When everyone here was younger, did any of you here anything such as the following:
"The ______ Tribe of _______ didn't have words for my, mine, his, her, hers, your, yours, their, theirs. They shared everything so the proper words were our or ours.
For some reason while I was watching TV earlier this evening, the thought of somone in my youth reciting that statement entered my mind. Here's a problem that I just realized with that saying. Of course people can say "our car" or "our food" or even "our jobs." But there are certain things that belong to just one person. Could you actually refer to your blue eyes as our blue eyes or could you seriously say our last bowel movement? Of course not. Somehow I think it's just the expressed sentiments of collectivists. But not matter how collectivist one may aspire to be, not everything can be possessed by all the people. "