A word we need

No, this isn’t anything spiritual – just about one mundane but very useful word that has fallen into disuse.

One fun little Christmas song that’s been on the radio is a children’s choir singing “Children, Go Where I Send Thee”. This is an example of a grammar mistake that annoys me far more than it ought. If we change it to the third-person statement: “the children must go where I send her”, the error should become obvious to everyone. So why “thee” instead of “ye”? “Thee” isn’t used in ordinary conversation and, due to its role in the KJV, folks use it in the religious context, stripped of its original role as the familiar.

Folks from some parts of the country have replaced ye with y’all, youse, you’uns, y’ins or all’y’all. At least they recognize the utility of a second-person plural pronoun.

I remonstrate: “ye” is a word that we need!