Reading through a recent post on this site, I noticed an example of something that really, really irritates me (probably a lot more than it should).  It was in the following quote:

I guess the best way to win an argument with your ex-girlfriend is to make it a subplot on your multimillion dollar television show and clearly paint you in the right and she in the wrong.

First off, how many people see anything wrong with this quote?  For those of you who don’t, let me help you out a little.  It should really read, “I guess the best way to win an argument with your ex-girlfriend is to make it a subplot on your multimillion dollar television show and clearly paint you in the right and HER in the wrong.”

One wouldn’t think that something that small would or should bother me that much.  However, this goes hand-in-hand with the usage of me and I.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone in a movie or on television pick the wrong one.  And in most instances, they choose I.  Even when it is not the right choice.  “Did you hear what happened between Bobby and I?”  “You can’t take that from she and I.”  I just sit there and cringe.

I believe the whole backlash against me started not too long ago.  I remember when the big grammatical mistake was using me in the subject of a sentence.  “Mark and me are leaving” instead of ”Mark and I are leaving.”  It was preached to use I.  Over and over, that’s all you heard.  And apparently, people were listening.  They just weren’t listening to the whole lesson.

Just in case you don’t believe me, I asked an english teacher to give me the english teacher version of why this is wrong.  Here’s what I got:

The objective case is used for direct objects, indirect objects, objects of prepositions, and objects of verbals.  Me, you, him, her, it, us, and them are the personal pronouns in the objective case.  In the sentence quoted, paint is the verb and the direct object would be her instead of she.  She is sometimes used incorrectly in the attempt to make the speaker sound more intelligent but instead does just the opposite.

Now I’m not saying that the original author of the quote in question was trying to sound intelligent, but in most cases I couldn’t agree more.  I’m not saying that I’m perfect either (although those of you that know me may find that hard to believe), but this is just one thing that really gets to me.  I just can’t help it that I react to it like fingernails being scratched down a chalkboard.