On Jun 2, 2009, at 12:02 PM, Ed Barkmeyer wrote:
> 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! :-)
>
> 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_! (01)
Right! I have a very vague memory of being taught this in grammar
school -- post-1960, but not by much! (02)
> "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. (03)
I used to find it jarring and now hardly notice, even though I'm a bit
of a grammar snoot. I still take some pride in the fact that I have
yet actually to slip and *say* "Me and my ..."! :-) (04)
-chris (05)
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