Silly Little Country

Frank and Nicole Deserve One Another Grammatically

So in the latest Bachelorette, Frank is struggling with his apparently not quite resolved relationship with Nicole from Chicago (who does seem to be a thorough cutie).  But I see a common thread that suggests they belong together.
`Frank says `She doesn`t know about you and I`.  Aaaaaaaaaarrrrggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!
Can we not teach our kids the smallest bit of grammar?!  I know when I was young Moms had to whack their kids for saying "Johnny and me are going to the mall" so dorks started saying "Johnny and I" everywhere, determinedly ignoring some simple points about cases in English.
And now it is too hard to recognize that  "about you and X" is the accusative or objective case and so the pronoun should be 'me'.  I have siblings who make this error systematically and it stuns me.
And then Nicole matches him with the misuse of the reflexive pronoun 'myself' for what a prescriptivist might well suggest should be 'me' in:
 "You could be getting closer and deeper with someone other than myself".  Yowza!
Two grammatical illiterates and loose on the world.
I think Nicole is pretty cute but do not like her body language much.  Cannot judge Frank too well except for his poor grammar.
They probably do belong together.
Though I am a descriptivist and of course a part of me says, well, yeah, tough, distinctions fade, and the clarity of expression goes with it.
Still they belong together.
Now I should go hear Ali speak.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 12:58 PM