Believe on me: WTF?

[Dennis R. Preston]

In most European languages with the T-V split, references to God in,
for example, the Lord's Prayer are "T" not "V." Check this out:

http://www.st-luke.org/lordsprayer.htm

dInIs

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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: Believe on me: WTF?
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><The teacher replied that all Christians (read: "Catholics and, perhaps,
>the Orthodox") are assumed
>to be personal friends of God and you don't speak formally to your buds.>
>
>What??  Protestants weren't included?!?  The KJV was sponsored by the
>Protestant Anglicans, remember!
>Be that as it may, James is doubtless right when he says most people today
>think of the thou/thee/thy paradigm as formal, not informal--as do most of
>my students until we do the Brown & Gilman tu/vos study.
>
>Beverly
>
>At 11:40 PM 8/30/2007, you wrote:
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>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: Believe on me: WTF?
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>When I was in high school. someone once asked why Latin prayers used
>>"Tu" instead of "Vos" or some other more formal term, given that God
>>often speaks of Himself as "We" (thus proving His Threeness, His
>>Trinity; like, if He was just one in the usual sense, He wouldn't call
>>himself "We." Would He? Well, would He?). The teacher replied that all
>>Christians (read: "Catholics and, perhaps, the Orthodox") are assumed
>>to be personal friends of God and you don't speak formally to your
>>buds.
>>
>>-Wilson
>>
>>On 8/30/07, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
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>>  > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  > Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
>>  > Subject:      Re: Believe on me: WTF?
>>  >
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >
>>  > Wilson is right; "believe on" is King James Version diction. I have
>>  > on uncommon occasion met people who adhere quite dogmatically to the
>>  > language of the KJV and who use "believe on Him" -- of course, in
>>  > secular things, they would say "believe in", but once God is
>>  > involved, the dialect changes (I was about to say the register
>>  > changes, but this is a big shift!). These are people who reserve
>>  > "thou" and "thee" for God and honestly believe (because no one's told
>>  > them otherwise) that this is a high formal form of address fit only
>>  > for a deity.
>>  >
>>  > I should add that I've never heard anyone saying that atheists believe
>>  off God.
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > James Harbeck.
>>  >
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>>
>>--
>>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>-----
>>                                                -Sam'l Clemens
>>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-4736
preston at msu.edu

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