[lit-ideas] Re: "I" as a hypercorrection
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 20:04:46 -0700
on 10/11/04 5:48 PM, JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx at JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx wrote:
> Parents, but Mothers in particular I think, get in the habit of
> self-referral in the third person. Probably because when they have infants
> they wish to
> teach the infant to recognize them as Mommy, they start with tiny sentences
> like "can you hand the toy to Mommy?", "where's Mommy's nose?", move on to
> "Okay, be a good girl for Mommy and afterwards we'll go for ice cream" and at
> some point a Mommy finds herself in this exchange.
>
> "Okay, Bronwyn, Mom will pick you up at 3:00 this afternoon from 7th grade
> band."
>
> "Mom, wouldn't it creep you out if I said, 'Mom today after school Bronwyn
> wants to go to the movies.'?".
>
This may require further study by experts and hexperts. I will say, before
I rant, that it is an odd phenomenon, something almost as worthy of study as
what I intend next to study, namely, how the yodel got to cowboys.
My mother didn't start talking about herself in the third person until she
became a grandmother and, if memory serves--which it usually doesn't, having
recently left the United Brothers of Jeeves International in favor of the
Trotskiing Sisterhood of Marx-o-Comic Bald Irishpersons, who now regret
all--she didn't actually start talking about herself just as the queen does
before the Queen reached her dotage. That would be after the group "Queen"
was long dead.
My wife has never talked about herself in the third person, "Hello babies,
come to doctor." It doesn't work. And if she starts doing this, I'm pretty
certain I'll be standing on the bunions of giants, jumping on them maybe,
and waving a "call 911" piece of accordian cardboard right quick.
David Ritchie
Portland, Oregon
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