Date: Tue, 24 Jan 1995 00:12:02 -0500
From: ALICE FABER faber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HASKINS.YALE.EDU
Subject: You guys
And while I'm at it, on the whole "you guys" thing... There was an AP story
today about citizen outrage in Japan about perceived government inefficiency
in response to the Kobe earthquake. The story ended with lots of person-on-
the-street quotes that I presume were translated from Japanese. From the story:
"A high school student told Chief Cabinet Secretary Kozo Igarashi: 'I
want you guys to do something, not as politicians but as human beings,
as soon as possible.'"
Is this simply a translation of a 2nd plu pronoun in Japanese? Or what? (The
article also notes that one of the other survivors speaking on a live national
tv dialog bet. survivors and government officials was specifically not using
the honorific style that people ordinarily use addressing leaders.
the honorific style that people ordinarily use addressing leaders.
There should be a close paren at the end of the last line, alas.
Anyway, I was just curious if anyone else had noticed this. The translation of
the student's remarks is certainly idiomatic English, but I was wondering
where the "you guys" came from.
Alice Faber
Faber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]haskins.yale.edu