ATTN: Copyeditors and Grammar Fiends

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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)

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)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/chicer.jpg

From yesterday's NY Times magazine. Dumbfucks.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 12 March 2007 20:25 (nineteen years ago)

Chic-er, dudes.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 12 March 2007 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

I would bet anything the following conversation took place:

- "We should put an umlaut over the E, actually."
- "YOU'RE FIRED, THIS IS NOT THE FUCKING NEW YORKER."

― nabisco, Monday, 12 March 2007 20:30 (nineteen years ago)

Oh my GOD, those New Yorker umlauts! Don't you hate them? They stop your forward reading-progress like a Nazi roadblock.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 12 March 2007 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

Haha I think they should just use bad Salinger-style italics to do the same work, e.g.

... both companies pledged to cooperate in the cleanup of the polluted canal...

― nabisco, Monday, 12 March 2007 21:03 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

How do you use the word "parleying"? Someone's written "parleying their next move". I would've thought it was an intransitive verb. Should it be "parleying about their next move"? Or "on"? Something else?

― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 10:54 (nineteen years ago)

i wouldn't use it like that at all:

verb ( -leys, -leyed) [ intrans. ] hold a conference with the opposing side to discuss terms : they disagreed over whether to parley with the enemy.

do they mean ... i dunno, "considering"? :)

― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 10:59 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, the "their" refers to a group of people who represent opposing sides. I think the word makes sense in the context; I just wondered if it should have a preposition, and which one, between it and "their next move".

― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:10 (nineteen years ago)

they might mean "parlay", but it still wouldn't be used like that

tr.v. par·layed, par·lay·ing, par·lays
1. To bet (an original wager and its winnings) on a subsequent event.
2. To maneuver (an asset) to great advantage: parlayed some small investments into a large fortune.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:12 (nineteen years ago)

"parley before making their next move"?

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:21 (nineteen years ago)

I think the original can work with a preposition. "Parleying on " gets 222 google hits; "parleying about" 289. Given the uselessness of google searches for settling this kind of thing, that's a pretty low statistical sample.

I'm gonna go with "about" and get finished and then think about more important things.

― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:27 (nineteen years ago)

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:34 (nineteen years ago)

Have always thought that it just meant to talk to/with/about à la the french, parlez. So I think that you can use any of them, in context.

― peteR, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:37 (nineteen years ago)

(...or parler, or whatever tense you'd like).

― peteR, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:39 (nineteen years ago)

"in the west of Scotland" or "in the West of Scotland"? The Graun style guide has failed me. Help please ilx!

― Madchen, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:48 (nineteen years ago)

I can see an argument for both.

― Madchen, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:49 (nineteen years ago)

west of Scotland. "the West of Scotland" isn't a specific geographical entity.

eg west Ohio vs West Virginia.

― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:55 (nineteen years ago)

or north Africa/South Africa.

― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:55 (nineteen years ago)

in the US, it's "the South," or "the West Coast"; but it's also "the south part of the city" or "the west coast of the island" - it depends on if people refer to "the West" or "the West of Scotland" as an entity (or "brand"???) or not, i think, i.e. you would probably capitalise "Highlands" and "Lowlands"

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:59 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 12:00 (nineteen years ago)

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