Monday, December 18th, 2006...11:28 am
A Reconsideration
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Okay, I’ll relent a bit. I’ll cut Time a break for their lame “You are the Person of the Year” thing. Why? For linguistic reasons.
In English, we make no distinction of singular or plural “yous,” except in regionalisms (y’all, youse). So, I don’t know exactly which “you” they are refering to. This would be so much easier in Spanish or Polish.
I also don’t know if this is familiar or formal. Since we ditched the “thou” (along with its plural, “ye”), I can’t tell if Time is respecting me (or us, for that matter) or putting me down.
It could be none of these; it could even be the eliptical you.
I’ll go ahead and reserve judgement until all of this gets cleared up.
3 Comments
December 18th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
And the reason we’re Person of the Year — MySpace and YouTube.
I am frightened and confused.
December 18th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
Jane, the whole reason behind the YOU bit goes beyond YOUTUBE and MYSPACE, but includes Web 2.0, such as Wikis, blogs, et al. It represents the involvement and the impact that the individual has on news, communication. These things are changing how we learn , communicate, and get our news. They are not saying that it is all for the better, Time is just acknowledging the reality of it.
Time has honored controversial figures before, and this is no different
December 18th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Wow, wildcat. Our synapses have some common threads.
Web 2.0 is a big deal. In fact, I don’t think “we” or You even get it yet. As Mr. Spock would say, “Fascinating.”
My daughter will not grant me access to her Facebook material. Yes, Jane, frightening.