An interesting thing I didn't know until today

[Stumpy Pepys]

In old English, there was a character called thorn which signified a th sound.



When printing presses were later imported from Holland and Belgium, they didn't have this character, so printers substituted it with a y.

So the ye in ye olde should be pronounced the.

[Etienne]

When Shakespeare used "you" and "thou" they weren't being used interchangeably but as a equivalents for the French "vous" and "tu", with one being more formal than the other.

[Etienne]

So the ye in ye olde should be pronounced the.

The West.

[ad hoc]

When Shakespeare used "you" and "thou" they weren't being used interchangeably but as a equivalents for the French "vous" and "tu", with one being more formal than the other.

In Yorkshire there is still a distinction between tha and thee (though I'm too far removed from it to be able to say exactly what it is. Tha is the less formal one, I think)

[Stumpy Pepys]

When Shakespeare used "you" and "thou" they weren't being used interchangeably but as a equivalents for the French "vous" and "tu", with one being more formal than the other.

There are people in Yorkshire still using thou and thee. (Or tha and thee.)

Edit: As ad hoc just said.

[Satchmo Distel]

In Yorkshire there is still a distinction between tha and thee (though I'm too far removed from it to be able to say exactly what it is. Tha is the less formal one, I think)

I think tha is the subject and thee is the object

How's tha doin?

What happened to thee?

[Stumpy Pepys]

Thou (or tha) is nominative (tha's a big girl's blouse), whereas thee can be dative or accusative (I give thee, I see thee).

[ad hoc]

I think tha is the subject and thee is the object

How's tha doin?

What happened to thee?

I think tha's reet, sithee

[Satchmo Distel]

Thee is sometimes shortened to a "thi" sound, as in Fred Trueman's sign off, "I'll si thi" (I'll see you). The effect of much Yorkshire dialect is to reduce two vowels to one sound.

[ad hoc]

I'm reading about it now. Apparently (some) Quakers still use thou, because that was the informal one (and you the formal), and quakerism (?) doesn't recognise hierarchy so they deliberately chose to use the informal one (didn't Spanish in the republican areas of Spain during the civil war similarly drop usted /ustedes?)

[Satchmo Distel]

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day
Thou art more lovely and more temperate

[ad hoc]

Thee is sometimes shortened to a "thi" sound, as in Fred Trueman's sign off, "I'll si thi" (I'll see you). The effect of much Yorkshire dialect is to reduce two vowels to one sound.

But also to sometimes turn diphthongs into two sounds. Road, for example, often sounds like row-ud. He lives down 'row-ud

[Satchmo Distel]

Verbs with excess stress on the first part: dooin', gooin', like you're being interrogated. "Where are yer gooin?"

[Patrick Thistle]

In old English, there was a character called thorn which signified a th sound.



When printing presses were later imported from Holland and Belgium, they didn't have this character, so printers substituted it with a y.

So the ye in ye olde should be pronounced the.

I think I remember that from a QI episode.

[ad hoc]

Diana Ross is either from Yorkshire, a quaker, or from the 16th century
"Respectfully I say to thee I'm aware that you're cheatin'"

(though if she was from Yorkshire I guess it would have been "Respectfully I say to thee I'm aware that tha's cheatin'"

[Patrick Thistle]

I'm reading about it now. Apparently (some) Quakers still use thou, because that was the informal one (and you the formal), and quakerism (?) doesn't recognise hierarchy so they deliberately chose to use the informal one

I think this is also still true among some of the Mennonite and Hutterite sects in the USA as well and possibly the Plymouth Brethren in the UK.

[Etienne]

Having spent 25 years of my life telling people that Korfball is derived from the Dutch word for basket, I have now discovered that Cricket is derived from the (Middle) Dutch word for stick - Krick.

[Satchmo Distel]

I think tenpin bowling was brought to the US by the Dutch.

[The Mighty Trin]

There are people in Yorkshire still using thou and thee. (Or tha and thee.)

Edit: As ad hoc just said.

My favourite is 'thine' for yours, which would be readily understood where I come from, but infrequently used. Thine be the Glory, etc.

[Nurse Duckett]

Having spent 25 years of my life telling people that Korfball is derived from the Dutch word for basket, I have now discovered that Cricket is derived from the (Middle) Dutch word for stick - Krick.

In last Saturday's Guardian weekend quiz for kids, perchance?

[Nurse Duckett]

When Shakespeare used "you" and "thou" they weren't being used interchangeably but as a equivalents for the French "vous" and "tu", with one being more formal than the other.

Not for the tu/vous formalism as such, but I'd like to see the return of "thou/thee/thy/thine" (singular) and "you/you/your/yours" (plural) to avoid ambiguity or having to say "you[se] lot" when meaning a group of "you".

[Etienne]

In last Saturday's Guardian weekend quiz for kids, perchance?

Yes, though I only got round to reading it yesterday.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Today I learned that kermit was one of the tuatha de dannan, but it's wider usage stems from it being the Manx version of mc dermott.

fuck avenue q, i want to see a muppet movie set in irish mythology. That stuff is wild

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cermait

[Patrick Thistle]

Ooh, I would be up for that. And more muppet movies generally.

[Patrick Thistle]

TIL that this month Wales has seen its first hysterectomy carried out by a robot. (Not unsupervised)