Why
do australians say youse?
What
are youse talking about?Have you ever heard something like that?
English used to have singular and plural second person pronouns "thou"
singular and "you" plural. Over time the singular form was dropped
and the one word "you" was both singular and plural.
However, many languages have singular and plural second person pronouns
as the Irish language. Australian slang contain much evidence of the Irish -for most of the nineteenth century at
least a quarter of the population of Australia was Irish or of Irish parentage-
and one example is the use of “youse” as attempt to differentiate singular “you” from
plural “you.” In some regions this
term is considerated unsophisticated and it is an example of lack of
education.
....and what about use
the Spanish alternative ustedes?
Sources:
I think that the word "youse" is used in many others countries, maybe the variation is the pronunciation of the word, since I think in scottland is /'ju:s/ in a similar way how the word "use" does.
ReplyDeleteSo good the comparation with the Spanish "ustedes" in the regions of Andalusia and Canary Islands!!!