generic you

noun

generic you

noun
1

The pronoun you, used to refer to an unspecified person or to people in general.

  • The generic you can include more than just the direct addressee of the speech — it can even include those who are only over-hearing (or ‘over-reading’), suggesting that the reader could feel like they are also addressed by the pronoun.2015, Zsófia Demjén, Sylvia Plath and the Language of Affective States: Written Discourse and the Experience of Depression, page 161:
Synonyms
one, they

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.