Timeline for "Who wants ice-cream?" — Should I say "(not) I" or "(not) me"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 28, 2012 at 22:21 | comment | added | shipr | Remember The Little Red Hen? Proof that "Not I" is actually heard. | |
| Jun 11, 2011 at 5:10 | comment | added | nohat | @siride, thanks for the clarification. I think we agree, though, that accusative has been the default for a long time, much longer than grammatical prescription has been a force of any significance. | |
| Jun 10, 2011 at 16:46 | comment | added | siride | @nohat: well, not really. Originally, the nominative really was the default and this remained through at least part of the Middle English period. Since cases are defunct in English and where they do still exist, are entirely redundant, the default has now switched to the objective form. The same happened in French as the case system fell apart (in Old French, you could still say, e.g. "ne jo" for "not me/I", but now it is explicitly "non moi" or "pas moi" or "moi non plus" and never *"non je"). | |
| Nov 2, 2010 at 18:14 | comment | added | nohat | You assumption that the “incorrect” usage has become more common since a time when everyone spoke “correctly” and used the “correct” usage is false. In fact, it is the opposite. The rule that you must use nominative forms when pronouns are not attached to a verb was invented at around the same time the rule that you can't prepose the objects of prepositions was invented, by analogy with Latin. Before then, nobody thought twice of using accusative forms in this context. “Not me” is the older, and in my opinion, more correct form. | |
| Nov 2, 2010 at 14:30 | comment | added | Andy | @drewk: I suppose it could. Most grammarians would consider "not me" technically incorrect, probably because in your rephrasing "me" is the object of the preposition. They might argue that "Not I" is acceptable, as well as "Not for me" (assuming the question is phrased such that "not for me" is a semantically correct answer), but not "Not me." But that's just my conjecture; I'm not a professional. Personally though, I think you make a good enough case for "not me"; perhaps I'll use it more to see what others think. | |
| Nov 2, 2010 at 6:22 | comment | added | drewk | If "Not I" can be construed as rephrasing "I do not [want ice-cream today]" can't "not me" equally be assumed as a rephrasing of "Thank you, but no ice cream for me today"? | |
| Nov 1, 2010 at 5:29 | history | answered | Andy | CC BY-SA 2.5 |