1st person plural we and its forms

Hi all,

Yes, I know I shouldn't be starting threads when I'm about to go nomail on
vacation, but I had to say this because I just noticed it and i would have
forgoten it otherwise. (P.S. how does one go nomail, email me privately
PLEASE)

OK, so has anyone noticed the multiple meanings of we? All the other pronoun
slots seem to be pretty clear in who they can include, but English we can
also include the adressed person(s) 2nd singular or plural. Does any lang
make the distinction?

For example, if I were to say to Bill Clinton, "We've got to stay faithful
to our wives," I'd be referring to my wife and Bill's wife, not any other
unnamed wife. (even though I'm single and gay, but it's just an example) So
it includes the "you" person.

But if some telemarketer calls on the phone, and I say, "We're not
interested," clearly I am NOT including the telemarketer in the uninterested
classification, but am including the wife (who is albeit unexistant.) How do
you treat the discrepency?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jake
AIM: alwaysawake247
MSN Messenger: alwaysawake247@hotmail.com



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