From: utzoo!decvax!watmath!jcwinterton Newsgroups: net.followup Title: Re: English language Article-I.D.: watmath.2411 Posted: Mon May 17 11:54:15 1982 Received: Tue May 18 01:54:41 1982 References: ihnss.3422 Further to Mike Morgan's article on second person pronouns, in Italian the "tu" form is strictly familiar and used for family of equal and lower rank, comrades and girl friends (after agreement). "Voi is used as an intra-familial form of respect for uncles, aunts, parents, grandparents etc. The real formal form is "lei" which is the third person, feminine singular. As I recall it, my Italian prof said is is drivied from the phrase "Spero que la vostra signoria sta bene" (I hope your highness is well). Signoria is feminine and so the pronoun is "lei" (she, her). When you hear newly arrived Italian speakers who are learning English, it is common to hear them say "How's she going". (come state lei). I don't know how things are in Italy currently, but I suspect modern life has eroded a log s/log/lot/ of formalisms now. John Winterton.