In Defense of the M-Word
Bemoaning grammatical I-sores27 total reviews
Comment from Jannypan (Jan)
Haha. I agree. Using the incorrect word in the case of 'me' and 'I' should stand out like a beacon. But as you say, the usage, though wrong many times, has become so acceptable that most do not know, or care, if it is used incorrectly. I like your quote at the end (and the note explaining it in your notes. Thanks for sharing.
Respectfully, Jan
reply by the author on 05-Jul-2020
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Haha. I agree. Using the incorrect word in the case of 'me' and 'I' should stand out like a beacon. But as you say, the usage, though wrong many times, has become so acceptable that most do not know, or care, if it is used incorrectly. I like your quote at the end (and the note explaining it in your notes. Thanks for sharing.
Respectfully, Jan
Comment Written 05-Jul-2020
reply by the author on 05-Jul-2020
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Thanks for stopping by--that was quick! Glad you liked it. Cheers. LIZ (I wrote "between you and I" as an intentional error in my parody DIALOG FOR DUMMIES--currently listed--I fear that readers who know it's wrong think I don't know that--as you say, nearly everyone says it--it's a pet peeve per this piece.) Cheers. LIZ
Comment from Alcreator Litt Dear
I like this funny and a humorous story, remembering and sharing your experience in parlance; enjoyed the read; well said, well done; thanks for sharing this. ALCREATOR
reply by the author on 05-Jul-2020
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I like this funny and a humorous story, remembering and sharing your experience in parlance; enjoyed the read; well said, well done; thanks for sharing this. ALCREATOR
Comment Written 05-Jul-2020
reply by the author on 05-Jul-2020
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Thanks for stopping by--that was quick! Glad you liked it. Cheers. LIZ
Comment from pome lover
Love this! I'd give you a 6 if I had one.
I have been cringing, lately, at the news people who put "at" at the end of their sentences; and not just the news people, some of the Dems running for Pres. I just want to scream. "Where they're at," etc.
'Tis my pet peeve.
Your piece, above, is great and you should send it to Obama! :)
And your English teacher was very innovative - made correct grammar fun.
I remember my fifth grade teacher had us all line up around the room and say the next verse of The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere when it became our turn. I still remember most of it.
I really enjoy this post.
Katharine- pome lover
reply by the author on 11-Feb-2020
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Love this! I'd give you a 6 if I had one.
I have been cringing, lately, at the news people who put "at" at the end of their sentences; and not just the news people, some of the Dems running for Pres. I just want to scream. "Where they're at," etc.
'Tis my pet peeve.
Your piece, above, is great and you should send it to Obama! :)
And your English teacher was very innovative - made correct grammar fun.
I remember my fifth grade teacher had us all line up around the room and say the next verse of The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere when it became our turn. I still remember most of it.
I really enjoy this post.
Katharine- pome lover
Comment Written 11-Feb-2020
reply by the author on 11-Feb-2020
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Thank you Katharine. Re the presidential contenders: The circus is where they're at. (On that subject: I don't recall if you were among those who read my "script" Political Follies.) Cheers. LIZ
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where i it? I'll read it
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I think you can go to my profile and click on my portfolio. Got to run now--let me know if that works--I'll check back tomorrow.
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Were you able to find Political Follies in my portfolio? LIZ
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I read some of it, Liz.
Maybe you could check out my posts, "Why?" and "A Country divided"
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Thanks--I found WHY by paging through your extensive portfolio--haven't found the other yet. Congrats on your win! Sad that people get so nasty over politics--I refuse to argue politics. My satire is intended to be equally offensive across the spectrum--it's a mishmash of all the worst things I've heard said about all of them. No personal disrespect intended to any of them in particular. Nor to you, of course. Feel free to take a pass.
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thanks. yes, Iet's keep it literary . smile
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Will do! Cheers. Liz
Comment from Spitfire
I learned this rule when my English teacher told us how to answer the phone correctly.
"Is this Shari?"
"Yes, it is I."
But it does sound weird.
reply by the author on 12-Feb-2020
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I learned this rule when my English teacher told us how to answer the phone correctly.
"Is this Shari?"
"Yes, it is I."
But it does sound weird.
Comment Written 10-Feb-2020
reply by the author on 12-Feb-2020
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Thanks, Shari. I imagine you do (as I do) to avoid this by saying: Yes, this is Shari." (to avoid confusion, I say LIZ rather than Shari!) Cheers.
