It doesn't.
English usage and grammar
A community to discuss and ask questions about English usage and grammar.
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Online resources:
- Cambridge English Dictionary
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus
- Gilman's Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. This is a great and witty reference about usage, its history, and its controveries
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(Icon: entry "English" in the Oxford English Dictionary, 1933. Banner: page from Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale".)
I guess I just disagree.
The perhaps you should be answering the question you posed.
Like most of English, it's very situational and not automatically rude. It's mostly rude when being declarative (with no authority) and/or dismissive.
“you two are so cute together”
Wow, rude!
What are you two doing here?
What are you doing here? Sounds just as rude.
I don't know the terminology, but I think it's because it's a direct indirect. It's like saying, "you there" instead of referring by name or using like, "excuse me sir/ma'am" or even skipping the direct call out altogether and saying, "could I get some help"
Basically it skips all formal addressing and is like using slang to people unfamiliar. If you are familiar then it's rude because you should know their names. I think the main time something like that is used is in an informal setting where nobody is actually familiar with each other, or in a scenario where immediate direction is required without prior familiarity.