Personal Pronouns

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='zunshynn' post='1941391' date='Aug 5 2009, 06:38 PM']She's actually Swiss, but like I said, she's a little eccentric. She could have been exaggerating somewhat. We're talking about a lady who swore all the time in class. But she did seem serious when she said we should never refer to someone with tu unless they were family, or a classmate our age or younger.[/quote]
Interesting. I've had teachers from Haiti, Francophone Canada, and the South of France, and they all would routinely use tu when speaking to us (we, of course, would only respond in vouvoyer)..

Edited August 6, 2009 by USAirwaysIHS

[Marie-Therese]

In French I was always taught exactly what several have mentioned here, to use the formal second person pronoun unless it was someone with which you had a close familiar relationship. To use the informal is considered a disrespect. Were I in a mass using a language which had such distinction, I think I would use the formal. However, I don't think I'd be that scrupulous about using the informal for personal prayer. It's a question of intimacy, I guess.

The lack of a parallel in English sort of does away with that issue, but I do find that in mass settings I feel as though a more formal, reverent approach is appropriate. For personal prayer, depends on what I'm saying. Sometimes I'm more formal, other times very informal.

Is that a vague enough answer? LOL