Going From Bad Grammar to Worse

After having read the opinions on the use of the word “like,” I’d like to mention another annoying issue concerning grammar (Commentary, May 5, and letters, May 9). Since when have the words “me” and “him” become subjects of a sentence, such as, “Me and him saw the whole thing”? At one time scriptwriters used this ploy to indicate that a character was uneducated or crude, but now you hear our smartest teenagers saying, “Me and him applied to Yale.” You hear it in commercials, TV programs, movies and news interviews.

Adding insult to injury, this flagrant misuse of grammar is also a violation of good manners. The rule used to be that when you referred to yourself with someone else in the subject or the predicate, you always put yourself last as a courtesy.

Isn’t it about time that teachers and parents insist that these children sound like the bright beings and overachievers that their proud parents think they are?

Adrienne Jonke

Anaheim