Single person plural

They, their etc. is the modern gender neutral personal pronoun. I don't mind it, as it serves a purpose.

But sometimes I DO mind these modern changes. Over here in Australia they have invented a plural of a plural, ie 'youse'. This means 'you' when there is more than one 'you'. 'You' is of course both singular and plural these days, even though it was exclusively plural when we still used thee and thou. 'Youse' may be useful, but I don't like it!!

Another useful but horrid modern word is 'innit', which seems to be used in the UK as a sort of 'n'est-ce pas' or 'nicht wahr' equivalent, even when its full form, 'isn't it' is not appropriate. I don't like this usage either!

Clearly our reactions to these modern usages are purely personal. I think we are stuck with them, like it or not.

Which leads me to the word 'like', which is used to signal a quote these days, by people younger than 40. I truly hate it!!

Joan, 'youse' is common parlance in Liverpool! 'You guys' is one of my dislikes.
It is sometimes difficult to avoid using 'their' when talking about people's belongings, as 'his or hers' is rather clumsy where gender is not specified.

Everyone says 'youse' in Ireland. And almost everyone says 'innit' in London, either because of habit or as a (joking) emphasis.

Youse is common in western Scotland too. Probably because of the large Irish immigrant population. That may be the reason for it in Liverpool too.

NB When I say Irish immigrants, I'm talking about a while ago. It's not recent immigration, but there is a strong Irish influence in Glasgow, for instance.

The response that really winds me up is 'whatever'.

'Whatever' can sound a bit dismissive, can't it? I have seen it used in a funny way though.

Yes, it's the tone of voice and the shrug which often accompanies it which is really infuriating.

What about 'Yeah, right' which proves that two positives can make a negative!

Yay !!!

DD over uses the word 'fantastic'
"Your item will arrive on Wednesday madam"
"Fantastic !"

No, the response is " good, thank you"

I don't find any of it infuriating though.

Their for a single person never bothered me before, I suppose I didn't really notice it. But used in an official document it seems sloppy.

I really hate 'fantastic' response. It usually shows the person just isn't listening.

But I have to confess to having used 'whatever' - with the shrug - and found it very satisfying.

I understand 'innit' has its roots in a Hindi idiom...

There's definitely a 'low-life' feeling about 'youse' though - 'Youse guys is all bums...' -

Youse is not low life in W Scotland, feetle; it's just the normal vernacular. Please don't assume otherwise.

For example, it would be perfectly proper and polite for me to dismiss the Cubs with "See youse all next week." I don't because I'm not a 'native' west of Scotlander.

Youse seems pretty common in New Zealand (which I don't mind) and so, apparently, is awesome (which I do).

How not native Bags? I find broad Scottish - especially the West and even more Glasgow - a completely different language. It could be Gaelic and I wouldn't know!

Bags, born and brought up in the West of Scotland as I was, I very rarely heard 'youse' used by my school mates.

When our sons email us, instead of 'Dear Mum and Dad' - it's "Hey guys!" or 'Hi, you two'.
I suppose it could be 'Hi youse two' and I wouldn't mind a bit.

You mean to say Bags that they don't use the salutation Esteemed Parents in their communications to you? Whatever is the world coming to?

"Aged P" is more like it, vegas! Especially from DD3.

It could well be Gaelic, nfk. The Celtic links between Scotland, Ireland and Wales are very strong here, and at one time the same language as was spoken in Wales and Cumbria was also spoken in Argyll where I live.

anno, maybe it's from further north than where you grew up? I've certainly heard it a lot in Argyll.

Maybe things have changed in the last 60 years, Bags. We weren't too far from Glasgow, though North Ayrshire has its very own accent.

I don't like to say what my younger son's salutations can be like. Luckily he hardly ever texts. It's all affectionate, though ... I think.