Actually it’s dying out in French (or possibly going back to being a singular/plural distinction rather than a familiar form), I sound gloriously stuffy because I’m not very good at the tu forms and tend to call people vous even once I’ve been properly introduced. My French teacher said “You will never know anyone French well enough to call them tu, so there’s not much point in learning that, except for the exam”. That was probably true in the 1950s.
In Greek and German it’s even worse, the second person singular and plural are both familiar, for friends and family only. With strangers you have to say things like: “Would the gentleman care for a glass of beer”, and sound like some sort of creepy servant.
Cabinet Minister: On se tutoie?
Mitterand: Si vous voulez.
Actually it’s dying out in French (or possibly going back to being a singular/plural distinction rather than a familiar form), I sound gloriously stuffy because I’m not very good at the tu forms and tend to call people vous even once I’ve been properly introduced. My French teacher said “You will never know anyone French well enough to call them tu, so there’s not much point in learning that, except for the exam”. That was probably true in the 1950s.
In Greek and German it’s even worse, the second person singular and plural are both familiar, for friends and family only. With strangers you have to say things like: “Would the gentleman care for a glass of beer”, and sound like some sort of creepy servant.