I've wondered for years why someone, when he/she is asked, "How did you feel when (it happened)?", laces their answer with the word "you", (i.e., "YOU were horrified . . .YOU started to feel afraid . . . YOU were disappointed . . . YOU were trying to get out of there . . . etc." when the question should be answered with the "I" pronoun: "I was horrified . . . afraid . . . disappointed . . . trying to get out of there, etc." Is using "YOU" a way to deflect feelings that may still be too strong to talk about in a personal way? Is it a way to get the audience to empathize? I was always taught to answer a question like "How did YOU . . . what did YOU . . . why did YOU . . . etc." with the pronoun "I". I've heard this happen many times, even with professionals answering questions on media like radio and tv and I think it's rather odd.
Welcome.
I agree it sounds odd, but I can't recall ever hearing it. It also sounds related to another thread about people who refer to themselves in the third person, often by name.
The only situation that comes to mind that might fit your description is when the question is using the impersonal you, as in "In New York do you say 'stand on line?' rather than 'stand in line'?" The answer to this question might well be "Yes, in New York you say 'stand on line.'"
This use of you is similar to the impersonal one which appears to be all but gone. "In New York does one say 'stand on line?'" "Yes, in New York one says 'stand on line.'"
If you find a clip on line, share it with us.
The real "why you" question is how English came to use "you" to represent an arbitrary person. While the formal version is "how does one clear the print buffer?", advice is usually sought (and given) in the second person: "you have to reset the initialization parameters, then you call up the maintenance menu".
"One" is more formal, but it can be overdone, as in the satiric VD lecture on an album by the Credibility Gap: "One does not always know what one is letting one's self in for when one entertains a member of one's opposite sex."
Thanks, Glenn and Ron, for your posts. I think your discussion of the use of "you" in English is a different issue than what I'm asking about, though. I contend that the use of "you" in my problem originally stated is not correct. I meant to ask why people being interviewed, when asked something like, "How did you feel when your brother was run over by a speeding car and killed in front of you?" will invariably say something like, "YOU feel helpless, YOU are horrified, YOU are afraid . . ." It's more of a personal question I'm asking about, rather than general information.
Ah, now I understand the question better. We need a psychologist to provide an answer, I think.
[pulls up armchair]
It's as if the person finds it easier to put some distance between themselves and what has happened – it's too painful to relive the event in the first person.