WoinParis

I don't answer posts starting with 'me and ...' either.

The worst I've ever seen was 'the wife and I'. Don't think it is acceptable in English, but in France 'la femme et moi' means the guy is an absolute jerk.

And waht I dislike also is this tendency of some (US?)posters to shorten things like 'U r' even more than DD SOB, etc.

annhig

Umm, PalenQ, you might want to try telling English People that they live in the UK and not just England and that they should refer to the UK and not just England.

That the English tend to refer only to England rather than the UK has been a bone of contention for a long time with the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish.>>

the trouble is, dogeared, that when we try to say that we are from the UK, no-one understands us. Do you not get that problem? DH gets particularly irritated when I answer that question with "England" but when we were in Cuba, even he gave up and succumbed, because no-one had heard of the UK. At one casa we stayed in, we ended up giving the casa owner a geography lesson on the make-up of the UK and the British Isles, which was fun as our spanish is really quite limited.

<<'My girlfriend and I want to visit Europe'.>>

that construction does rather have overtones of the Queen's "My husband and I" which is why I think a lot of people try to avoid it.

"the wife" is dreadful; DH knows what would happen to him if he ever used it, and it wouldn't be pretty.

chartley

Ann

To my ears,

"The wife", which grates, is at least neutral.

"My wife" sounds proprietorial.

I once had a boss who told me that one should always say "the staff" or "my colleagues" rather than "my staff", and I have tried to follow his rule.

annhig

"The wife", which grates, is at least neutral.

"My wife" sounds proprietorial. >>

I shall have to refer to DH as "the husband" in future then, Chartley!

[Would 'im indoors be preferable?]

WoinParis

Of course my wife is proprietary ! She is nobody else's wife. Was difficult enough to bring her to the altar, then to avoid that she runs away.
Had to make a lot of children to be sure she would stay with me.
So my wife and our children.
When it comes to cats, it is more complex.
Some are 'my' cats, some are 'your bloody cat' and some are 'the cats'. Same with the dog - it is my wife's dog.

Nikki

But Ann, you actually do live in England, so why not say it? Is there a rule that one has to refer to one's largest political unit? I could see your point more if you lived in Wales, for instance.

Patrick, I sort of like saying "I'm liking that". It has a somewhat different connotation than "I like that", adds some different nuance, like using a subtly different tense.

And Dogeared, I suppose I will have to live with the fact that if I say "I'm wanting to read another grammar lesson", I am marking myself as working class with a low level of education.

Signed,

A reformed prescriptive grammarian

StCirq

Is there really a word "proprietorial" - in English-English or American-English?

I thought it was proprietary.

At any rate, I think "my wife" or "my husband" is fine. He is "mine own," after all.

PatrickLondon

>>Is there really a word "proprietorial" - in English-English or American-English?<<

Yes. It can be used to mean something like "behaving in the manner of a proprietor", implicitly often inappropriately; but I suppose there are some uses that could overlap with "proprietary", which I understand to mean rather more objectively factual properties.

>>I shall have to refer to DH as "the husband" in future then, Chartley!

[Would 'im indoors be preferable?]<<

Time for an analysis of the different significances understood in the terms "little woman" and "little man"?
</tease>

PalenQ

this thread has me gob smacked! - What a word or term - never heard that used in America. Without Corrie never would have known.

Trophywife007

"Some are 'my' cats, some are 'your bloody cat' and some are 'the cats'. Same with the dog - it is my wife's dog."

I thought children were in that category, as well. I hear my BIL tell my sister what "her son" did recently using a disapproving tone, but when he's bragging then it's another story. Very convenient.

annhig

Time for an analysis of the different significances understood in the terms "little woman" and "little man"?
</tease>

indeed, Patrick.

i wouldn't mind being referred to as "she who must be obeyed".