Speaking in the imaginary third person

[T]here’s a new consciousness that seems to be trending [...] marked by quotations from sources who quote other material in their speech, such as a notorious post or a meme, or imagine the state of mind of a third party and then paraphrase or quote that third party. There’s a strange, to me, sort of indirection in quoted subjects’ descriptions these days. In effect, they do not want to put their own words into the record. They want to put the thoughts that they imagine someone else thinking into the record. It’s like if I asked you, "What do you think about the state of Harry and Meghan’s marriage, Nick?" And you said, "Well, I’ve heard that someone in the palace said, ‘I often wonder, What kind of couple are they really?' "

– Carl Rosen, 2024