This is considered to be stuffy, self-aggrandising and egotistical; "We are not amused."?
Whereas this is not; "If you need any help, just give us a shout."

My question is why?

Both are examples of the singular speaker assuming plurality of role. The former is a Queen speaking as all of a woman, the royal household and the monarch. The latter is Naomi speaking as all of a woman, site host, and the WriteWords website.

However, the latter is also common parlance and widely accepted (without the demand for justification of the various entitities) in everyday colloquialism.

Gaius

I was thinking it was a case of 'second person, plural' but got in too much of a knicker twist to provide examples.

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Or maybe 'first person, plural'?

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Colloquially there are a lot of 'our's, eg, 'Our susan'

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So while the Queen uses the royal 'we', us commoners use the common 'our'.

a knicker twist

Yet another, quite frightening, idiom of spoken English that continues to baffle and bemuse. Another being "head over heels" which, to my mind, is rather the preferred state to be in and offers advantages to such diverse activities as walking, standing upright etc.

G

It might be 'head over heals' to you Gaius, but it's 'ar** over t**' to some of us.

Modes of transport have always baffled me (not in that sense... I know what buses are for...)

How is it you're "in" a car, but "on" a bus, train, plane etc... there are definite advantages to being in a plane rather than on it, especially during flight!

And yet, "under" a restraining order.

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I know what buses are for

Other people.

To answer the original question, perhaps it is to do with the fact that "us" (as in "Give us a shout") is inclusive - bringing the recipient of the advice into the fold, as it were, whereas the Royal "we" is exclusive - something only used by a monarch (and possibly only a British one at that - anyone know if other languages use the same construct?)

Alex

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Or perhaps the royal "we" is exclusive to the throne room

Or perhaps the royal "we" is exclusive to the throne room

One would hope so.