Politeness of Miro Yo.

[brianca]

I've certainly read much about the plain imperative being very rude and almost insulting, but I also happen to hear it quite a bit in day to day usage. Espically 'miro' for some reason. I hear it a lot in movies in context that are not at all meant to be abrupt, and I hear it on the street a lot between people jsut pointing things out to each other. The most recent was at the zoo the other day a woman was telling her kid to look at the kaba, and she used miro. Not in a scolding kid of way, but in a 'wow, look at that' kind of way.

How is this normally used?

[Psy]

This is the kind of thing that textbooks say you should never use, but in real life it's heard all the time. Between people whom you have close relationships with, the imperative form isn't necessarily rude-- you might think of it in the sense of tugging on someone's arm and saying "come on! You've got to see this." I wouldn't try it with people outside your immediate social circle, though. I'm not nearly so experienced as many on this forum are, but if I'm not mistaken the yo actually softens the form a little.