11 Dec 1995 22:11:15 -0500
> Then I started to realize how much
>more
>awkward other languages are for the sake of showing respect, as in "Como
>sta usted?" (literally "How goes him?" for "How are you?") and "Comment
>allez vous?" (literally "How go you[plural]?" for "How are
>you[singular]?").
The English 'how are you?' is plural. A few hundred yers ago people would
say something like 'how art thou?' Indeed thee, thou, thy, thine, survive in
certain Yorkshire dialects and it's not so long ago that Quakers would use
them as a matter of course.
David (idiot boy) Ibbetson
David Ibbetson Phone (416) 363-6692
ibbetson -at- idirect -dot- com Fax (416) 363-4987
133 Wilton Street, #506
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5A 4A4
