"I wonder what's up today?" is a phrase my three-year-old cousin likes to remark to himself. Well, I have a similar question to ask, except it has to do with books. What's up with book titles these days?
I feel like every single modern teen book out there has a one-word (and sometimes two-word) title. Whatever happened to putting "The" in front of something? Does it really have to be one word? What's so cool-sounding or edgy about a title being one word? I wouldn't have a problem with it, but it seems like every single author is doing this now, and I'm getting tired of it. Let's vary our titles a bit more, please?
Something else has been grating on my nerves lately. It's been going on for a while. And that is the use of "I" vs. the use of "me". Look, I'm used to people not knowing when to use "I". I'm used to hearing "It was Bob and me at the park" or "You and me are going to the mall" when it should be "you and I". It's incorrect grammar, but I actually prefer it to when someone does the other thing. The other thing drives me crazy. I can't stand when someone incorrectly uses "I" when they should use "me". For example, "Would you like to go to the park with Bob and I?". This is incorrect. Would you say "Would you like to go to the park with I?". No, you wouldn't. You would say "Would you like to go to the park with me?". "Me" does not change to "I" when you group yourself with another person in your question. But the worst part is that people who say things like "Would you like to go to the park with Bob and I?" think they're being grammatically correct. And other people think they're being grammatically correct, too. However, they are not being grammatically correct. They are wrong. Let's clear that up here and now. "I" is used for the subject of the sentence, and "me" is used for the object of the sentence. That is all there is to it!
Another thing that bothers me are incredibly fake and over-the-top Scottish accents. You have no idea how many times I internally wince while listening to a terrible Scottish accent. Even Emma Thompson, who voiced Merida's mum in Brave, irritated me to no end with her fake Scottish accent. Her Scottish accent is certainly not the worst I've heard, but it still annoyed me quite a lot. Perhaps the very fact the accent is fake irritates me. I love Emma Thompson very much, but why is an English woman voicing a Scottish queen? By the way, despite Emma Thompson's fake Scottish accent, I loved Brave and I will be reviewing it on this blog some time soon.
And lastly, I am annoyed with some people's ignorance of Irish and Scottish skin. Stop telling us to tan, and stop telling us that we "should go in the sun more". Irish skin, like mine, can easily burn. I can't tan; if I were to go out in the sun unprotected I would get freckles, which is my body's way of saying it's getting too much sunlight and can't cope. I can get sunburn within just a few minutes, and eventually even skin cancer. Our skin is sensitive to intense sunlight. Ireland is a temperate land where it rains often, and even on relatively sunny days the sky there offers natural protection to the skin. The quality of the sunlight is not so intense or as bright as it is in other places like North America. Our bodies are not made for hot, sunny, and/or dry weather. Light eyes and light skin are sensitive to that amount of light. My grandmother, for instance, is Scottish through her father, and she has very light-colored eyes. She moved to a very sunny place, and she now has damaged eyes because of it. And my mom, for instance, has very Scottish curly hair that needs moisture. Therefore, a dry climate is not healthy for it. There are other effects too, from living in a climate one is not adapted to, such as headaches and sunstroke. My mother and brother have clear blue eyes and their eyes get "burned" by bright light.
So stop expecting us to tan. And stop saying we are too pale. It is our natural skin color, and it is beautiful the way it is.
Whew, glad I got all of those things off my chest.
My thought on the short titles, is that the attention span of people today is short and they might not take the time to read an entire title that is longer than a few words. I don't like it, but it is true probably true.
ReplyDeleteYeah, "I" vs. "me" is not that difficult to use correctly, but people make that mistake all too often. Sure, everyone makes mistakes sometimes, but some people make that mistake all the time. I annoy my brother all the time when I correct his grammar.
-James
That makes so much sense! It’s like a marketing strategy! Why didn't I think of that before? It's sad that people have such a short attention span nowadays.
DeleteI used to correct people's grammar more often than I do now, but ever since someone got annoyed with me for correcting them, I stopped doing it. Still, I usually try to correct someone who uses "I" when they should use "me", because the fact they used "I" suggested they wanted to be grammatically correct, from which I conclude they might not mind as much if I corrected them. I correct my brother's grammar too, but he doesn't seem to care about grammar, which bothers me.
I find that I am always second guessing myself with the I and me usage. I might use your trick to help me.
