People saying "me and xxx did this"
"Me" is not a subject pronoun, it is only an object pronoun. It doesn't do anything, it can only have things done to it. There's a perfectly good word that can be used in place of it when the person speaking is doing or has done something: "I". You wouldn't say "Me like this."

I brought someone up on this other day and he thought my argument was that having "me" first is wrong. He simply could not understand that the word "me" is not correct, it doesn't matter about the order.

Of course that's not as bad as people who think they know better grammer using the word "myself". "Myself" can only be used as a reflexive pronoun, same as any other -self word, ie. the speaker is doing something to/for themself. You wouldn't say of a car: "I have a car for sale. Itself is red."

Bring back Latin I say.
(Cuthbert Annihilator, Wed 7 May 2008, 4:04, 9 replies)

I know I'll get flamed for this but....
Anthony Burgess suggested ( in one of the essays collected in Homage to Qwert Yuiop) that as the english language is constantly changing and adapting, the common usage IS the correct usage.
(misskitty reeks of sex and turpentine; laudanum afternoons, Wed 7 May 2008, 4:36, closed)

But worse still...
...are the people who've had it rammed into them that 'X and me' is ALWAYS wrong, and therefore come out with shit like "Merry Christmas from Paul and I".

ARGH.
(miffytherabbit, Wed 7 May 2008, 8:14, closed)

I was
thinking about this just a few days ago and I believe the language has evolved to the point where "Me and a friend" (rather than "My friend and I") is equally valid. I don't even bother to correct people anymore.
Oh, and people using "myself" really really really get on my tits. I actually had one idiot come up to me once and say (very confidently) that "my name is so and so" is bad grammar and that it should be "myself so and so". Twunt of the highest order...
(Bel Shamharoth has eight of everything, Wed 7 May 2008, 8:26, closed)

Have a click
Both *really* get on my tits. I used to work with a girl who had previously worked in a bank, and I'm sure they trained her to say things like "I sent a letter to yourselves" and "Please contact myself"...
(Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cockbrush KCB MBE DSO, who is finding it increasingly difficult to log into b3ta.com wants to duck your aunt and kick your puppy, Wed 7 May 2008, 8:28, closed)

misskitty,
don't worry, this isn't a flame. You make a good point, and the English language is one of the only major European languages that doesn't have an Official Authoratitive Body.

English dictionaries don't dictate the rules of written English, they simply record and report English as it used at the time. The recent dropping of the hyphen from many words in the dictionary didn't come about as a result of the writers of the dictionary suddenly deciding that they didn't like the hyphen anymore, it's come about because they've seen a steady decline in the usage of the hyphen by people in written English, until we reached the point where it was no longer usual to see it. I lament the loss of the hyphen, but I can't argue with the OED, because that's a bit like arguing with the writers of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica because I don't want Earth to be the third planet from the Sun.

However, at the same time, language needs some form of structure, and reasons for things. And there is a reason for us having various ways of referring to ourselves; ie, I, me, and myself. As explained, "me" cannot do things, nor can "myself", only "I" can. And so on, I don't need to repeat the above post.

So, as much as, in English, the common usage is the correct usage; there do also need to be some rules, or txtspk would become acceptable English, and the rules of grammar and punctuation would decay and crumble, until we all resorted to pointing and grunting to get across our basic points.
( Thinker, Wed 7 May 2008, 9:40, closed)

Grammar.
Enough said.
(EuroSong I love horse meat: best of all the animals, Wed 7 May 2008, 10:08, closed)

Heh
"So, as much as, in English, the common usage is the correct usage; there do also need to be some rules, or txtspk would become acceptable English, and the rules of grammar and punctuation would decay and crumble, until we all resorted to pointing and grunting to get across our basic points."

Many, many people are way ahead of you there... I know fairly well educated people that seem to turn into grammatical retards the moment they sit in front of a keyboard or pick up a cell phone. txtspk and l33t sp34k really annoy me.
(Bel Shamharoth has eight of everything, Wed 7 May 2008, 11:13, closed)

Surely the whole point of language is for people to be understood
and if you can understand them, which it seems you can, what is the problem?
(Stevie Ruggling, Wed 7 May 2008, 17:46, closed)

I'd also understand them if they said
"Me likey bouncy". But on the most part, yes, I know that language is only defined by usage. The example I listed might have evolved to be the "proper" usage now, but it still annoys me.
(Cuthbert Annihilator, Wed 7 May 2008, 21:30, closed)