nosism, n. SECOND EDITION, 1989
[f. L. nos we + -ISM.]
1. An attitude of mind in a group of persons, corresponding to egotism in the individual.
1819 Blackw. Mag. V. 97 The egotism or nosism of the other luminaries of the Lake School, is at times extravagant enough, and amusing enough withal.
2. The use of 'we' in stating one's own opinions.
1829 Examiner 162/1 We will be consistent according to the fashionable virtue of the day in nos-ism. 1864 Edin. Rev. July 52 It tempts a man to indulge in Nos-ism, where modesty..would have made him shrink from undisguised egotism.
Ahh, beloved Nosism: long favored and renowned tone of the mathematical paper, herald of the morn, sovereign of all England. Source of such sentences as: "We shall show that A contains no largest number and B contains no smallest." We are highly amused by nosism, and hope to tame it, and teach it to manage small farming communities in Iowa.