Thee and Thou

[FRITZ JUENGLING]

It wasn't just American English that dropped thee and thou--British English did so as well and the loss started (although was not completed) before the English came to America.  A common misconception is that America has been a "comparatively informal society."  The early English settlers, especially in Virginia, were reasonably well off and quite rigid in their social order.  So, the loss of thee and thou had nothing to do with any sort of informality or egalitarianism as your daughter's teacher is pondering.
Fritz J

>>> JJJRLandau at AOL.COM 09/27/05 05:36PM >>>
My daughter posed the following question:

My American civ professor was discussing how American English
dropped the informal 'thee' and 'thou' from our speech
patterns, and  thought it was strange that in such a
comparatively informal society, people  started referring to
each other by the more formal 'you'. Why did this  occur?

- James A.  Landau