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I've never heard of this word before. According to my source: "The word for the habit of referring to oneself excessively in the third person singular is "illeism" (from Latin "ille" meaning "he").
Hydra finds this so annoying. He wonders what the point is.
I seem to recall an episode of Seinfeld about this. Can anyone remember?
Edit: After all that I forgot my question!
Question: Is there a word for the "we" people use to mean "you" as in "Are we enjoying ourselves, hm?"
Hydra also finds this annoying.
And by the way, "illeism" was coined by Samuel Taylor Coleridge!
Last edited by Hydra; 11/08/06 03:38 AM.
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January 03, 2006 the worthless word for the day is: illeism
[fr. L. ille : he, that one, that + Eng. -ism] /IL e ism/ orig. a nonce word of Coleridge, until jerked into current usage in referring to pop icons, such as certain sports figures, who became illeists; e.g., Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson
excessive use of third person pronoun, esp. in reference to oneself; by extension, referring to oneself by name; hence illeist, one who does this
"For one piece of egotism.. there are fifty that steal out in the mask of tuisms and ille-isms." - Samuel Coleridge, The Friend (1809-10)
"Bo doesn't like that." - Bo Jackson (somewhen in the 80s)
"In the published novel, Grimes relation with Clutterbuck emerges from a series of coyly teasing hints, and his dull admission 'I've never really been attracted to women' becomes the splendid illeism '"Women are an enigma," said Grimes, "as far as Grimes in concerned"' - a formula Waugh would often use again when lost or despairing souls among his characters reflect on themselves." (1998) - Douglas L. Patey, The Life or Evelyn Waugh
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Hydra thanks you.
What do you think the pronunciation should be? "LEE" or "LAY"? Stress on which syllable?
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Quote:
January 03, 2006 the worthless word for the day is: illeism
a nonce word of Coleridge
Several times I saw "a nonce word " used in various threads. Nonce means "ät present" in old Enlglish: fore the nonce: for now. Yet it looks like on this board it is used in a different way. "A nonce word of Coleridge" , you say in your post. Do you mean by that a non existing or a nonsense word? Or maybe a new word?
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a word (as ringday in "four girls I know have become engaged today: this must be ringday") coined and used apparently to suit one particular occasion sometimes independently by different writers or speakers but not adopted into use generally <Coleridge coined mammonolatry in 1820 as a nonce word> <I still think I heard it, though so seldom that it had more or less the air of a nonce word -- S.T.Byington> - Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster (W3)
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Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Quote:
Hydra thanks you.
What do you think the pronunciation should be? "LEE" or "LAY"? Stress on which syllable?
/IL e ism/ tells me it would be pronounced like ILLEGAL IL-e-ism
"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton
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Quote:
I seem to recall an episode of Seinfeld about this. Can anyone remember?
I do not recall the Seinfeld episode, but in the (also now past) TV show Becker - which starred Ted Danson - there was a character who always spoke as an illeist. "Bob is very lonely" "That is not for Bob" "Bob would has been..." His name was Bob, by the way.
"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton
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Although it has been suggested by certain elitist factions that an illeist tendency smacks of pomposity, it is quite the opposite. A good example is the great Senator Dole, who is far more humble than his stature warrants. Illeism can take on a political aspect, partly as backlash from overexposure to the 'what about me?' mentality. At least one AWAD poster does not find it disagreeable.
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AnnaStrophic was just saying to herself, "Yo, ASp, wonder when Aramis is gonna get himself over to this thread?"
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