(Person that actually uses sumercé here.)<p>The article is reading way too much into it, and it forgets a very important piece of information:
The origin of <i>usted</i> is "vuestra merced".
Spanish had T-V distinction, like most romance languages,
but <i>usted</i> superceded <i>vos</i> as the formal 2nd person pronoun.<p><i>sumercé</i> is a word that had the same process,
just starting from "su merced" instead, since in Colombia
—like in all other latin american countries— <i>vosotros</i> is not used.<p>That's it.
Not all of Colombia uses that word - it's more of a thing of an specific region. My parents were born there, but as they were brought to Bogotá in an early age, they barely use it. Though I use it more than them as I feel it conveys more sincerity than the "official" ones (tú, usted).<p>Weirdly enough, some colombians seem to despise this word or look down on us who use it.
So I'll add another fading oddity from my own hometown in the south of Spain. We use <i>ustedes</i> (short of very archaic "vuestras mercedes" BTW) instead of <i>vosotros</i>.<p>That would seem not so odd, being <i>ustedes</i> the plural form of formal "you" <i>usted</i>, if not because <i>ustedes</i> should match "they" in verbal forms, while in fact it match plural "you". So no "ustedes saben" but "ustedes sabéis".<p>Even usted/ustedes is fading away, TV is so powerful. But I still hear that when back there for holidays.
AFAIK, only old people say that, and only in the region of Cundinamarca (Bogotá).<p>That is a very-very small number of people to write such an article, haha.