Addressing or Referring To Others
Just as it was important to use a humble form of "I", using a proper form of "You" was required to avoid potentially offending the addressee. For example, similar to the concept and usage of "Your Majesty" in British court, no one was allowed to use the regular pronoun "You" to address the emperor. The same concept of hierarchical speech habits and etiquette extended to people across all ranks and statuses. Often, the addressee's title or profession was used in place of the direct pronoun "You". Below are examples of proper substitutes for the second person pronouns "You" or "Your ~".
Read more about this topic: Chinese Honorifics
Famous quotes containing the words addressing and/or referring:
“But what is quackery? It is commonly an attempt to cure the diseases of a man by addressing his body alone. There is need of a physician who shall minister to both soul and body at once, that is, to man. Now he falls between two stools.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you.”
—Bible: Hebrew Deuteronomy, 6:15.
The words are also found in Exodus 20:5, referring to the second commandment: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image ... for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”