system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Are there examples of speakers purging synonyms for simply having too many of them?

If I have to elaborate further: Doing away with competing words. Like if two dialects merged, and the speakers decided to simplify.
gpt
Language isn't crafted intentionally, like that. It generally evolves over time. "You" used to be a plural pronoun only, but it changed over time to be used as a singular pronoun; it was even met with the same kind of vehement rejection that some have today for "they" as a singular pronoun. There's also plenty of words that are no longer used, like "thee" and "thou." They're still valid words, but they compete with "you," and so people have shifted to using the latter over time.