Nosism

Nosism, from the Latin nos, "we", is the practice of using the pronoun "we" to refer to oneself when expressing a personal opinion.^[1][2]

Depending on the person using the nosism different uses can be distinguished:

The royal "we" or pluralis majestatis

The royal "we" (pluralis majestatis) refers to a single person holding a high office, such as a monarch, bishop, or pope.

The editorial "we"

The editorial "we" is a similar phenomenon, in which an editorial columnist in a newspaper or a similar commentator in another medium refers to himself as we when giving their opinion. Here, the writer casts themself in the role of a spokesperson: either for the media institution that employs them, or more generally on behalf of the party or body of citizens who agree with the commentary.

The author's "we" or pluralis modestiae

Similar to the editorial "we", pluralis modestiae is the practice common in mathematical and scientific literature of referring to a generic third person by we (instead of the more common one or the informal you):

• By adding four and five, we obtain nine.
• We are thus led also to a definition of "time" in physics. – Albert Einstein

"We" in this sense often refers to "the reader and the author," since the author often assumes that the reader knows and agrees with certain principles or previous theorems for the sake of brevity (or, if not, the reader is prompted to look them up).

This practice is also common in philosophy journals and texts, and comments in computer code.

The patronizing "we"

The patronizing "we" is sometimes used in addressing instead of "you," suggesting that the addressee is not alone in their situation, that "I am with you, we are in this together." This usage is emotionally non-neutral and usually bears a condescending, ironic, praising, or some other connotation, depending on an intonation: "Aren't we looking cute?" This is sometimes employed by health care workers when addressing their patients, e. g. "How are we feeling today?"

The non-confrontative "we"

In distinction to the patronizing "we" is the non-confrontative "we" used in T–V languages such as Spanish where the phrase ¿Cómo estamos? (literally, "How are we?") is sometimes used to avoid both over-familiarity and over-formality among near-peer acquaintances.

References

1. Oxford English Dictionary, Compact Edition, 1989, Page 1945
2. "A.Word.A.Day – nosism". Retrieved 11 January 2008.