ReplyDeleteGGGGRRRR I hate when people tell me to tan. I take after my dad's side with is Scandinavian which is similar to Irish/Scottish in that we don't tan well and we have fair skin and blue eyes. I use to try a few years ago but gave up. I use a lot of sunscreen to protect my skin. I just had something tell me I could tan. (This girl thinks she knows everything especially since she is older than me). She told me she had and Irish friend and she could tan. I would like to ask if that Irish friend had some other ethnic background that can cope with sun well. My sister takes after the middle-eastern blood on my mom's side.
I think it's easy to know when to use "I" and when to use "me", if you think of it this way - people often use shortcuts in their phrases, for instance they say "You are younger than I" instead of "You are younger than I am". So therefore it is incorrect to switch "I" with "me", which they do when they say "You are younger than me" ("You are younger than me am" is incorrect and wouldn't make sense). So imagine the longer version of the phrase in your head, and you'll know which is correct to use. I think I just made it sound even more complicated than it actually is. XD But trust me, it's not complicated at all once you get the hang of it.
DeleteIt annoys me so much when people think they know more than you just because they're older! I strongly suspect that the girl's Irish friend is not 100 % Irish. Some Irish have a little Spanish blood because after the Spanish Armada was defeated by the English navy in Queen Elizabeth I's day, some Spanish soldiers made it ashore there, or that is what I have heard. I don't think she is completely Irish. She most likely has a different ethnicity from another part of her family.
That's so cool that you're part Scandinavian! :D Scandinavia is neighbors with the UK. Is your dad's family Swedish, Norwegian, or Danish? I was wondering because to my knowledge, Scandinavia includes Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.
Haha. This girl has major know-it-all issues. :) Yeah, I didn't say that i thought she was not pure Irish because I didn't want to go into it with her. That is really interesting about the Spanish. I had never heard of that before. I guess it just never dawned on me to think about the survivors.
DeleteMy dad is 7/8 Scandinavian. My grandfather(my dad's dad) is 3/4 Norwegian and 1/4 Swedish. My grandmother(dad's mom) is I think 1/2 Swedish and 1/4 Norwegian. I also have mixed on my dad's side some Irish, Sottish, English, and German. Mostly that Northern European on my Dad's side. :)I believe Finland is also considered Scandinavian.
I hadn't really noticed people using "I" incorrectly until you mentioned it; now I've been noticing it in everything!! That's so weeeird! Wow, the fight against "me" has backfired! ...Or reached it's final stage haha
ReplyDeleteA tip for tanning, if you're ever interested, for any reason....
I. NEVER. TAN. I burn, I peel, I do nothing. But I never tan. Until this summer. I spent every morning from about eight to eleven out working in the sun, and I actually got darker! Even areas of skin that refused to be affected by the sun (my legs wouldn't even burn, it's amazing) have gotten a wee bit darker. But like I said, I was out in the sun nearly EVERY morning. It's not something that'll happen by casually spending time outside during the summer. Plus the sun isn't as strong in the morning so, I'm assuming, that's why I didn't burn.
But hey! There's nothing wrong with pale skin! Used to be coveted! And if you protect your skin by NOT being out in the sun a ton, you don't bother yourself with the worries that everyone else is freaking out about – like skin cancer.
I don't mind the "me vs I" thing that much but it drives me absolutely up the wall when I hear people misuse the word "literally". I was on a bus once and I heard this guy behind me say "This bus is literally taking forever!" Er, no! It's not going to take until the end of time for the bus to stop! And one time I was watching a music festival on TV and the presenter said, I kid you not, "I'm so excited! My heart is literally beating right now!" I wanted to DIE.
ReplyDeleteBad English accents cause me pain. I've seen really embarrassing YouTube videos in the past with people saying "I watch so much British TV now that I can do a real British accent!" And then they do an absolutely awful attempt and I'm thinking "Stop! For the love of God, stop! Is this what we sound like to you?!" And there's no such thing as a British accent anyway because there are multiple English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish accents.
Yes, I understand the extreme annoyance of people's cultural ignorance. Ignorance about England really frustrates me. It bothers me that the only English accents that you hear in Hollywood films are RP ("posh"), cockney and sometimes mancunian. England's a small country but we have a huge range of accents: Yorkshire, Geordie, West Country, etc. And even in my home city people will talk differently depending on what area they're from.
Believe it or not, this was a lot of fun to write! It was good to let it out! Thanks for your post!