MANY languages use different words for “you”, depending on the relationship between the speaker and the addressee. “You” tends to have two versions throughout Europe (tu and vous in French; du and Sie in German; tu and lei in Italian, etc), and knowing how to use them is a big part of linguistic savvy. Typically the first form is for close friends, family members, children and social inferiors; the second is for unknown adults, colleagues and superiors.

The details differ a bit from language to language. Last time Johnson took up this subject, I wrote that the German Sie is “is almost mandatory between all adults who are not friends”. Germans have traditionally taken care to agree explicitly to begin using du; sometimes this formal acknowledgement of a relationship’s intimacy is accompanied by a ceremonial toast. (A speaker can tactfully broach the subject by re-introducing himself by his first name and inviting the addressee to do the same, and complete the switch to du.) Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, agreed soon after Francois Hollande’s election as president of France to use du, tu, “François” and “Angela”. But such haste is rare, and counts as signal of the special Franco-German…Continue reading

from Prospero http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/12/formality-language?fsrc=rss
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