If people only spoke in third person.

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How would things sound if people only spoke in the third person?

When referring to themselves instead of saying "I" they said their name. When talking to someone instead of saying "you" they said the person's name.

Fnord likes this idea.

There is only one of me.

In case you dont know:

If you say "I", or "me", in a sentence you are speaking in "the first person".

If you say "you" to address the person with who you are speaking that is "the second person".

And if you say "he, she, they" that is "speaking in "the third person".

We are not pleased with being spoken of by heretofore un-named parties Especially in the third persons.

Thanks. It is hard to think about. Is the things I failed in when trying to make sentences in other languages. I can do English grammer because I speak it. But... How the English language works... Uhmmm. My Mum is good at this. Is her special interest.

Oh. I can do this. Put "We" instead of "I". That is how the queen speaks.

Trans people would out themselves really quickly...

HRH Queen Elizabeth of England .

Of Britain. Not just England.

Ooopps please forgive my indiscretion . Mistook England , to be all of Britain . Sorry

Don't some languages actually speak only in third person? Or do all languages have first, second and third person?

Also, could there possibly be a forth person? Or is it just first, second and third?

Then comes the question of Southern areas of USA , is. Using the word “ yah All”. Is that speaking in the third person ?

That’s an interesting question about other languages ?

Vamp liked the idea .... until y'all went into depth

Then there is my person version of third , plus person language “ Allz Yallz”

no no no

"You" is "second person singular". "Yawl" is "second person plural".

I will get to an interesting point in a moment, but first ...it breaks down thus.

I/me" is first person singular. "We" is first person plural. "you" is 2nd person singular, AND is also 2nd person plural (in standard US and UK English), but most European languages have a separate second person plural.

And "he/him/her/Joe blow/that guy over there" ...etc are all 3rd person singular. And "they" is third person plural.

Whats interesting is that most European languages have a formal "you" that doubles as the plural "you" (if you are addessing a group), and a familiar informal "you" which is only singular. You spoke to individuals who out ranked you with the formal you, and you spoke to groups with the formal you. You spoke to familiar individuals with the informal you.

In Spanish informal is "tu" and formal and plural is "usted".

Three hundred years ago English was the same. Informal was "thou", and formal was "you" which could double as plural.

The Quaker faith is all about equality. So they made it a duty to address everyone by the then informal form of you: thou.

But later "thou" was dropped from the English language entirely. And we just use "you" indescriminately(which renders the Quaker custom meaningless now).

The upside is that we English speaker no longer have to worry about the rank of the person we are addressing when we say "you".

The downside is that we no longer have a plural "you" (a needed thing).

In the American south they reinvented that with "yawl", and in western Pennsylvania they did so with "you-ins". And the Irish and Italian immigrants in Boston and in NYC simply stuck an S on the end: "I want the both of ya's to zip it!".