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I had a gentleman say "Excuse I" to me the other day as he passed me in the hallway. He was a professor at the university I attend, and so it got me thinking:

Is "Excuse I" acceptable grammar even though "Excuse me" is more commonly used?

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Are you sure it was "Excuse I"? When I've heard this joking phrase, it has usually been "Scuse I". – Colin Fine Jun 12 '11 at 21:05

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Just a playful abuse of the language.

"I" is a subject pronoun, so this would be correct if he were doing the excusing, and meant the same as "I excuse". But in an imperative like this, "excuse me" is correct.

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It's not correct grammar, but it's a reasonably common colloquial expression.

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5  
Common? I've never heard it before. – Malvolio Jun 12 '11 at 0:07
I agree with Malvolio although I'm not a native speaker but I wonder... How can it be colloquial if he heard it from a professor? Usually between professors and students there is some distance, but well, I can't be 100% sure about how it is in U.S.... – Alenanno Jun 12 '11 at 0:20
@Alenanno: Those pesky professors, always cutting up. Me, I can't recall ever hearing it either. – Robusto Jun 12 '11 at 1:33
I've heard it on several occasions. But I did qualify "common" with "reasonably". – Christi Jun 12 '11 at 13:36

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