Russell McMahon wrote:

>> I would like comments on why various speakers in this forum use the term
>> "we" to refer to the country they live in, the sports team they favor,
>> some arbitrary group they belong to.

> We.

<-> You. 

One part of this is IMO that the English language doesn't provide (to my
knowledge) an easy way to distinguish between "you" (singular) and "you"
(plural). (This notwithstanding the Southern US idiom "y'all" -- which
seems to be rarely used here and I'm not sure would be generally called
"English" anyway :)  So writing "you" may very easily be responded with
"we" in a forum-type setting, where it is not clear what the "you" means.
This may then be the intended meaning -- or not. 


> Politics: Nigh on 50% of USA'ites (them / you) voted for the idiot in
> office at present. Almost 50% voted for the idiot not in office who
> wanted to be. 

Actually little more than 20% of USA'ites voted for each. There is still
hope :)

Gerhard

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