IVP - Behind the Books - The editorial "we"

The editorial "we"

There's a word for it. Last week the A Word a Day e-newsletter from Wordsmith highlighted the word

nosism (NO-siz-em) noun

The use of 'we' in referring to oneself.

[From Latin nos (we).]

Anu Garg writes: As it's often used by editors, it's also known as the "editorial we". It's also called "the royal we" owing to its frequent use by royalty. Mark Twain once said, "Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we'."

Posted by Al Hsu at October 29, 2007 4:03 PM