“Et aap, Brute?” – North Indian Julius Caesar
I borrow my title from a Tweet by one Shivam that is part of a Twitter Storm sweeping over India these days. It is playfully described in this BBC article today:
Tu v Aap: The Indian woman who sparked a Twitter battle on pronouns
By Geeta Pandey and Meryl Sebastian, BBC News, Delhi
Never mind how one says "you" in French or German, it matters much how one says "you" in different parts of India.
In India when you call someone "you", how do you address them? Do you call them a respectful "aap" or an informal "tu" or use the middle-of-the-road pronoun "tum"?
That's the question that Indian Twitter has been debating for the past few days.
It started earlier this week with a tweet from Pratibha, a 31-year-old Delhi-based woman, who said it was rude to use the informal "tu" to address a stranger.
"Never engage with Bombay [Mumbai] people in Hindi. You could be complete strangers and they'll still feel free to address you with a 'Tu'. Unacceptable behaviour," she wrote.
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