had evolved in order to prudently step around pronouns almost completely. Parts of this system began to erode around the Second World War or so, but the essentials held up into the 1960s. As the 20th century progressed, Swedish-speakers increasingly came to find this circumlocutive system of addressing, with its innumerable ambiguities and opportunities for unintentional offence, as a nuisance. In the 1960s, the so-called ('thou-reform') was carried out. First, authorities and influential circles tried rehabilitating the in a so-called " reform"—but most people could not bring themselves to feel civil using that. Then, almost overnight in what became known as the " reform", the system broke down, and (noted as informal above) became the accepted way of addressing anyone except for royalty. Addressing royalty went somewhat more slowly from a universal ('Your Majesty'), etc., to that address only on formal occasions, otherwise replaced by third-person (singular if the addressee is single) with title ( 'the King', etc.). These rules still apply, with marginal exceptions. The vast majority of Swedes, including younger people in most or all situations, stick to . In order to "alleviate the intrusion" in writing, e.g. in letters or in advertisement, the can be capitalized. That usage was most widespread in the early days of universal du-address; it has become slightly more common again simultaneously with the partial revival. Finland Swedish has undergone a similar development to mainland Swedish since the 1960s, but more slowly and slightly less radically. In Finland one may have to reckon with influence from the Finnish language, still slightly more conservative. In Finland Swedish, the second-person plural form (noted as formal above) was indeed the traditional respectful address to a single person up to the 1970s or so. Swedish also has verbs for the addresses: 'to say ', and 'to say '. Scots In Modern Scots the second person singular nominative (, Southern Scots , Shetland dialect ) survived in colloquial speech until the mid 19th century in most of lowland Scotland. It has since been replaced by / in most areas except in Insular Scots where (, Shetland dialect ) is also used, in North Northern Scots and in some Southern Scots varieties. is used as the familiar form by parents speaking to children, elders to youngsters, or between friends or equals. The second person formal singular or is used when speaking to a superior or when a youngster addresses