Date:  Tue, 16 Apr 1996 18:35:37 EDT

From:  Patricia Kuhlman <GAKBC[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CUNYVM.BITNET>

Subject: the politician's third person



  Pols have been using the third person self-referentially for a long

time. If you doubt this, check out Julius Caesar's commentaries on

the Gallic war and the civil war -- all written in the third person --

presumably to maximize exposure of his name, promote the illusion of

objectivity and get around the tricky issues of either false modesty or

self-aggrandizement if the first person is used.

  I thought the list might enjoy this historical tidbit. Caesar's use

of the third person to refer to himself was the first thing to come to

my mind when this topic first appeared some time back.