How a person speaks, including the words he/she uses says a lot about that person’s thoughts and feelings toward a subject.

For example, I saw this in a local news item today:

“Approximately 192,000 North Dakota residents are renters. They are our construction workers and our nurses. Renters are our young families and they are our college students who are faced with increasing tuition costs. As the cost of living goes up and the price of rent goes up, they are the individuals who have been left out of the tax relief.”

One word in that paragraph (said four times) stood out at me. Can you spot it? I’ll give you a few spaces before I reveal the word below.

When a person adds “our” to another person or group, what exactly is he/she inferring?

“Our” implies possession or ownership, right? So by that reasoning, the person who said the above thinks and believes (even though he would vociferously deny it should someone ask him outright), construction workers, nurses, young families and college students are owned by the State.

Now one could argue that the politician is implying “our” in the context of family, such as when a parent describes “our” children. Considering the bill being discussed, however, I doubt he’s thinking in familial terms. I won’t get into the politics of the bill, because that’s not the point of this entry.

Construction workers, nurses, families and college students don’t belong to the politician or the State, whether in familial terms or ownership. They belong to themselves. If he had left out “our”, the meaning of his statement would not have changed. So why add “our” in the first place?