With the enthusiastic question of "Who wants ice-cream?", what is the more correct response?
- (Not) I.
- (Not) me.
Neither response is a sentence. The first response of "(not) I" sounds stuffy, like it should be followed with an indignant sniff. The second sounds like American idiom and acceptable for casual speech.
What do you say?
Generally speaking, in English, accusative (also known as “objective”) pronouns (like me) are the “default” form. That is, unless there is a specific syntactic rule requiring use of a different case, such as nominative (I), genitive (my/mine), or reflexive/intensive (myself), in English you use the accusative case.
In the syntactic context where a pronoun is not serving a role relative to an explicit verb, such as when it is the simple answer to a question, or if one is labeling something, such as a photo, accusative pronouns are standard. “Who wants to come?” “Me.” Nominative pronouns are impossible here—you cannot answer the question “Who wants to come?” with “I”, nor would anyone label a photo “I”.
This holds even if negated: “Who wants ice cream?” “Not me.”
If you want to use the highest register, most formal English, however, you should avoid the question of what case to use with pronouns standing alone, and use a complete sentence: “I do not want ice cream.”
"I" is used when the speaker is the subject of the sentence:
"I kissed Eve."
"Me" is used when the speaker is the object of the sentence.
"Eve kissed me."
Strict grammatical logic says that the same is true when answering questions.
"Who kissed Eve?"
"I did." or just "I."
However in common usage, going back centuries, people frequently use "Me" as a single word answer where "I" would seem logical. It's so common that it can't be considered wrong:
"Me."
..
"Who did Eve kiss?"
"Me."
By way of illustration; the classic nursery rhyme:
"Who killed Cock Robin?"
"I," said the Sparrow, with my bow and arrow"
Adding "not" changes nothing.
"Who kissed Eve?"
"Not I" - agrees with the formal, and still acceptable grammar
"Not me" - agrees with common usage
Both are fine. "Not I" is perhaps a bit ostentatiously literate
"Who did Eve kiss?"
"Not me." -- never "Not I"
Just as with that old chestnut less versus fewer, it's a one way street. People rarely say fewer when less is "correct" (except sometimes deliberately, to annoy). People rarely say "Not I" when "Not me" is "correct".
Bottom line: if you always say "Not me", you'll never be wrong. But you miss out on the chance to be extra rigorous in your grammar.
I would say either “I don’t” or “not me.”
I do not know whether “not me” is grammatically correct or not. If “not me” is acceptable, I guess that “not I” should be the grammatically correct form because “who” in the question is the subject. But even if so, “not I” sounds like a phrase for the sake of grammatical correctness.
"Not I" is the grammatically correct way to say it (it's a way of rephrasing "I do not.") However, in common parlance (as opposed to formal), you will probably hear "not me" more often, though it's grammatically incorrect (it might be rephrased as "me do not.") As for why it became so common, I couldn't tell you. And yes, in casual conversation, it can sometimes sound awkward and perhaps a bit snooty. But it's not the only case where the grammatically correct way of saying something sounds that way.
TL; DR version: "Not me" probably won't get you funny looks in casual conversation. If you're writing an essay or giving a speech, use the grammatically correct form, "Not I."
In traditional English folk songs you will often find lines like:
...Fair lady, could you fancy I?
and there's also:
I care for nobody, no not I, if nobody cares for me (The Miller of Dee)
I'm also reminded of Edmund Blackadder being irritated by an old witch's turn of phrase, and reprimanding her:
"It's Yes it is not That it be!" http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006xxw3
For anyone who doesn't know, this is a BBC comedy programme and the line is obviously done for comic effect, but it stems from the fact that 'it be' was commonly used at one time, and might still be used in certain English dialects.
It's clear that that many kinds of 'incorrect' or non-standard usage have been around for a long time and I don't think it's up to us (we) in the 21st century to tell them they were wrong. The point of language is communication. As long as there's no chance of confusion when using Not I/Not me, it's a matter for personal choice. Let it be!
The correct answer, within confines of economical language, would involve use of the pronoun 'I.' E.g. 'I do' or 'I don't.' 'Not I' would be short for 'It is not I,' but that is not an economical way to answer this question. Still, 'not me' is just wrong because it cannot be short for anything. There is no grammatically correct statement that ends in 'not me.'
The argument that I hear often for the use of 'not me' or other incorrect uses of 'me' is that it has been going on 'for centuries' and 'it is common'; therefore, it should be deemed correct. However, this is an is-ought fallacy. Though it is common practice among those who do not know or care about English grammar; the abuse should not continue. There are generally good reasons for the rules of grammar, and this is a good rule to uphold.
