XCVIII (98)
As I get older I become
More annoyed and aggravated
By the Americanisms and bad grammar
That have been created.
When you ask: "How are you",
People reply: "I'm good"
Their morals are not my concern,
Could I say that? Wish I could.
"Like" instead of "as if"
Has been around so long,
Many people do not even
Realise that it is wrong.
Putting others first
Is a relic of time gone by,
So you hear "Me and my friends"
Instead of "My friends and I".
Extra words are added:
"Get off of" and "for free"
"You know" - "like" - "I mean" -
All quite unnecessary.
"I was sat there" is claimed to be
West country dialect;
Another way in which our lovely
Language has been wrecked.
And then we have
The wayward apostrophe.
Put in where it's not needed
And left out where it should be.
Some say that grammar doesn't matter -
Speech is just to communicate,
There's a word for this dumbing down
And the word is "mutilate"
13.12.2009.
There's nothing wrong with being a pedant, but there is something wrong about being wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe two expressions "Me and her" and "She and I" are NOT synonymous. The are both grammatical, but have not only different meanings, but also, of course, different registers. The former, being an abbreviation for "The party consisting of me and her" has lower register, simply by virture of being an abbreviation. The two sentences, "Me and her are going shopping this afternoon." and "She and I are going shopping this afternoon." are not synomymous. The former clearly implies that we are going together, but the latter leaves open the possibilty that separate trips are intended. Perhaps consideration of an old joke will make it even clearer.
old joke: A. "She and I are married." B: "To each other?"; but "Me and her are married." leaves no invitation for such a rejoinder.