This is the allusionist in which I, Helen Zoltzmann, mo languages lawn.

To warm up, here's some word history.

What ever happened to thou?

And its comrades, thee, thy and thine.

They used to be all over the place being the singular form of you.

Yeah, that's right, it wasn't always the case that English had one word for both the

singular and plural forms of the second person pronoun.

They used to be two, but like languages such as French, the plural form, you, was also

used as the polite formal way to address someone, and evidently English speakers in the middle

ages were so polite and formal, the informal singular thou disappeared almost entirely.

It hung on for a bit in some northern English dialects, and the Quakers vocabulary, and

in quite a lot of poetry and religious texts.

Thanks to which thou's reputation has effectively done a 180, and it became more formal than

the formal you.

I think it's because thou seems archaic and old, and old things gain a certain authority

just by being old.

I know grandma says terrible things, but shows some respect because she was born before

the First World War.

On with the show.

What could the widow face?

Who's a cutie pie?

Who's a cutie pie?

...