If you speak a language that has a formal 'you', when do you use it?
And what language and region is it?
I've noticed my language teacher uses the informal you in one language and the formal one in the other.
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In Finnish, we have a formal 'you', but it's kind of archaic and I there aren't really any situations where it should be used. In general, you should avoid formal speech. It's rarely used and sticks out, so instead of being polite it might even make you sound sarcastic.
Coming from that culture, German 'sie' felt awkward at first. It feels pointless, but at the same time quirks like this also make cultures more interesting. I remember this meme video where a guy insults a cop while addressing him with 'du', but as the cop turns towards him, he quickly corrects it with 'sie', making the insult 100 times better. That just wouldn't work here.
In English, I use it all the time because 'thou' has been dropped.
I remember this meme video where a guy insults a cop while addressing him with ‘du’, but as the cop turns towards him, he quickly corrects it with ‘sie’, making the insult 100 times better.
I think they're asking, not just turning around.
The joke being that they're asking politeness form while retaining the insult. IMO the asking adds impact over just turning around, because the officer is offering a chance to pull back.
Still can't find the video. They did say something along those lines, but "Sie Schwein" wasn't the kind of politeness they asked for. I remember they were about to leave, but then stormed the guy.
Here it is :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzlGdV5RTYY
Translating/paragphrasing:
Ah, thanks. I too remembered it as Schwein and not Wichser.