Putting yourself in a list with two people

[icedtea4me]

Let's say that you, Tina, and Brian went to see a movie. Where would you place yourself in that list?

 

[icedtea4me]

John's letter to DA Alex Hunter : JonBenet

They have tried, from moment they walked into our home on December 26th, 1996, to convince others that Patsy or I or Burke killed JonBenet.

 

[ivegotthemic]

John's letter to DA Alex Hunter : JonBenet

They have tried, from moment they walked into our home on December 26th, 1996, to convince others that Patsy or I or Burke killed JonBenet.

IMO that seems like an subconscious slip of the tongue. perhaps it was an attempt to distance himself from Burke made without realizing the awkwardness of the statement

 

[887sMtreme]

I’ve been a copy editor for television and print news media, so this interests me. Of course I noted the awkward syntax but I would not have suggested changing it if JR had asked me to apply my trusty red Pilot to his letter.

JR was referring to his wife and himself as a unit, distinct from their son. That makes some sense given the speculation about the guilt of one or both of JBR’s parents at the time. In that context, including BR as his own unit could be read as JR’s conscious effort to eliminate him as a lead suspect. If so, why would do that? That’s an interesting topic for discussion. Less sensationally, parents do think of themselves as partners in a different class from their children.

It could also just be an example of sloppy writing.

 

[ivegotthemic]

I’ve been a copy editor for television and print news media, so this interests me. Of course I noted the awkward syntax but I would not have suggested changing it if JR had asked me to apply my trusty red Pilot to his letter.

JR was referring to his wife and himself as a unit, distinct from their son. That makes some sense given the speculation about the guilt of one or both of JBR’s parents at the time. In that context, including BR as his own unit could be read as JR’s conscious effort to eliminate him as a lead suspect. If so, why would do that? That’s an interesting topic for discussion. Less sensationally, parents do think of themselves as partners in a different class from their children.

It could also just be an example of sloppy writing.

OMG I am so excited because a bunch of random research I did is going to be relevant. Quick background, Im a law student and spent my 1L summer working in criminal defense. I was actually very shocked to find that your clients LIE TO YOU ALL THE TIME FOR NO REASON. (its another soapbox for another day, i digress). Its very frustrating and my internship got pushed back due to COVID so basically I decided to use this time learning how to detect deception. (I highly recommend spy the lie) and none of my friends have any interest, so im very excited all that time wasnt for nothing (1 ws post = worth it lol)

Basically when a person is lying, it takes up a lot of the persons cognitive resources. So although the lie may be believable and seem sincere, the person can still let a few unconscious things leak that indicate their being deceptive. It cant be just one thing, you need to look at the language the person uses, the pronoun choice, their tone, etc. In general studies have found liars use fewer first person singular pronouns, more negative emotion words (e.g., hate, anger, enemy), fewer exclusive words (e.g., but, except, without), and more motion verbs (e.g., walk, move, go). Their stories tend to be less complex and they use simple, concrete verbs rather than evaluations or
judgement

They have tried, from moment they walked into our home on December 26th, 1996, to convince others that Patsy or I or Burke killed JonBenet.

In Johns statement he states they walked into his home. Its a simple verb that explains the situation, but its an odd word choice. Its vague, LE didn't just walk into their home.. they were called to investigate the disappearance of their daughter. Walked into our home is a broad phrase, which is then followed by the very specific date December 26th, 1996. The language is mismatched, potentially because the date is one he would never forget and potentially because he may have thought being specific provides the statement more credibility. But the rest of the sentence is vague "they have tried to convince others", who tried to convince others? Who are the others? How or why did they try to convince them? IMO this is a mix on inclusive language (others could include the entire world) and stating they were trying to convince IMO has negative connotations to it because they have been trying to do it since the moment they walked into the home. It suggests an ulterior motive or an active attempt to sway "others". To me personally, the entire construction of this statement is awkward and inconsistent its vague but includes overly specific details, perhaps to distract the reader from looking at John or maybe because it was just poorly written

Additionally, Saying "my wife and I" rather then we indicates that person is subconsciously distancing themselves from their wife. Saying we is faster and easier, but saying my wife and I makes the listener think of two distinct individuals rather than a group. Whats interesting here is that John distances himself from Patty AND Burke. He very easily could have said "my family was involved" but instead he intentionally identifies the members of his family individually.

I have a couple of thoughts about this (all IMO)
1. He could be distancing himself and Patty from Burke due to believed Burke is guilty
2. He could be distancing himself and Patty from Burke, in an attempt to protect him or take the spotlight away from him or
3. He could be distancing himself from Burke due to a belief he is guilty and Patty because maybe she tried to cover something up and he didn't agree with how it was handled or because they were both involved or
4. Perhaps John has a guilty conscious and wants to distance himself from his wife and son, but the order he lists everyone makes that seem unlikely
5. It could just be his writing style - the less chaotic answer

since this is just one line of a letter, its impossible to say definitely if his language indicates an intent to be deceptive and even if he is being deceptive who knows what he could be trying to deceive others about, it could be harmless. This is one of my pet cases so I apologize for writing a thesis on a sentence. I find linguistic analysis fascinating, but clearly am no expert so I could be write or wrong about anything ive written, however I do think they are interesting elements to consider. If your interested I found several really interesting scientific studies on the subject but I dont want to post anything that would violate the TOS. Thanks for listening to my tedtalk, happy to respectfully debate the topic anytime

 

[icedtea4me]

<snip>JR was referring to his wife and himself as a unit, distinct from their son. <snip>

Then why not state it as "They have tried, from moment they walked into our home on December 26th, 1996, to convince others that Burke or Patsy or I killed JonBenet"?