The I’s Have It (Obama confuses "me" and "I")

New York Times ^ | February 23, 2009 | Patricia T O'Conner and Stewart Kellerman

[reaganaut1]

When President Obama speaks before Congress and the nation tonight, he will be facing some of his toughest critics.

Grammar junkies.

Since his election, the president has been roundly criticized by bloggers for using “I” instead of “me” in phrases like “a very personal decision for Michelle and I” or “the main disagreement with John and I” or “graciously invited Michelle and I.”

The rule here, according to conventional wisdom, is that we use “I” as a subject and “me” as an object, whether the pronoun appears by itself or in a twosome. Thus every “I” in those quotes ought to be a “me.”

So should the president go stand in a corner of the Oval Office (if he can find one) and contemplate the error of his ways? Not so fast.

For centuries, it was perfectly acceptable to use either “I” or “me” as the object of a verb or preposition, especially after “and.” Literature is full of examples. Here’s Shakespeare, in “The Merchant of Venice”: “All debts are cleared between you and I.” And here’s Lord Byron, complaining to his half-sister about the English town of Southwell, “which, between you and I, I wish was swallowed up by an earthquake, provided my eloquent mother was not in it.”

It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that language mavens began kvetching about “I” and “me.” The first kvetch cited in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage came from a commencement address in 1846. In 1869, Richard Meade Bache included it in his book “Vulgarisms and Other Errors of Speech.”

[reaganaut1]

Zero also has trouble with big words, such as "fulsome" and "enormity".

Almost everyone misspeaks, and I'm not being fair to Obama. As one of the "rich" who pay income taxes, he's not fair to me either.

[a fool in paradise]

Next thing we will hear how it IS okay to spell potato with an E.

[Retired Greyhound]

Now the NYT is rewriting the English language for Obama.

So apparently, Obama is soooo smart that he speaks English as it was originally intended, and not according to the distortions of the last 200 years.

[Interesting Times]

Next thing we will hear how it IS okay to spell potato with an E.

Yep. Certainly no double standard here.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

And this from the NY Times!

[null and void]

Great. Now we’re getting the evil I...

[razorback-bert]

I wonder if “I” and “Me” are used correctly in his books?

[JennysCool]

Obama confuses "me"

Me, too.

[al baby]

Just think maybe my posts will start making cents

[KarlInOhio]

“a very personal decision for Michelle and I”

If the Teleprompter says "Michelle and I" then that's the way English is spoken. Even the rules of language must fall down before The One.

[ChicagahAl]

The only words Ø has trouble with are honest words.

[Melinda]

I’ve been calling him out since he started to run. This from an “editor” of the Harvard Law Review, LOL !!!

[WayneS]

It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that language mavens began kvetching about “I” and “me.

Wow. The Obamessiah be older than I thought him was.

;^)

[null and void]

Scents? They already stink...

[BookmanTheJanitor]

gosh, he uses those words (”I” & “me”) so often...you would think he’d have it down by now...

[al baby]

The scent of Obama

[Holicheese]

What happens when he says, “Fazizzle my Nizzle”?

[GeronL]

For centuries, it was perfectly acceptable to use either “I” or “me”

It was also perfectly acceptable to not bathe for centuries and centuries

[Red Badger]

I Wanna Talk About Me
Artist(Band):Toby Keith

Yeah, Yeah
That’s right

We talk about your work how your boss is a jerk
We talk about your church and your head when it hurts
We talk about the troubles you’ve been having with your brother
About your daddy and your mother and your crazy ex-lover
We talk about your friends and the places that you’ve been
We talk about your skin and the dimples on your chin
The polish on your toes and the run in your hose
And God knows we’re gonna talk about your clothes
You know talking about you makes me smile
But every once in awhile

I wanna talk about me
Wanna talk about I
Wanna talk about number one
Oh my me my
What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see
I like talking about you you you you, usually, but occasionally
I wanna talk about meeeeee (me,me,me,me-background singers)
I wanna talk about me (me,me-background singers)

We talk about your dreams and we talk about your schemes
your high school team and your moisturizer creme
We talk about your nanna up in Muncie, Indiana
We talk about your grandma down in Alabama
We talk about your guys of every shape and size
The ones that you despise and the ones you idolize
We talk about your heart, bout your brains and your smarts
And your medical charts and when you start
You know talking about you makes me grin
But every now and then

I wanna talk about me
Wanna talk about I
Wanna talk about number one
Oh my me my
What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see
I like talking about you you you you, usually, but occasionally
I wanna talk about me (me,me,me,me- background singers)
I wanna talk about meeeeeeee (me,me- background singers)
(I wanna talk about me- background singers)mmmm me me me me
(I wanna talk about me- background singers)mmmm me me me me
You you you you you you you you you you you you you

I wanna talk about ME!

I wanna talk about me
Wanna talk about I
Wanna talk about number one
Oh my me my
What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see
I like talking about you, you, you, you, usually, but occasionally
I wanna talk about meeeeeeee (me,me,me,me-background singers)
I wanna talk about me (me,me,-background singers)
I wanna talk about me (me,me,me,me,me,me-background singers)
Oh me!

