I've seen this quote before, but was surprised to actually come across it while reading.

#Quaker #Books

For those who wish to see what happens next, the text is available online:

https://archive.org/details/historyoflifeoft00ellw/page/24/mode/2up

@jetton @carrideen COOL!

@jetton a Counter-Blaste to Wokke

@jetton @juergen_hubert Thank thou for providing this most Amusing and Correct essay in which the evils of saying You to One are so accurately explicated. I shall endeavour henceforth to give Honour where it is Due and to reserve You for the Plural and Thou for One.

@jetton
Full Alt text added.
Hey, did you know that Google Lens doesn't recognize the 'long S'?

@jetton best letter to the editor ever

@jetton omg YES. what's this from?

@jetton oh nm follow up. 🙃

@jetton LOL! Well, no need to worry. This can all be nicely solved by using YOU to One, and Y’ALL to more than One, which has always been used by DOLLY to Men, etc etc 😄

@jetton Would it kill you to do a proper alt text? You might as well just write "fuck you blind people" as this non-descriptive copout.

@jetton I'm especially confused that this author seemed to believe that English is an ancient language & that literally any biblical figures were English speakers

@jetton just wait til they find out what happened to ſ.

@jetton God, like movie nazi's, prefers to speak English.

@jetton Long before "this evil cuftom" of they/them, there was you/thou. 😄

@jetton Well, he's not quite right.

Thou (subject) & Thee (object) are the singular forms.

Ye & You are the corresponding plural forms.

So, he should have been advocating for Thee

@jetton lol they spelled falafel wrong

@jetton I started read this and I love that using the singular "you" is one of several "evil customs" he gave up, including the wearing of rings, ribbons, and excess buttons 😂

@jetton Man, I miss Timecube.

@jetton Not sure if this is related, but I once heard that at some point some people started reading the thorn mark (ᚦ ) as a y, since it's somewhat similar, giving stuff like "ye olde record shoppe".

@jetton It's kind of weird not to have a specific second person singular pronoun so I'm reluctantly in agreement here.

@jetton

Jonathan Swift was all het up about this too.

@jetton thif evil cuftom

@jetton I love it. I love especially the unhinged way this writer seems to think the bible he reads was always and originally the King James Version. A refined and cultured gentleman who has never heard of Greek or Aramaic.

@jetton @timbray Once upon a time “you” was reserved for social equals or betters, and “thou” for people sort of lower down the chain, or folk you were really familiar with. (This still happens in many Indic languages for instance)

“You” for everything was both simpler and egalitarian. I can totally see how some would be upset by this!

@jetton Wow, that's a good pronoun rant!

@jetton
Unhinged ranting for sure!

@jetton why are the 's' different typeface in the same text string.

@jetton "fenfelefs fpeaking" indeed.

@jetton

@jetton I mean, he does have a point though. The lack of distinction between plural and singular you is quite annoying to someone speaking English as a second language.

@jetton compromising and saying you like thou when it means one person, and like yoo when it means a group

@jetton changing my pronouns to you/thou

@jetton It fure looks like Grouchy crank Defenfef of TRADITION have Alwayf had that all-too-familar ftyle of Random Capitalization.

I can't explain that but I can enjoy it anyway. This writer would have loved Facebook.

@jetton he doesnt mince words, this one.

@jetton transcription by @Masimatutu https://mander.xyz/comment/4993102

@jetton Indeed, a “falfe and fenfelefs way of fpeaking”!

@jetton
I'm fenfing an epifode of indignant and furiouf hypertenfion! Verily!

@jetton It appears that some arguments are eternal

@jetton Bring back thou! (although I'm fond of y'all)

The title page in case you want to pick up a copy at your local bookshop.

@jetton

It's funny, because it's the same kinds of arguments we get for the #SingularThey

@jetton
I was watching a Crusade (Babylon 5 sequel) episode last night where an archaeologist was commenting on discovering an alien language had no pronouns and I had to think he's discovered a planet full of Republicans.

@jetton Language is an interesting cognitive and even religious tilt sometimes. https://www.ep.tc/realist/89/67.html

@jetton I can’t speak for anyone else, but my Spirit and Manners have definitely suffered for it.

@jetton Couldn't do better myself.

@jetton Things haven't been the same since we stopped using dual pronouns. What's wrong with thinking of people in twos?

https://oldenglish.info/pro3.html

@jetton makef fenfe to me

@jetton this has grealy lifted my spirits.

@jetton @beng honeftly I deteft this manner of fpeaking.

@jetton You might be on to something. I mean, thou might be on to something. ☺️

@jetton It's juſt ſad.

@jetton @Cdespinosa I need to know what this person would have said about “y’all.”

I'm astounded that so many people are into 300 year old religious autobiographies.
I thought I was the only one.

The fediverse never ceases to surprise.

@jetton Yes! From here on out, I will be will using “thee” & “thou” to address anyone objecting to using a plural pronoun for single individuals.

@jetton That had made my day!!! 😍

@jetton who could have guessed that all modern issues are because we stopped saying thou

@jetton if we’re getting up in arms about grammar, i have to note that this is one heck of a run-on sentence

@jetton @Cdespinosa it’s so much better now with “youse” and “y’all” and even “all y’all”. The clarity just keeps improving

@jetton I'm ready to bring back "thou".

@jetton That'ſ quite entertaining; though their love of uſing the 𝑓lamboyant ſ abſolutely doeſ my head in. They could atte lea∫t have employed the even more outrageou∫ one now u∫ed in integral∫ a∫ itte *look∫* a bit like an ∫. I mean s. And not an f (or ƒ or 𝑓... whatevſ).