Comment from Y. M. Roger
Yes... you are correct, LIZ... unfortunately. Of course, mine is not Miss Fleming but the larger-than-life Mrs. Stroud who took a subject I loathed and made it into something I loved: with so many rules drilled into my mathematical brain that they will be the last things to go if I ever develop dementia (knock on wood, salt over the shoulder!!)! And, yes, I do include such in my corrections here... and there do seem to be a lot of them: of course, it does depend upon the day, I guess. But the eagle eye trained by the ring-covered hands of Mrs. Stroud misses none of them!! ;) :) Thanx for the entertaining read, my friend -- a delightful read to which I raise my glass and say 'Huzzah!' :) :) Yvette
reply by the author on 12-Feb-2020
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Yes... you are correct, LIZ... unfortunately. Of course, mine is not Miss Fleming but the larger-than-life Mrs. Stroud who took a subject I loathed and made it into something I loved: with so many rules drilled into my mathematical brain that they will be the last things to go if I ever develop dementia (knock on wood, salt over the shoulder!!)! And, yes, I do include such in my corrections here... and there do seem to be a lot of them: of course, it does depend upon the day, I guess. But the eagle eye trained by the ring-covered hands of Mrs. Stroud misses none of them!! ;) :) Thanx for the entertaining read, my friend -- a delightful read to which I raise my glass and say 'Huzzah!' :) :) Yvette
Comment Written 10-Feb-2020
reply by the author on 12-Feb-2020
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Thank you, Yvette! I confess to preferring the sound of him/her as subjectives (just as I always heard it growing up). When a caller asks to speak to Liz I can't bring myself to say "This is she" so I answer "This is Liz." It sounds similarly "wrong" to say "He is taller than she" so I either make explicit the "is" or say..."than her," which is defensible on grounds of her being obj. of prep. "than" (Google is great at addressing these dilemmas!) I don't care for the current trend of "they" in place of the stilted "one" or the sexist "he." The option I like best--such as I've seen in (just a few) books--is to alternate he/him with she/her. (S/he is fine too, but shim doesn't work for me!) I also use work-arounds for punctuation; it irks me to start a sentence in lower case, such as one must do after semicolons: Capital letters are allowed after colons that introduce sentences--though not for phrases--in which cases I use offset long dashes - which used to be done with hyphens preceded and followed by spaces - but nowadays we're taught to use long dashes sans spaces--for which there is no such thing on the keyboard (though WORD converts adjoining hyphens into a long dash, our FS text program undoes that!)... I've long enjoyed the study of grammar and usage, not withstanding the myriad frustrations of "rules" that change or never were--which brings to mind a joke my father told, the punchline of which (after the speaker was admonished by the grammar pedant William F. Buckley for ending his question with a preposition) he amended his request thus: "Excuuuse, me, kindly please tell me where the White House is at, MUTHAFUCKA! Cheers. LIZ
Comment from Mrs. KT
Delightful, Elizabeth!
I must have been schooled by your Miss Fleming's sister: Sister Fabiola - of the Dominican order - she of the razor-sharp tongue and evil-eyed looks whenever any of her charges profaned the English language. There were no "Me and hims" in our class. But I can still recall poor Jackie E. being shunned when she said, "We have "went" there..." Poor thing barely recovered...
Thank you for sharing my angst regarding the rape of the English language...
diane
reply by the author on 12-Feb-2020
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Delightful, Elizabeth!
I must have been schooled by your Miss Fleming's sister: Sister Fabiola - of the Dominican order - she of the razor-sharp tongue and evil-eyed looks whenever any of her charges profaned the English language. There were no "Me and hims" in our class. But I can still recall poor Jackie E. being shunned when she said, "We have "went" there..." Poor thing barely recovered...
Thank you for sharing my angst regarding the rape of the English language...
diane
Comment Written 10-Feb-2020
reply by the author on 12-Feb-2020
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Thank you Diane. Nice to have a kindred spirit. It always irked me that a family friend--an English teacher!--would say "between you and I." I would never have hired her had I heard that! Cheers. LIZ
Comment from Rikki66
Me thinks this is a great piece for a grammarian which I ain't. Just a little fun on a Monday afternoon. If it makes my ears hurt I suspect that it is wrong. My big bi*** is the word for, I constantly hear people saying fer, fur, fir, everything but f or.
RikkiLXVI
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reply by the author on 10-Feb-2020
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Me thinks this is a great piece for a grammarian which I ain't. Just a little fun on a Monday afternoon. If it makes my ears hurt I suspect that it is wrong. My big bi*** is the word for, I constantly hear people saying fer, fur, fir, everything but f or.
RikkiLXVI
This rating does not count towards story rating or author rank.
The highest and the lowest rating are not included in calculations.
Comment Written 10-Feb-2020
reply by the author on 10-Feb-2020
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That was quick, Rikki! Me thanks you fer reading. Re pronunciation peeves: are for our, ta for to, batado for potato, ki'in for kitten. That's the last you'll here today from ME (certainly, not from I). Cheers. LIZ
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We know it is a tatter and a pussy cat.
Rikki