Are you talking about using second person plural to speak to individuals, or something else?
No, not that. In Spanish, French and German (and probably loads more, but I wouldn't have a clue) there are two ways to use the second person, the "normal" and the "polite" way, in Spanish for example "tu" is "you" when speaking to a friend, someone your age, a close relative,etc. and "usted" is the same but when speaking to people considerably older, teachers, your boss/superior, people you don't know in general, etc. Same with "du" and "Sie" in German and "tu" and "vouz" in French. And I don't like using the polite way at all, I always feel awkward using it, in Spain people almost never use it, but in Latin America it's very common, like my wife always speaks to my mother the polite way, with "usted" and calling her "Señora Mary" instead of simply "Mary", and I bypass all that shit and call my in-laws by their name and treat them as equals. I don't know much German, but I've read it's much more common to use the polite way than in Spanish, maybe some of the aushcwitzians here can help
"lb" is not an abbreviation of Pound.
I remain to be convinced.
Yes it is. Tons of abbreviations in English use the Latin words for some reason, E.G. (Exempli gratia), A.D. (Anno Domini, year of the lord)
Edit: Travis, I think I see what you mean about the plurals, in French it is that way, the second person plural is the same word and verbal form than "polite" second person singular, in Spanish they're different words and forms. German is halfway there, same word except for a capital letter (Sie= polite you, sie= plural you, and "her" as well) but the verbal form is different.
P.S. my French and German knowledge is purely literary, I have little to no experience with real-life German or French, so I will gladly stand corrected if I'm wrong.
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