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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