tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post3047997294212336425..comments2024-03-28T04:30:11.046-05:00Comments on Unlocked Wordhoard: The New York Times Discusses Something Me Know a Bit AboutDr. Richard Scott Nokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01348275071082514870noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-63687814691609094752009-03-03T09:02:00.000-06:002009-03-03T09:02:00.000-06:00Speaking of politically motivated nonsense... I ha...Speaking of politically motivated nonsense... <BR/><BR/>I haven't been able to locate the missing bloggers who grind their axes over Obama's faulty I/Me. So you're probably right that they don't exist. I have, however, been able to find -lots- of bloggers attacking Obama for his grammar in general. (Things like not using "an" in front of a vowel, or using too many modal auxiliaries.) <BR/><BR/>When Bush was prez, the party line at Townhall.com was "shame on you, snobs, for being snobby about grammar." Now it's morphed into "shame on you, snobs, for not being snobby enough about grammar."Got Medievalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03310906983837448973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-37131165542636644262009-03-03T08:45:00.000-06:002009-03-03T08:45:00.000-06:00It's not Obama I'm criticizing here; that's why th...It's not Obama I'm criticizing here; that's why there are no quotes from him. What I'm criticizing is O'Conner and Kellerman's claim that the use of "I" for the subject and "me" for the object is just, as they claim "conventional wisdom" made up by a lot of Latin-obsessed 19th century grammar junkies.<BR/><BR/>That's bogus. English has made that distinction since it began distinguishing itself from the other northern Germanic languages a millennium-and-a-half ago.<BR/><BR/>Of course you, anonymous Wordhoarder, clearly understand that from your statement "English has been in the process of losing declension for centuries," recognizing that it has something to lose, and has been doing so for centuries.<BR/><BR/>If the writers had argued as you do, that English used to make that distinction but the rule has been weakened, I would have grumbled a bit about the usefulness of a distinction between subject and object, but in the end language change is inexorable. Your argument is better than the op/ed argument because it has the virtue of being rooted in real historical linguistic truth, not politically-motivated nonsense.Dr. Richard Scott Nokeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01348275071082514870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-64891967778814292092009-03-02T22:26:00.000-06:002009-03-02T22:26:00.000-06:00I'll take a stab at defending Obama here... Englis...I'll take a stab at defending Obama here... English has been in the process of losing declension for centuries, with pronouns being notably resistant to that process. But my own sense is that the I/me distinction has passed some sort of tipping point: the distinction is still alive enough for there to be a "correct" usage, but it has weakened to the point that for many well-spoken people it no longer has the force that it once had. And the "correct" usage is no longer an instantaneous, unconscious choice as, for example, the correct usage of was/were is. I know that's the case for me, especially in certain sentence patterns.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com