Re: How and why did English lose "thou"

ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote or quoted:

Other languages kept the whole formal/informal thing

  So, I've noticed that calling someone "Sir" in English kind of
  lines up with how we use the more formal "Sie" in German, where
  there's a bit of distance. On the other hand, if you use "dude",
  it feels a lot more familiar, like the German "Du".

  But it also depends on where you are. Like, if a woman in
  the audience asks a question during a talk, a speaker in
  the South might call her "Ma'am!" to bring her into the
  conversation. If you tried that in England, though, you
  might get, "Please don't call me 'Ma'am'!"