[Political Junkie Too]

How can the (claimed to be brilliant) author of "Dreams of my Father" consistently make this mistake while speaking?

-PJ

[null and void]

“...the reek of sulphur is still here.” (to paraphrase Ugh-ho Chavez)

[WayneS]

I think it’s called “the narcissist’s dilemma”.

BOTH of those words are SOOOOOOO appealing to him, he simply MUST use them interchangeably.

[Evil Slayer]

But !!

I Won !! So I can say anything I want to !!

[WayneS]

I know I’M shocked and surprised by this development!

;^)

[6SJ7]

Wow. The Obamessiah be older than I thought him was.

Being the messiah, I'm surprised Obama does not speak in Aramaic.

[cvq3842]

I remember when he said “wreck havoc” instead of “wreak havoc” during the campaign.

Not a word from the MSM on this.

[Tax-chick]

Proper declension of pronouns is what sets us apart from the savages. That, and knowing our homophones, of course. And flush toilets.

[proud American in Canada]

So apparently, Obama is soooo smart that he speaks English as it was originally intended, and not according to the distortions of the last 200 years.

LOL! Those "olde English" classes must be listed on his transcript we're not allowed to see. ;)

Seriously, though, this is one of my pet peeves. That, and mixing up "there", "they're" and "their". Oh, and "lose" and "loose".

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

How long before IT starts using the royal WE?

[UCANSEE2]

Thanks for posting the article.

The author qoutes some of obama’s misspeaks, then to justify them, qoutes two sentences where the word ‘between’ is specifically used.

The usual way to tell if you should use “me” or “I”, is to leave out the other ‘subject’, and say the sentence.

i.e. “a very personal decision for (Michelle and) I”

“the main disagreement with (John or) I”

“graciously invited (Michelle and) I.”

One must remember that Obama has lived in environments where a different ‘language’ or ‘dialect’ is used.

One that has no ‘rules’, but instead has ‘fads’.

[what's up]

Where’s the NYT explanation of why Ottawa really should be pronounced “Iowa” a la O-Idiot?

[xjcsa]

I wonder if “I” and “Me” are used correctly in his books?

Of course they are. Bill Ayers knows how to write.

[Tex Pete]

I am sure he would get it right in his mother tongue, Arabic.

[colorado tanker]

You'd think a Columbia and Harvard educated Messiah could get this right.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

So the President was born in the 17th century?

Makes as much sense as anything else he’s said.

[conservativeharleyguy]

That's as bad as Eric Holder and his reference to “a effnik metting pot”.

I barely heard the rest of his self-pitying, chip-on-his-shoulder diatribe, because I was laughing so hard from that, I almost missed his “nation of cowards” comment.

If you only read his comments in the adoring press, you'd never know how he really said it. But, if you listen to his actual comment, you get to hear what how marginally literate he truly is.

The second most powerful C-Student in America.

[DJ Frisat]

He also occasionally misuses indefinite articles "a" and "an", for example:

'It was a unintentional omission.'

This is especially likely to happen if he inserts a mellifluous "uh" between the "a" and "unintentional".

But GWB is the uneducated moron...

[UCANSEE2]

There is a flower shop in the downtown area where I live.

For 20 years, it has had “bokays” painted on the window.

I guess they were appealing to their audience.

Had they had “bouqet” painted on there, no one would have understood what it was they were selling.

[fullchroma]

My husband and I are worried that Obama will ruin you and me.

[Rippin]

I ain’t falling for this. I don’t care about his grammar, I care about his Marxism. They wish they could get us to fight about his grammar.

[Le Chien Rouge]

Obama’s just using a high class form of ebonics....

[IYAS9YAS]

Gesundheit

[TommyDale]

"I ain’t falling for this. I don’t care about his grammar, I care about his Marxism. "

Didn't his Grammar just die recently?

[Disciplinemisanthropy]

I, three.

[Billthedrill]

It may escape the erudition of the NY Times but when I object to a statement such as "the program to charge your grandchildren's grandchildren for the egoistical excesses of the Democratic party has been approved by Pelosi, Reid, and I" it isn't because of the grammar.

[SAJ]

And using ‘impact’ as a transitive verb.

[a fool in paradise]

You clearly aren’t hooked on Obamics.

[Dionysius]

This is fair game when dealing with a malignant narcissist whom the MSM has labeled “brilliant”.

[Centurion2000]

For centuries, it was perfectly acceptable to use either “I” or “me” as the object of a verb or preposition,

Democrats and the lefties are always bitching about how we have to live in the 21st Century and the Constitution is a "living document" that should evolve.

Now they defend the idiotONE's speech patterns based on centuries old grammar rules?

Fine, the right will back off on what an idiot Obama is when speaking english when the left starts understanding and interpreting the Constitution according to 1600's patterned English. Let's start with a couple of phrases

"shall not be infringed" and "well regulated" ....

[ElayneJ]

Yes, I’m sure he’s thinking of Shakespeare when he makes these gaffes.But that’s OK, as obama himself would say, “It’s not that big of a deal.”