nim_opet t1_itk5ixt wrote on October 24, 2022 at 6:26 AM

Reply to comment by Sacred_Root in The way people speak in The Count of Monte Cristo. Can someone explain? by foxdna

None of that has anything to do with the polite version of “you”. Those are genders of third person personal pronouns. The “tu/vous” distinction is specifically about the 2nd person pronoun and how it changes in singular vs. plural. 2nd person pronoun is not gendered.

Sacred_Root t1_itm02ae wrote on October 24, 2022 at 5:07 PM

We're not talking about the same thing.

Sacred_Root t1_itm0kjp wrote on October 24, 2022 at 5:10 PM

I never said it did.

Sacred_Root t1_itkjrkj wrote on October 24, 2022 at 9:54 AM

Tell them that. Not me. You misunderstood what I was saying, anyway.

Nice_Sun_7018 t1_itl66a0 wrote on October 24, 2022 at 1:42 PM

I guess we all misunderstood you then lol. “They/them” is in use because English doesn’t have a gender-neutral singular pronoun. If we did, we would use it. Since we don’t, we use the plural gender-neutral term (and we have always done this when the gender of the singular subject is unknown, too, not just for non-binary people).

This, as others have tried to tell you, has nothing to do with a language having a formal versus non-formal word for “you” (which typically comes in both singular and plural forms).