Can we say "they two" the way we say "you two"?

I am familiar with the expression "you two" used in sentences that address two people at once, as in:

You two weren't present in the meeting.

But is it okay to use this kind of expression in the third person? As in:

They two weren't present in the meeting.

Or should it be:

The two of them weren't present in the meeting.

Or should I just mention the names of the two persons I am talking about?

I have heard some people using the terms "these two" or "those two", but isn't it a bit disrespectful/informal to use the pronouns "these" and "those" to indicate humans? So maybe I should use "these two"/"those two" only in case of close friends?

Solution 1:

Though I can find examples of "they two", it just doesn't sound idiomatic to me as a native speaker.

Maybe you and I both can agree the better word to use here is both? See?

It's pretty flexible too. I'd use "both" with any number of words, even in objects, plus in longer phrases:

• We both
• Us both
• You both
• They both
• Them both
• You and I both
• You and me both
• X and Y both
• Both you and I (and so on)

A COCA collocation search would seem to support this, though I can't tease out the instances where both goes with the verb: "(did) both X and Y".

As for why, I'm not sure but it's relevant to note that as recently as Middle English there were single words for "we two" and "you two": wit and yit, plus unk and ink (including their derivatives, like inkself which refuses to translate neatly into modern English), but none for they/them or the words they replaced (heo/hem). Though it does appear as two words: "they two".

In spite of this, I don't find "we two" very idiomatic either. (One more and you get something like "We Three Kings" which only works because it's archaic.)