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But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. How to Boil Pork Spare Ribs to Make Them Tender Bryan Lutz. Boiling pork spare ribs prior to cooking them completely will give you a succulent dish where the meat falls right off of the bone. Because of their thin shape, spare ribs will take less time to boil than whole chunks of meat. Raw pork spare ribs on brown paper.
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holier-than-thou
Sanctimonious; maintaining an obnoxious air of moral superiority or condescension. (Usually used before a noun, especially 'attitude.') While he makes good points, his holier-than-thou attitude is not likely to win him many allies.
a thou
A slang term for one thousand. It is pronounced like the beginning of the word 'thousand,' not like the archaic pronoun 'thou.' I could make a thou on that job easily, and then we wouldn't have to worry about money for awhile.
take (something) down a thousand
To be less intense, serious, or extreme, as in some emotion, behavior, or action. Usually said as an imperative. I know my perfectionism can be a real problem sometimes, so I've been trying to take it down a thousand recently.I know everyone is excited to see what the machine is capable of, but we all need to take it down a thousand before someone get hurt.Take it down a thousand, Bob—there's really no need to get so upset about this.
holier-than-thou
If you describe someone as holier-than-thou, you mean that they seem to believe that they have better moral qualities than anyone else. He has always sounded holier-than-thou.I'm not going to be all holier-than-thou about this.
holier than thou
characterized by an attitude of self-conscious virtue and piety.This phrase comes from Isaiah 65:5: ‘Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou’.
holier-than-thou
mod. superior in piety; condescending. She has such a holier-than-thou attitude.
Take it down a thou(sand)!
in. Cool down!; Calm down!; Quiet down! You are wild! Take it down a thou and let’s try again to talk this out.
Take it down a thou!
verbSee also: down, take
thou
(θɑʊ)n. one thousand. I managed to get a couple of thou from the bank, but I need a little more than that.
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What is the difference between thee and thou and how are they used?
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keithjgrantkeithjgrant1,82433 gold badges1515 silver badges2323 bronze badges
6 Answers
Thee, thou, and thine (or thy) are Early Modern English second person singular pronouns. Thou is the subject form (nominative), thee is the object form, and thy/thine is the possessive form.
Before they all merged into the catch-all form you, English second person pronouns distinguished between nominative and objective, as well as between singular and plural (or formal):
thou - singular informal, subject (Thou art here. = You are here.)
thee - singular informal, object (He gave it to thee.)
ye - plural or formal, subject
you - plural or formal, object
thee - singular informal, object (He gave it to thee.)
ye - plural or formal, subject
you - plural or formal, object
Interestingly, when the first English translations of the Bible were being made, the informal thee and thou were used specifically in reference to God to indicate an approachable, familiar God, but as the language changed this paradoxically brought thee and thou to sound more formal to the modern English speaker.
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keithjgrantkeithjgrant1,82433 gold badges1515 silver badges2323 bronze badges
‘Thou’ is historically perceived in Yorkshire (England) as being disrespectful, or over-familiar in a formal context, e.g. if used to address a teacher, or upon greeting a stranger… However, ‘thee’ is perceived to be more respectful, as with the French usage of the words ‘vous’ and ‘tu’, of which ‘tu’ is regarded as offensive if used inappropriately (another conversation altogether). Barnsley folk are especially well know for having the bad habit of using ‘thou’, including one instance I’ve heard of with a French teacher, who mistakenly believed it to be endearing, and quickly chastised her pupils once she was put in the picture.
A classic Yorkshire phrase, often attributed to Ossett:
Don't thee thou me, thee thou thissen, and 'ow tha likes thee thouing.(Don't you thou me, you thou yourself, and see how you like it!)
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D BoocockD Boocock
A paradigm would help here:
- I, me, my (mine) we, us, our(s)
- thou, thee, thy (thine) you, you, your(s)
- he/she, him/her, his/her(s) they, them, their(s)
A table would be better still but I don't know how to do that here.
Now all you've got to remember is that the left side of the second row is obsolete, so that both sides of that row are now the same.
If you're ever moved to try to sound archaic, as when using a rotary dial phone or having God over for tea, you can use the second row, choosing the appropriate form on the pattern of the corresponding forms in the first or third row.
There are still a lot of dialect forms heard in different places. For instance in a pub in Edinburgh I saw a sign above a urinal: NOW WASH YOUR HANDS. Under it one wag (or just a Scottish pedant) had written We Scots dinna pee on we'r hands. Perfectly good Scots - and perfectly good sense too.
Now all you've got to remember is that the left side of the second row is obsolete, so that both sides of that row are now the same.
If you're ever moved to try to sound archaic, as when using a rotary dial phone or having God over for tea, you can use the second row, choosing the appropriate form on the pattern of the corresponding forms in the first or third row.
There are still a lot of dialect forms heard in different places. For instance in a pub in Edinburgh I saw a sign above a urinal: NOW WASH YOUR HANDS. Under it one wag (or just a Scottish pedant) had written We Scots dinna pee on we'r hands. Perfectly good Scots - and perfectly good sense too.
frankfrank
Great answer from keithjgrant. Put otherwise, thou is closely equivalent to the French tu or the German du, and ye is like the French vous or the German Sie.
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MaxNMaxN
These answers are helpful. To succinctly clarify one aspect: Thou is a more familiar or informal way to say 'you.' Thee is the more formal way to say 'you.' Dustin Hoffman, as Ben Braddock, might say 'Dost thee desire tea, Mrs. Robinson?' but 'Dost thou desire tea, Elaine?'
SarahndipitySarahndipity
I was 'brung-up reet proper' around Preston, Colne, Lytham and so on. This is now forty years ago and these forms existed then and were in common use. Thou didn't exist except in approbation. If thou don't come 'ere reet now I'll give 'ee heck.
The most common usage was Thee/Thou art. You could never tell which it was because it was always spoken as Th'art. As pointed out before thy is possessive, but it could used in place of thee/thou.If thy (or maybe tha) wants some th'ard better get a move on. I am not quite sure what verb and conjugation 'ard is.
And th'all (they-all this time) knew a brogue was a shoe. (cf. y'all Central SE USA)
Only just realised ... them there Lancashire lads also tended to pronounce words like knew with an American-ish vowel sound.
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PaulustriousPaulustrious
protected by Community♦Apr 18 '14 at 15:03
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