The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #28671   Message #4160004
Posted By: DaveRo
23-Dec-22 - 09:18 AM
Thread Name: Lyr/Chords: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Today's Grammarphobia Blog entry is about this carol:

Gentlemen, God rest you merry!

Q: Which is the more traditional version of this Christmas carol: “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” or “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen”? I see it both ways, but the one with “you” looks better to me.

A: You’re right—“you” makes more sense than “ye” in this case, as we’ll explain later. In fact, the original pronoun in that early 18th-century carol was “you.”

But that isn’t the only misunderstanding associated with the song. There’s that wayward comma too. Here’s the story.


God rest y...     Keep well folks!