# "Me an X" vs. "X and I": is the latter doomed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 6, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017 "2021-10-06T17:37:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/21 "2021-10-07T17:50:07Z")
Sorry, meant trebuchet ---
**Author:** ![Danger\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Danger\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danger_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2021, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/22 "2021-10-08T18:24:39Z")
“I and Bobby McGee” sounds kind of strange, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/23 "2021-10-08T19:02:23Z")
In context, the lyric is “Good enough for me and Bobby McGee”. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2021, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/24 "2021-10-08T20:27:42Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > But pretty much everywhere I go on da interwebz I see the former almost exclusively. Is the latter construction doomed in the long term? “Me and X” is something people have been saying for a really, really long time, but the “X and I” construction remains the one considered proper. I don’t see why that would change now. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2021, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/25 "2021-10-10T23:59:16Z")
I think it’s the other way around. I hear people saying “X and I” even when “X and me is correct.” It’s hypercorrection. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2021, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/26 "2021-10-11T01:06:18Z")
“I and that Bobby guy” ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/27 "2021-10-14T13:25:29Z")
From the Beatles’ _Anna_ > Anna, you come and ask me, girl, > To set you free, girl. > You say he loves you more than me, > So I will set you free. > Go with him. Does it mean “you say he loves you more than [he loves] me” or “you say he loves you more than [I love you]”? Does anyone actually get confused about this love triangle, or do we all understand the context and figure it out? ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/28 "2021-10-16T10:37:48Z")
Me loves Anna a lot, isn’t that obvious? Me love her long-time. ---
**Author:** ![TVTrukChik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TVTrukChik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVTrukChik)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2021, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/29 "2021-10-20T16:53:01Z")
I see/hear it that way much more frequently also. But the thing that really makes me cringe is to hear “Someone and I’s thingy”, like “Joe and I’s anniversary”. Ugh! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/30 "2021-12-01T06:20:00Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > but Moi et Robert mageant le steak Moi et Robert mangeons le steak. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/31 "2021-12-01T06:38:21Z")
I don’t think it belongs in Factual Questions, but the current problem isn’t the demise of the latter. And the former isn’t intrinsically wrong — it’s a speech construction that could be completely to the grammatical benefit of me and X — it just shouldn’t occupy the subject position, where me and X would definitely not approve of it, although X and I certainly would. No, hon, the problem is that zillions of people who can’t comprehend that distinction, and who are convinced that ever saying “me and X” is abhorrently wrong, even when it’s not, have resorted to inserting “myself and X”, or “X and myself”, in hideous sentences like “The document was throughly reviewed by X and _myself_” or “X and _myself_ went to the conference and represented the organization”. ---
**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/32 "2021-12-01T10:36:03Z")
(reputedly Oxfordshire: with the photographer) “Do ‘ee sit still and stop jigglin’. ‘E be troi’in’ to focus.” “What, both on we?” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017/33 "2021-12-02T23:11:16Z")
Us Tareyton smokers have a problem with this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-an-x-vs-x-and-i-is-the-latter-doomed/952017.md?page=1)