Language is fun, human society is fun, and when they are combined in a tradition so common as to be almost invisible, like air, that's even more fun! Hence the "T-V Distinction" – special-familiar tu versus normal-formal vos. In times past thou and similar tu-words in other languages, according to linguist David Crystal, could be used:

• talking "down" to people or children, or among people of a "lower class"
• speaking "up" to God, ghosts, witches, or similar supernatural beings
• addressing someone who was absent, in a rhetorical fashion

In contrast, you and other vous-words would be said to one's superiors or among the sophisticated. Nowadays, in most languages, social gradations are faded and disapproved. But among family and friends, tu-ing is still something sweet to show connection!

(cf The Classicist (2004-09-09), Smell of Good Prose (2006-07-03), Babel-17 (2015-10-20), Language, Science, Art (2018-05-24), ...) - ^z - 2020-12-25