One thing English speakers have easy - did you think about it?
 

You can say "you" to anyone - it is the same word when you address a friend and when you address a president.

In most other languages there are 2 different world for "you" - one friendly and one respectful (for people you do not know, older people etc etc).

And that causes kind of awkward situations. For example - you see a person and you wonder how to address him. Or you get to know some business partner, you start with respectful "you", then after some time it maybe time to start using friendly "you", but you do not know when and you wonder if it is time already or not.
Etc etc.


Just random thought :upsidedow

When I want to address someone, I just yell CUNT in their general direction... Seems to work pretty well...

'hey fuckface' does too

did not know that. I'd probably play safe and ask "how are things?" if unsure.

Yes, very often I use creative phrases in order to avoid using "you" if unsure :)

For English speakers who get stuck while trying to speak a second language. Imagine you are writing a letter to the person, would you be informal or formal?..

Do YOU even know what the fuck YOU are talking about half the time? Because I sure as fuck don't. Awesome idea for a thread, genius.

I do not know what YOU are talking about, because others, smarter than you, perfectly understood what I was talking about.

Well, firstly, is it formal or informal letter? :)
But usual answer for letters - formal.

English is said to be the hardest language to learn. We have a lot of slang.

The same rule would apply. It's not only with the word YOU

All languages are hard but English is one if the easiest I think. Anyway learning slang comes after yiu have mastered the formal aspects of a language.

So YOU use the word YOU in the thread title then YOU use the word YOU 12 times in your post. So confused!

Who are YOU? LOL!!

Just kidding man, I never thought about that! I know in many Latin-based languages the syntax is backwards to us Americans and it's the hardest part (for me) in learning new languages. Example:

English: The Red Bar
French: Le Bar Rouge

Didn't know about the "you" thing. :)

Now that you (respectfully) mentioned; we do have a different words regarding this issue, the respectful one is plural.

Though, the plural is also "oldish" way to speak, and is also used when being not so polite (you know, intentionally overdoing it).

You mean that it is going out of "fashion" and some/many people would not use it when speaking to the president?

I like when I use the formal you in dutch and get bitched out that they're not their mother/father. ;-)

It's like when you wonder if you should tell a woman congratulations or maybe she's just fat.

We have that, we just don't use it anymore. We have thou, thy, ye, etc. Thou was the informal and You the formal. It is still used (tha, thee) in some parts of England. They also have a monarch, still.

actually it is one of the easiest to "learn" but one of the hardest to master...english is everywhere and you are confronted with it even as a child in non-english speaking regions...cartoons/games/internet ect...it is everywhere and this alone makes is much easier than a language you have never even heard spoken...

as for mastering english this is another story altogether...it has over 1 million words, and it is very hard to have good style when you speak...

the OP is completely right but do not let that stand in the way of your ignorance :thumbsup

so you get your panties in a bunch by this 'fun fact' thread, and even educational for some (because he is absolutely right, here we also have a formal and informal 'you' - 'je' = informal, 'u' = formal), and yet you keep jumping in white knight style for the boards biggest idiot (BM) and his utterly worthless sig whore threads and racist views. :thumbsup

I think you missed my point:upsidedow...

We, One and Thou.

How are we today.(Doctors usually phrase a q like this.)
What does one do. (Mainly just the Queen speaks like this. Also used inplace of I)
Thou (oldskool. is the informal version of you. )

No, I mean it is oldish style. But of course it may go out of fashion; as it already has. Though out of fashion things are still used somewhat (I have many examples in my wardrobe).

You can say you to me...

On the other hand - if you used the informal one some would bitch that you are not polite enough etc :)
So you always wonder which to use. One more example of making awkward situations :)