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Re: [ontolog-forum] The costs and benefits of research (and the grammar)

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Ed Barkmeyer <edbark@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:02:19 -0400
Message-id: <4A255B1B.2070200@xxxxxxxx>
Chris Menzel wrote:
> Completely off topic, but...
> 
> On Jun 2, 2009, at 9:56 AM, Patrick Cassidy wrote:
>> ...I and my coworkers would very much appreciate the gesture.
>>
> 
> Interacting with college kids as much as I do, this sentence now  
> almost sounds ungrammatical to me! :-)    (01)

Now, there we have a second difference in the later generation.  I 
remember being taught that "I and my coworkers" sounds wrong because it 
is _impolite_!  "In polite discourse" [meaning from about 1780 to 1960],
"my coworkers and I would appreciate..." is proper, because one always 
puts oneself last.  Having departed from that polity, it seems quite 
reasonable to see "me and my coworkers would appreciate ..." as the de 
facto grammar of the 21st century American language.    (02)

-Ed    (03)

"There even are places where English completely disappears
  In America, they haven't used it for years."
   -- Alan Jay Lerner, "Why Can't the English", from "My Fair Lady"    (04)

-- 
Edward J. Barkmeyer                        Email: edbark@xxxxxxxx
National Institute of Standards & Technology
Manufacturing Systems Integration Division
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8263                Tel: +1 301-975-3528
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8263                FAX: +1 301-975-4694    (05)

"The opinions expressed above do not reflect consensus of NIST,
  and have not been reviewed by any Government authority."    (06)

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