Friday, March 18, 2022

"Me and my boyfriend / My boyfriend and I": The grammar of an unidentified song in John Dos Passos's "Manhattan Transfer"

I have not been able to identify a song quoted in a scene in a dance club in John Dos Passos's "Manhattan Transfer" (1925): "Me and my boyfriend / My boyfriend and I". Yet I recently discussed the grammatical issue here; my reference was a 2012 quotation from President Barack Obama in a statement honoring Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark: "[...] Michelle and I appreciated the extraordinary hospitality that was shown to Michelle and I when I visited Copenhagen in the past." While "me and my boyfriend" is colloquial but "incorrect", "my boyfriend and I" is "correct" – unless it is used after a preposition, like Obama's "to Michelle and I". (Andrew Shields, #111words, 18 March 2022)


No comments: