Non-Americans: Why do you use "we" and "our"?

Post Reply New Topic

I've been wondering this, for quite some time, now.....

Why do non-Americans use terms such as "we" and "our", when they're discussing U.S. politics, or things to do with culture in the U.S., etc.?

If you're not American / live in the U.S., what "we"----what "our"?

Just curious.....

It depends on the context but I don't try to personalize anything... I even avoid 'US' just so it wouldn't be confused for a pronoun.

I have caught myself doing this before. For me, it's because I live so close to the border. I have grown up watching American television as well. And also because decisions that the States makes will likely affect my country.

I am American and yet I never use "we" and "our". Maybe it's because I feel like I don't belong here. O.o

When I supported the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, I did so from afar ... literally and figuratively. I wanted it made clear that I supported the Scots, but had nothing to gain from their independence. To do otherwise would have seemed presumptuous in my opinion.

That non-Americans include themselves among Americans conversationally or otherwise, I wonder if it is a result of the history of the United States asking for the world's "tired" and "poor" to come here; having granted some subliminal citizenship, if not the real thing.

I think it's because some American issues are universal issues.

I see nothing wrong with non-Americans identifying with Americans.

I dont notice them do that except in cases when they are speaking about things that are not America specific.

Without specific examples from actual posts, hard to know exactly what you're referring to, but there's a great deal of cultural overlap in the anglosphere and beyond.

http://lnu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/di ... TEXT01.pdf

(see page 14 for a discussion of we as a collective pronoun).

I might say "We are an ally of the United States) - which is true - and it carries the same meaning as "New Zealand is an ally of the United States" (and all New Zealand citizens are bound by the reality of that fact).

Americans should express, more, identification with their allies. We tend to appear insular to people from other nations.

This insularity is prominent within our news coverage, with the exception of NPR and, at times, CNN.

Another example - American's would say "We have the Declaration of Independence, it is our founding document.." which communicates a broader collective reality than "I have the.. it is my founding document" which would minimise a collective reality to an individual one. Both are true in a sense, though the collective pronoun is more acceptable in common usage.

We humans are nothing if not flexible in the way we identify as member of groups.
We men of the west sometimes get confused about whether we are including women in the meaning we convey by the word men.
We North Americans sometimes forget that we are Mexican as well as Canadian and American.
We who have grown up in the Anglosphere sometimes forget how much our culture is historically interwoven with and influenced by others.

Etc.
It's a thing we do. One does. People do. Whatever.

This whole topic is meaningless.

The OP doesnt really explain what she's asking. Does she mean foreigners in generals? Or just foreigners here on WP?

And either way she fails to give a single example of actual posts, or statements,( nor even to give an example of a type of statement) to illustrate what shes talking about.

And I (for one) have never noticed foreigners doing this thing of talking about American politics as if it were their own country's politics. And I dont think that I am the only one who doesnt see this elephant in the room that she sees. So is this elephant not there, or are some of us so used to the elephant that we dont see it? You gotta give us examples to figure this out.

It can be said of New Zealand that "We are a multicultural country and our Bill of Rights recognises that". This cannot be said in the form of "I am a multicultural country and my Bill of Rights recognises that". Collective pronouns are simply a fundamental part of national and international discourses.

Nothing to do with the OP's question.

You are a New Zealander, and in that instance you are speaking about your country. And doing so in a consistent way that the OP approves of by saying "we" ( "we" having the obvious meaning of "we New Zealanders").

What I think that the OP is saying is that folks like you from -say- New Zealand- are always saying things like "we dont want this new law about curbing your dog that the US Congress just passed" as if you were an American citizen who would be affected by the new law-which you wouldnt be. So in that instance it wouldnt be obvious what "we" you would be referring to if you said that.

I do this with a number of of nations I have invested interest into.
I speak the same of Brazil, South America, the rest of the UK and Europe due to familial and geo locational ties, for example.