One of the tropes of science fiction that never quite jibes with me is the story of a distant future where people speak in Ye Olde English.  I understand that the language conveys a time when society was ruled more by religion than science, and that is often used to either convey a return to religion, or that science has attained the devotion that religion once held.  But it is very difficult to write “thees” and “thous” in a convincing manner.

Harlan Ellison is one of the top American writers of Science Fiction.  His characters use “thees” and “thous” poorly.  They speak Ye Olde English, the way many science fiction hacks write Ye Olde English.  I’m fairly certain that’s deliberate on Ellison’s part, that their language is meant to sound disharmonic, because it’s not the way they were raised to speak, it’s the way they decided was proper.

Purposeful or not, it doesn’t work for me.