This morning Ethan said the prayer for breakfast and he tried to use formal English for the first time. Of course, it didn't come out well at all; but, hey, most adults struggle with it. Heck, I struggled with it when I first joined the Church. I think it is some kind of weird initiation rite, or something.
I have come to realize that none of us really knows how to use the terms appropriately. We just sprinkle some "thee's," a few "thou's" and a dash of "thine" in with our prayer, and call it good.
So, my question is: to what extent should we use these terms?
Growing up, prayer was more of a general expression of gratitude for the good things we had, but it was very rarely directed at a particular deity. So, when I was introduced to the way Latter-day Saints prayed it was a very strange experience. I remembered a few terms from some Shakespeare that I read in High School, that I tried to throw in the mix. I think there was even a dost in there somewhere. At any rate, it wasn't quite what people were used to hearing.
I think that I became really dedicated to using old English after my mission. It sounded something like: Wilst thou remember thy servant who dost thy will. That's a rough approximation. The problem I ran into is the dang language barrier. Nobody talks like that anymore.
So, how do we know to what extent to use those terms? Maybe just a little dab'll do.
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