TUTOYER
verb, to address familiarly
Perfect strangers tutoyer us or attempt to perpetrate socialite air-kisses near our faces."
In conversational French, the pronoun vous ("you") is used for formal address of individuals (as well as plural addressees familiar or otherwise), while the singular pronoun tu (also "you," a relative of Middle English thou) is reserved for use among intimate friends. A person who uses tu to address his or her supervisor or strangers, for example, is committing a breach of etiquette. The French verb tutoyer--literally, "to address with the pronoun tu"--was borrowed into English in the late 17th century to refer to this concept. "Tutoyer" was formed through a combination of "tu" with "toi," the familiar objective form of "you."
hugs always
karen charlie and enzo
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