When smart people use bad grammar

Nina 07-25-2007

I’m sitting at a lounge last week in Los Angeles with a top business reporter. True, we’re drinking, but that doesn’t really explain what happens next. I’m conversing with him about something that doesn’t really concern you, and things get kind of confidential, and I ask for his promise that the matter will remain off the record. ”Don’t worry,” says the reporter, a graduate of a fine college and probably a reputable journalism school. “That will just be between you and I.”

See anything wrong there? I do, but I don’t say anything about it. I don’t want to come off as Miss Grundy.

A couple of days before, I’m in a big presentation where an industry leader is addressing about 300 hotshots. Very smart guy. Very sharp speech. Somewhere toward the end of the thing, he leans forward to make a particularly important point. “The future of this technology is obvious,” he says, “although you and me may not be around to see it.” Ouch.

Every day it happens. I try to ignore it. But it gives me a little stab in the back of my eye every time I hear it. Really smart people, people who can explain the impact of tax abatements on earnings per share going forward, who can discern how internet revenues will play out in the coming decade, who can shoot craps or guide investments with aplomb, don’t know the difference between I and me. Does it matter? Should it matter? I don’t know. It just seems to matter to me.

The thing is, you can’t really correct people about it. They hate you. They look at you like you’re some kind of jerk. And maybe you are. After all, with all that’s going on in the world, does grammar matter?

For the record, and for those who even marginally care: this is really easy. The word “I” is used when the You in questions is the subject of a sentence. “I” does things. “I like that,” you say. You don’t say, “Me like that,” unless you are Tarzan. “Me” makes his appearance when things are done to You. “He really screwed me on that deal,” is both a common occurrence and correct usage.

Most of us know this. It’s when we combine with others that the problems start. “You and me are going to kick his butt,” is a laudable strategy, but a grammatical boner. ”I” is going to kick his butt. Likewise, “In the future, clearance for lunches over $100 must be obtained from Max or I,” may be excellent policy, but goofy usage. Just looking at it on the page here, doesn’t it LOOK wrong? And yet I hear it every single day, from people who are smart and too powerful, conceited or just plain tender to be corrected.

Even the best newspapers in the nation have given up on the split infinitive. Almost nobody cares about the difference between “presently” and “currently.” A good portion of the population reading this conducts much of its online communications in abbreviations, alphabetized contractions and emoticons.

Can’t we save this one vestige of good speech, you and I? … or is that you and me?

paulyg

Me agree with you

SamiJo

haha, people that use bad grammer make me crazy!

I correct people all the time, they think im a bitch, but i dont really care. they are the ones that look stupid for saying it and maybe next time they speak they will think about it.

spawnschickishot

lmfao ~~ i can see this this is a funny mental picture yeah i have corrected people too and they get bugged but i think its funny as hell to see them get all worked up about it!

Nina

I happen to come across this and it was something that got to me too. Especially when I know the person or atleast consider the person to be smart, and see them type in such a way that leads me to think otherwise. Internet really makes people stupid, depending on what they do while online.

spawnschickishot

lmfao!!! exactly i type like that !! i think its funny i just dont retype my typos lol im too lazy to do it! but its funny!

SamiJo

yea, it's always the people that you think are smart that make the stupid little mistakes that make you think hmm, do they realize what they just said?

and there is a difference between having a few typos and making the errors consistently. i mean everyone is allowed mistakes every now and again

seximamita

well at least i know im not smart so i guess any mistake i make is understandable lol

Wyntre

I hate when people are texting or iming me and instead of using
"too" as in also... they use "to"
And vise versa...


Grrr

One thing about any guy I may be interested in... if he sits there trying to conversate with me... one thing for sure will have me running is improper grammar. lol

Hsoolien

God where could I start? While my grammar has never been 100%, compared to the average person, it is pretty damn good. Intentional usage of bad abbreviations really gets me (see 'leet' speak) I also despise common IM and SMS abbreviations. Example the usage of numbers for words, makes me shudder every time I see it. But there is the catch 22, you correct people you become a grammar nazi, so there isn't really much you can do to improve the speech of others. Well there is the trick I have of using the sentence they used improperly, properly back to them. usually subtly enough they never see it

Raven

I've talk to alot of people before and there's was a few of them that when I talk to it was like magic. We would play with words with each other and they wouldn't miss a beat. The words no matter the subjects always found their way straight to my miind and it was mazing. I've had conversations with people where it just talk and talk, subjects just keep changing and it felt good. Then its these people who seem never knew what a dictionary was or graduated pass the 4th grade. I seiously mess up the language so much the meaning just is shot.

Example:
"Where gone tonight?" - Which is suppose to be "Where are you going tonight?"

Gone is in the past tense. Tonight is in the future. what the hell language are you talking. I know everyone trying to be cool and talk slang. I don't have a problem with that. You make up words, that's fine, aslong as I know or can understand where you coming from. Don't make up words on the fly that sound like your 3rd grade teacher never got around to correcting you.

I don't mind you you saying pimping with no G like pimpin. That's cool. Just use the right tense for the verb. Typo's or mispelling is understandable. I never won a spelling bee ever. Just get close enough to the word so I nkow what you trying to say, if you don't know how to spell it just say you don't know how to spell, instead of putting a word out there and act like that's right.

Chello and Sin type with cc's. Hey that's cool. I can still understand what they saying. Wyntre like spelling essided. Fine but even if that was the first time I saw her type it, I could uderstand what she's doing easily. Dream, makes up little phrases but I know she uses them mostly for emotions or feelings so its easy to understand. Spawnschick usually has tons of spelling errors but she goes back and tells you she made a typo, and atleast she gets close to the word. Hsoolien will sometimes get sidetracked and talk in the 3rd person. The story still make sense just I may get confused sometimes as to who did what.

Wyntre

Sin and I would be chatting on messanger, and you know how sometimes you can say/type a phrase and it sounds poetic or may rhyme???

Well he and I would literally both sit there and IM and when it was all said and done, if you'd go back and read over everything it sounded like a poem, written by two, but sometimes one...

It was crazy!

Jessica

Naw that's pretty cool. Going back and forth like that. Could like make a play of it or something.

I read stuff on other websites I see people post on and I had the most difficult time reading it becuase of all the bad grammer. It serious hurt my head.

Hsoolien

I get accused of that all the time, but for me there was never any change in reference. I never realize it even happens most of the time till someone brings it up, then I have to backtrack the conversation in my head and 'fix it' as such. It's one of the key sticking points to my belief that I might be schizophrenic. Multiple personalities at that because I often refer to myself in the multi-tense (ex. We)

Sunisa

As long as you can understand the story I'm ok with it. It's like some of the examples Raven gave like tense of the verb. I really hate that stuff.