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As is known, to avoid excessive use of we is not an easy task, especially if we also wish to avoid the passive voice, but some style guidelines says that not only one should avoid excessive use of we, but also the excessive use of I.

Since I found that wegotism is defined as 'Excessive use of the pronoun we; - called also weism,' I'm wondering whether there is a word meaning 'excessive use of the pronoun I'.

I attempted to find 'iism' without luck.

So, my question is, what do you call the 'excessive use of I' in speech or in writing?

JSBձոգչ
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  • The excessive use of any term would be "repetition" or "repetitive". Avoiding repetitiveness is a major reason why it's discouraged to use "we" or "I" frequently. – Zibbobz Sep 18 '13 at 17:02
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    HoldenCaulfielditis? – bib Sep 18 '13 at 17:10
  • What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff... – RyeɃreḁd Sep 18 '13 at 18:41
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    Avoiding a sense of egotism is another reason to avoid repeated use of "I", "me" and "we", though it's more an attitude than a pattern of writing. – Zibbobz Sep 18 '13 at 19:52

2 Answers2

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First: wegotism is not a commonly used word. I had never heard it before you mentioned it in this post, and in most contexts using this word would just make people look at you funny.

The word for "overuse of the word I" in this case is probably just "egotism". The nonce word "wegotism" is derived from "egotism" via portmanteau: we + egotism.

JSBձոգչ
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    'Wegotism' is an obscure word, but I wouldn't go so far as to actually declare it a nonce word. I've seen it in use at least thrice, and Adam Jacot de Boinod includes it in his dictionary I Never Knew There Was a Word for it (45 ratings and 5 reviews on Goodreads), so wegotism's had some exposure. – Talia Ford Sep 18 '13 at 19:40
  • @Talia, agreed. I, too, have heard that word more and more times. –  Sep 18 '13 at 19:51
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It is called egotism.

Some definitions of the word I have encountered include excessive or obtrusive use of the pronoun I as one of them. For examples try the following links:

http://wordinfo.info/units/view/704/page:2/s:alteregoism

http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/egoism

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/egotism

In fact etymology online dictionary tells us that this is the original meaning of the word egotist.

egotist (n.) Look up egotist at Dictionary.com 1714, first used by Joseph Addison; see ego + -ist. Addison credits the term to "Port-Royalists" who used it in reference to obtrusive use of first person singular pronoun in writing, hence "talking too much about oneself." Meaning "self-conceit, selfishness" is 1800. The -t- is abnornmal, perhaps by influence of dogmatism. Related: Egotistic; egotistical.

Another related word is meism

Meism - (colloquial) Egotism; a focus on, or obsession with, oneself.

user49727
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