'We' for 'I' in writing

[sagehen]

>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       RonButters at AOL.COM
>> Subject:      'We' for 'I' in writing
>>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------>
>-
>>
>> If we have discussed this before, I apologize. What I want to know is
>>how on=
>> e=20
>> might communicate to the folks who created MicrosoftWord's grammar
>>checker=20
>> that some of their advice is totally crazy. For example, in a legal
>>document=
>>  I=20
>> wrote:
>>
>> "During the academic year 2005=E2=80=936 I will chair both the
>>Linguistics P=
>> rogram=20
>> and the Department of English at Duke. ..."
>>
>> Word insists that this should be changed to read, "During the academic
>>year=20
>> 2005=E2=80=936 we will chair both the Linguistics Program and the
>>Department=
>>  of English=20
>> at Duke. ..."
>>
>> I have gained a little weight since January, but not enough to qualify
>>me as=
>> =20
>> plural. Nor am I the queen of England (who is reported to have once
>>said, "W=
>> e=20
>> and our husband are glad"). Nor am I a nurse--who apparently can get
>>away wi=
>> th=20
>> saying things like "It is time for our enema" (oh, but that is a
>>different=20
>> 'we'--here it means 'you'). Could this be some kind of Yankee reflex of
>>the=20
>> mysterious, ghostly, singular Y'ALL?=20
>>
>> Does ANYBODY teach students to write papers in which they refer to
>>themselve=
>> s=20
>> as crowds of people or stuffy old queens? That is soooo 1930s, it seems to
me (us?)
>>-----------
>Tell it you're beside yourself with frustration and anger. Oops. That might
>only encourage them.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Maybe it's proposing a partnership.
AM