talking in the third person

[mollykins]

Have you met, or are you still friends with someone that talks in the third person, even about themselves?

Why do they do it? and what do you think of them?

[lslowry]

David Dickinson always calls himself " the duke". Very pretentious

[Kakurol]

mollykins - are you American?

if not then don't use the word gotten - "it looked like i'd gotten rid of ' me saying'" - the proper English word is GOT.

[bobjugs12]

I never said there was anything wrong with geeks lol


BTW what is it with attractive girls labelling themselves geeks nowadays? When I was a kid, a geek was not a good thing to be

[sandyRoe]

One believes that the orange muck he paints his face with may have damaged his brain.

[mike11111]

Worse than talking in the third person is being addressed in the third person. It is acceptable when talking to a very young child who may not be able to recognise the second person pronoun but recognises his/her own name, but not to a mature adult. It used to drive me wild when a very kind mature lady from church would always greet me with, "How's Michael today?" My response was invariably, " I don't know to which Michael you are referring, but if I see him I will let him know you are asking after him". Took a while for the message to sink in.

[cazzz1975]

I am bookish and indulge in geeky habits. I have always been a geek. its not about how someone looks, its about how their interests are interpreted by others.

when my friends used to drool all over bros, I used to watch formula 1

[Goodsoulette]

The rock did it and I found that quite endearing.

[sophie_1003]

If someone just did it because they thought it sounded cool it would really annoy me, like they're constantly updating their Facebook status out loud! However, if, for example, a person spoke in the third person and was on the autistic spectrum, wouldn't bother me a bit! Am reading a book at the moment actually where the boy in that (who has autism) speaks about himself in this way.

[coccinelle]

My MIL (she's french) speaks like that; maman this and maman that is sounds as if she's talking to little kids you know what I mean 'now, you must hold Mummy's hand etc' She's the only person i know who does it.

[mollykins]

kakurol, its a good job i'm not doing a-level english then. Anyway i've alway said gotten, isn't it a proper english word?

It doesn't annoy me by the way. I jsut find it odd and wondered if anyone knew someone that talks in the third person.

[mike11111]

Actually gotten is a correct alternative to got, but is archaic and no longer used in modern English, though quite common in 17th century texts.

[Old_Geezer]

I recall in primary school the teacher 'drumming it into us' that one should never use 'got', but always 'have'. To this day 'got' and 'gotten' sticks out like a sore thumb, and makes me wince a little.

[bobjugs12]

Well Jim thinks Bobjugs is an absolute supertsar, and is above the petty worries of word usage. Therefore you binking flobdobblers Jim thinks Bobjugs should just make up his own words. And refer to himself in in the third, fourth and fifth person.

Jim rocks and so does bobjugs!!

[mollykins]

is there even a fourth and fifth person? i know that there's a second, which i only learned a few months ago.

[mike11111]

No, there are only three persons:

1st - the person(s) talking
2nd - the person(s) addressed
3rd - the person(s) being talked about

[mollykins]

aahhhh, for years i had always wondered what the 2nd person was but never remembered to ask an english teacher. Could it be possible for a fourth person perspective and what would it be?