They Know Who They Are

One of my company commanders in the army frequently used this expression, to the point that people used to quote him long after he wasn't our company commander anymore: "Certain individuals, we won't mention their names, they know who they are,.....". I believe what he was trying to say was that all of us weren't on his shit list, just some of us. Rather than read us the whole list, he would just say what he said, and everybody knew what he meant. Well, it's the same thing when people say "they". It means some people, not everybody, and certainly not you or I. Neither you nor I voted for Trump, but some people must have voted for Trump or he wouldn't have been elected. Of course some people must have voted for Hillary too, you did but I didn't. When addressing you, it would be appropriate to say, "You (plural) voted for Hillary", but if I was addressing somebody else, and I didn't know for whom he voted, it would be more appropriate to say, "They voted for Hillary (or Trump)." "They" is what you say when you don't mean "you, me, or us". I suppose "they" could have a religious connotation, but it doesn't have to. If I was talking to a Protestant about some Catholics, I would call the Catholics "they" but, if I was talking to a Catholic about some Catholics, I would call them "you"(plural).

Funny thing about the word "you", it can be either singular or plural, at least in the English language. When I was a kid, we used to say "youse" when we meant "plural you", but the teacher made us stop, said it wasn't good grammar. I suppose it would be more specific to say something like "you people", but that sounds like you're talking down to them. Now that I think of it, there are lots of words and phrases that our teacher wouldn't let us say, and now they even say them on television. I was talking with some younger people on the internet once, and I asked them when did "suck" become not a dirty word. None of them remembered that "suck" was ever a dirty word, they thought it was just a common word that people said. Well, if they can make "suck" a regular word, why can't they make "youse" the correct plural of "you"?

I have heard and read numerous times that a lot of Republicans don't like Trump. Indeed, I seem to remember there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth when he won the primary. What do the Republicans who like Trump call the Republicans who don't like Trump, and vice versa? My guess is that they both call each other "they". I'm pretty sure that the Democrats and Republicans also call each other "they", unless they are talking  to one of them, in which case they would call them "you". They really should say "youse, or youse guys", but they won't, even though the teacher who told them not to is probably long gone. Somebody should tell them that you don't have to listen to teachers after you are no longer in school.