WP 34S Manual Calculation Guide (pdf!)

[d b]

(04-09-2015 03:39 PM)John Galt Wrote:  Brilliant.

Also, as a native (American) English speaker it might interest you to know that certain regional dialects often implement that expression with the phrases "this here" and "that there" respectively. Those expressions can be approximated phonetically by "dis here" and "dat dare". Presumably, that helps prevent misunderstanding among those less familiar with the subtleties regarding "this" and "that".

Those same regional dialects often make up for one of English's many shortcomings, one of which is the lack of any distinction between the pronoun, singular "you" and its plural. For example, the German language offers "du" (or "Sie") to address the second person singular pronoun and "ihr" to indicate its plural. English's respective equivalents are "you" (or "you"), and, unhelpfully, "you". When addressing one's spouse, one's boss, or the entire world's population, the same word "you" is not only equally applicable, it's the only word we have. There are others commonly known to American TV viewers, but they are not considered polite.

Regional dialects attempt to compensate for that omission with the phrase "you all"; phonetically, "yawl". Ironically this may convey an impression of ignorance. In the spirit of open-mindedness I prefer to think they are just trying to be accurate.

As far as I know English is unique among languages for that omission. Such shortcomings and the misunderstandings that result from deficiencies in communication could conceivably explain the popularity of various wars and police actions that also characterize primarily English-speaking nations. But I digress.

JG; Maybe. Possibly. Yes.

Y'all is pretty definitely plural in Southern English. I think that "you all" can be singular for a couple of reasons in various places (or cases). An engineer here in town told me this, and occasionally uses "you all" to stress a point while softening it at the same time. That may be from her childhood in west Texas, or maybe just her.

The thing that I find most interesting about the English "you" is it's egalitarian nature. Most languages have a "you" for use on those above the speaker on the social ladder (usted in spanish), and a "you" for use with equals and below (tu in Spanish). English just has one and since we'd have to tack on a lot of verbal genuflecting or derision to really work that; we sometimes don't bother. That's nice.

There's also a linguistic theory that English kept the respectful form in use towards everyone and left the familiar form in the King James Bible for use with god, because theoretically that's who one is supposedly closest to. I choose to believe that train of thought and really like what I see as the reasoning behind it, as if language (or belief) has reason. -db