ATTN: Copyeditors and Grammar Fiends

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Jaymc, I DEFENDED YOU ON THE LOST THREAD!!!! I CANNOT BELIEVE I AM HEARING THIS FROM YOU!!!!

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

MIC IS ICK.

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

I'M PSYCHED FOR MIKE.

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:09 (nineteen years ago)

read: "I don't think I can argue against it..."

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:10 (nineteen years ago)

Okay okay. I forgive. Just let me carry on a bit more.
"Mic" has no "e" to indicate a long "i," for one. It CAN'T, because that would make it MICE. You can't make a microphone out of a mouse just by taking away its "e!"

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

I believe, though my husband disagrees, that "mic" is a recent development. I could SWEAR that I grew up reading "mike."

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

Tone-Loc
Jean-Luc Godard

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:14 (nineteen years ago)

You're right about "mike" predating "mic," though: the former is dated to 1924 and the latter to 1961, according to Webster's.

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

Ha! Thank you.
Rappers have a tradition of misspellings that would be ludicrous if pronounced phonetically. Flavor-Flav? That's always bugged me. FLAVE, dude!
And the French? They spell everything wrong.

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:19 (nineteen years ago)

Other musicians are unable to spell their names right—not just rappers.
Suzzy Roche? Rhymes with "scuzzy?"
Neneh Cherry? That sounds like a schoolyard taunt.
For Fuck's sake, people.

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

And atheletes! Picabo Street!
She RUINED an entire Winter Olympic for me.

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:22 (nineteen years ago)

I'm so upset at the memory that I can't spell athlete.

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

Oh god, everyone has fled the thread because they don't want to slip and fall on all the mouth-froth.

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:27 (nineteen years ago)

lol our prose just ain't as purple as yours

i'll mitya halfway (mitya), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

The only one that gets me is "micing," like in "We found Hannett in the other room, micing up the kick drum" -- in that case I actually do imagine the person with a bucket full of little mice, setting them on drum heads and stuffing them in amplifiers.

nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

Oh Lordy, that reminds me of "chicest."

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

the use of "mic" instead of "mike" for microphone.

It's not "mic" it's "mic." -- a contraction used on the labels on mixing desks etc. And I'll proclaim that real-style on the em aye cee

stet (stet), Friday, 9 February 2007 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

mic.ing

nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 9 February 2007 20:09 (nineteen years ago)

Anthony Microphonecio

nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 9 February 2007 20:10 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...
"My and John's landlord has asked us to forward the following advert" sounds wrong.

"Our Landlord (John and I) has asked us to forward the following advert" is rubbish.

"The landlord of John and I has asked us to forward the following advert" sound grammatical but pretentious.

What to do?

caek, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:53 (nineteen years ago)

I think the first and last are correct but the first sounds best.

Ms Misery, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

John and I have been asked by our landlord to forward ...

.stet., Monday, 5 March 2007 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

'Mine and John's landlord' sounds good to me.

Nasty, Brutish & Short, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:19 (nineteen years ago)

Take away "and John's" though and "Mine Landlord" sounds completely ridiculous.

Ms Misery, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:30 (nineteen years ago)

So don't take it away!

Nasty, Brutish & Short, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:33 (nineteen years ago)

It would be "the landlord of John and me" (not that that's the option I'd go for). I'd go with stet's suggestion

Maria :D, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:37 (nineteen years ago)

or "of John and mine"

Maria :D, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:37 (nineteen years ago)

John's and my landlord? Oh, crap. Just use his name. Who cares if people know that he/she's your landlord. Or John's.

Beth Parker, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

Our landlord has asked John and me to forward the following advert...

Maria :D, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:44 (nineteen years ago)

One obvious avoidance trick is "Our landlord has asked John and I to...."

Seriously, though, forget this "mine" stuff: unless you live in the 18th century, you don't say "mine NOUN!" My noun + John's noun = My noun, and John's, too = My and John's noun; it sounds counterintuitive and off-paradigm, but I can't see that there's anything wrong with it apart from aesthetics.

nabisco, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:45 (nineteen years ago)

Oops sorry I put "I" instead of "me" -- Maria is correct on that one, obv

nabisco, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:46 (nineteen years ago)

There's a problem with starting the sentence with "Our", though, because there's a second or two of not knowing who's being talked about. Which is why stet's is the way to go. (Even after you get to "John and me" it's at least theoretically possible that the landlord is not John's landlord.)

Tracer Hand, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:50 (nineteen years ago)

"My and John's" or "John's and my" are both fine I think - the latter being what I'd use.

CharlieNo4, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:55 (nineteen years ago)

All in favor of
John and I have been asked by our landlord to forward ...
say me.

Maria :D, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

me

Maria :D, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

Maria

nabisco, Monday, 5 March 2007 18:02 (nineteen years ago)

argh, passive tense

Ms Misery, Monday, 5 March 2007 18:13 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I never like "my and someone else's" constructions. It's correct but aesthetically unappealing, so I usually try to rewrite.

jaymc, Monday, 5 March 2007 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

I live in rented accommodation. So does John. We pay rent to our landlord. He has asked us to forward this advert.

Nasty, Brutish & Short, Monday, 5 March 2007 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

Oh brother. What a pickle! "John and I have been asked by our landlord to forward..." was my winner in the end.

caek, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 13:43 (nineteen years ago)

still love the threadstarter's question

RJG, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 14:15 (nineteen years ago)

It would be better for all of us if John and you were just evicted.

Beth Parker, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

'John and my landlord has ...' is fine. You'd say 'John and Peter's landlord has ...' rather than 'John's and Peter's landlord has ...' wouldn't you?

Madchen, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:36 (nineteen years ago)

it could go either way. are john and peter(or speaker) a couple/roommate? if it's a common possesion then only the last name is possesive (John and Peter's house is on fire.) If something belongs separately to each then each name must be possessive (John's and Peter's houses caught fire.) So I guess if you're using names than the first example applies.

However the original question is using a possisive prounoun. My and John's landlord. . . You can't say "I landlord said. . ." so it must be "my" .

Ms Misery, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

You can say "Island Lord said," though.

nabisco, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:44 (nineteen years ago)

That's important to remember.

nabisco, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:44 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.nuffentertainment.com/images/newreleases/PENCD2025.jpg

jaymc, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:51 (nineteen years ago)

i know it's water under the bridge now, but why not just, "my landlord has asked john and i..."? (assuming that people who were receiving it know who john is, which seems implied by any of the scenarios.) it's not incorrect to say "my landlord" even if there are multiple people in the apartment.

tipsy mothra, Friday, 9 March 2007 19:37 (nineteen years ago)

Information loss -- that one no longer specifies that it's John's landlord, too, making it the WMA to the rich informational overtones of the original vinyl.

nabisco, Friday, 9 March 2007 21:10 (nineteen years ago)

Open Mike

Beth Parker, Monday, 12 March 2007 20:21 (nineteen years ago)


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