"You people know all about Them, I suppose," said Lynn and was unable
to keep a trace of sarcasm out of his tone. He was not particularly
aware of his use of a slightly-stressed pronoun in his reference to the
enemy, the equivalent of capitalization in print. It was a cultural
habit of this generation and the one preceding. No one said the "East,"
or the "Reds" or the "Soviets" or the "Russians" any more. That would
have been too confusing, since some of Them weren't of the East,
weren't Reds, Soviets, and especially not Russians. It was much simpler
to say We and They, and much more precise.
Travelers had frequently reported that They did the same in reverse.
Over there, They were "We" (in the appropriate language) and We were
"They."
Scarcely anyone gave thought to such things any more. It was all quite
comfortable and casual. There was no hatred, even. At the beginning,
it had been called a Cold War. Now it was only a game, almost a
good-natured game, with unspoken rules and a kind of decency about it.