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From: Peter Hullah <Peter.Hullah@eurocontrol.fr>
Subject: Re: You, Youse, ...All Y'all
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Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 11:43:52 GMT
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Steven Blackwelder wrote:
> 
> Through the Elizabethan period those words were commonly used in
> England, perhaps beginning to shift to the familiar-only usage
> from the plain-singular usage. Then during the English
> Revolution and the Puritan period, the Puritans used those words
> as plain-singular again (which meant using them more often).
> After the Restoration, the Monarchists in revulsion stopped
> using those words in everyday speech, and therefore so did most
> other influencers of the English language.
> 
...
> 
> Interestingly, the Monarchists did not cause a pronoun revision
> of the "King James" Bible. I guess they feared another religious
> upheaval, and they wanted people to have happy memories of a
> previous monarch and therefore happier thoughts of monarchy in
> general. 

The King James bible was published in 1604 - 1 year after the death of
Queen Elizabeth and so was probably actually written during her reign.

On the other hand, the Book of Common Prayer was published in 1662 just
after the restoration of the monarchy. If my memory serves me well, this
also contains "thy" etc. though perhaps only when referring to God.

Pete
 
-- 

Peter H.C. Hullah                           Technical Services
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