"Me and ..."?

Question

I just wonder when it was that schools lost the ability to teach certain basic English rules. The one that particularly gets to me is the way most(?), particularly young, people speak and write the pronoun Me instead of "I." I'm not going to try to discuss object vs subject pronouns, but if a person would just say to themselves: Does it sound right if the "and ____" weren't there" For example: Sally writes: "Me and Billy went to school ..." Would she also say, if she was alone on the trip, "Me went to school"

If people would just think to say the other person first (e.g., Billy and ___), I think hey would naturally use the correct pronoun, and we would soon rid ourselves of this grammatical barbarism.

Do other people share my concern?

Answer 1

i'm guilty of doing that...its just that to me i hate saying "I"... i dunno...just something i've always done and feel more comfortable saying. If I need to be proper and use it correctly, I will, but if I'm just hanging around friends, I prefer to be me....and not be proper.

Answer 2

Yes, if you think about it, it really comes down to "people just don't give a damn". In today's society, it is taught that grammar isn't important like math (even though many kids don't care about that either). It might be the fault of the parents for not correcting them (or setting poor priorities). But now when you see all these bleached blonde celebrities who speak at a third grade level, that is what kids see and idolize. I agree with you, America is kind of pathetic in that sense.

Nosoop4u

Answer 3

Yeah, I'm going into tenth grade and I find my classmates languages levels lacking. I know most of the vocabulary words already when my teacher hands them out, and yet the other teenagers complain about how hard they are. I'm a little bit of a grammer freak and what really gets to me is when people use most or more in front of a word in given tense. For example: Thomas was the most greatest farmer at the county fair. It should only be "most great" or "greatest."

Answer 4

Beats me.

..wait...

Beats I ?! (No, that can't be right.)

Makes me cringe, too, when people do that "Me and Billy..." thing. And, your test of taking out the other person's name is the same one I use.

There are two others that dri... ...three others that drive me nuts:

Lots of people where I live can't even use the verb "to be" correctly. They consistently say things like, "When we WAS in LaVerkin we went shopping." ARRRRGH!

Then, there are those who say, "I'm going to TRY AND COME to your party." Folks, you can't both TRY something AND also DO it. Pick one. TRY or DO. (Listen to Yoda.) If you are not sure you can commit then say, "I'm going to TRY TO COME to your party." Simple.

I'm sure my last peeve is not VERY UNIQUE. That's because it can only be not UNIQUE. People, people, people UNIQUE means "one-of-a-kind." Can you really augment or diminish the degree of something that is already "one-of-a-kind?" This peeve is starting to get OLD. In fact, it is getting VERY OLD. I'd even go far as to say it is getting REALLY, REALLY OLD. But, I promise you it's definitely not VERY UNIQUE, or not REALLY, REALLY UNIQUE. It's just not UNIQUE. Capiche?

Thanks. I feel MUCH better now.

Answer 5

Ah yes, there are those of us who share your concern. Apparently we are not in the majority. They do teach grammar in school, but apparently not enough.

One of my peeves isn't even grammar, it's just reading or pronunciation: Why can't the elected leaders of the USA pronounce the word nuclear? (Which has no "cue" in it anywhere.)

Answer 6

Yes- I agree. Unfortunately, the English Language is always being tampered with in one way or another.

Answer 7

yes i share your concern...i also notice the same problem with people saying me instead of i and i dont know why they can't say it correctly. another thing that bothes me is when people say "another thing what bothers me is when..." do you notice that also?

i was very unhappy with my eighth grade english/la teacher that i had last year. i am not exagerating when i say that i didn't learn one thing last year. my teacher was crazy and talked about random things like tv shows and cows instead of teaching us. she was also bi-polar. many people reported her but nothing was done.

Answer 8

The opposite effect is "between you and I," when people should say "between you and ME." Now, I hear this from anchorpeople on TV!

Answer 9

yeah but what I really hate is when people put an apostrophe on a plural that isn't possessive.

Answer 10

yes, you are absolutely right, but you must consider that today's world is pretty much gone to the ground where grammar is concerned.

............And there goes their thinking too.....oops!