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Thread: Why do British people say "Me" instead of "My"?

  1. #1
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    Why do British people say "Me" instead of "My"?

    I've never understood why they say something like "Me wife is coming over." What?! You mean "My wife is coming over." I am sure they see there is a Y there, and not an E.

    Its unbelievable, and it makes me go "Huh?" The weird thing about this is that English is their native language, but they still do this. Even people who don't speak English don't do this.

    I am not trying to start a fight over who speaks English the best and everything, but this is just odd. It's somewhat like saying "Hyllo" when the word is "Hello." A fight over the English language is not a good idea, because NO ONE today speaks original English (Old English), and original English is nothing like today's English.

    By the way, don't get me wrong. I may be getting the countries wrong. I don't know who is British, UKish (yeah, I know), English, etc. I am not interested in a history lesson either.

  2. #2
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    Re: Why do British people say "Me" instead of "My"?

    Quote Originally Posted by H.E. Pennypacker View Post
    I've never understood why they say something like "Me wife is coming over." What?! You mean "My wife is coming over." I am sure they see there is a Y there, and not an E.

    Its unbelievable, and it makes me go "Huh?" The weird thing about this is that English is their native language, but they still do this. Even people who don't speak English don't do this.

    I am not trying to start a fight over who speaks English the best and everything, but this is just odd. It's somewhat like saying "Hyllo" when the word is "Hello." A fight over the English language is not a good idea, because NO ONE today speaks original English (Old English), and original English is nothing like today's English.

    By the way, don't get me wrong. I may be getting the countries wrong. I don't know who is British, UKish (yeah, I know), English, etc. I am not interested in a history lesson either.
    I would say a better question is why others changed it to 'my'. I'm certain the variation to my came later.

  3. #3
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    Re: Why do British people say "Me" instead of "My"?

    Quote Originally Posted by steven8 View Post
    I would say a better question is why others changed it to 'my'. I'm certain the variation to my came later.
    Even if that is true, why not follow today's standards? Suppose you want to be a rebel, and use pronunciations that are no longer used, why not switch to an entirely outdated language?

    They say other things as they are said today, but make an exception for "my"?

  4. #4
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    Re: Why do British people say "Me" instead of "My"?

    if people do say that then it's only northerners, northerners also say "yous" instead of "you" as well, lol.

    lots of people say "do you mind me coming over" instead of "do you mind my coming over" too.
    Thanks to the forums staff for your dedication and hard work
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  5. #5
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    Re: Why do British people say "Me" instead of "My"?

    maybe it's because of their funny accents ??
    if u find some of my ideas weird...look at my avatar for the reason
    http://delfick.storage.googlepages.c...ycfuserbar.png

  6. #6
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    Re: Why do British people say "Me" instead of "My"?

    Colloquial English is rarely proper or grammatically correct, regardless of what country the speaker resides in and regardless of English being the speaker's native language.

    I hear Americans making grammatical errors in speech every day. Who cares? I used to be an English teacher, and I don't care. Grammatical errors in writing--that's a different story.

    The only pet peeve I have about errors in spoken English is people saying "so-and-so and I" when they really should be saying "so-and-so and me." For example:
    She's just trying to make it difficult for Maggie and I to get our jobs done.
    which you can see is hideously incorrect when you rephrase it this way
    She's just trying to make it difficult for we to get our jobs done.
    This irks me more than your pet peeve because people who say things like
    Me wife is coming over
    do not imagine what they're saying is correct. However, the Maggie and I phrasing is usually overcorrection (people have it in their minds that Maggie and me is just always wrong instead of being situationally correct).

  7. #7
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    Re: Why do British people say "Me" instead of "My"?

    Me thinks it sounds funny to!

  8. #8
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    Re: Why do British people say "Me" instead of "My"?

    i think some people don't realise how diverse English accents are in the UK - far more than any other English speaking country.

    it might be worth showing some of the different accents on youtube just to make the point incase anyone's not aware of that???
    Thanks to the forums staff for your dedication and hard work
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  9. #9
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    Re: Why do British people say "Me" instead of "My"?

    Quote Originally Posted by ice60 View Post
    if people do say that then it's only northerners, northerners also say "yous" instead of "you" as well, lol.
    I thought that was Italian people. As in "yous a messing with da wrong guy!"

    Oh and the whole "me" "my" thing, it is mostly Northerners, but its hardly deliberate. Even in the south, you hear it so much that no-one really notices it.

  10. #10
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    Re: Why do British people say "Me" instead of "My"?

    Eye meself dew knot reckonize eny difforance en tha weigh pepo speek
    I locked Bill's Gate, and I threw away the key,
    there's no going back, at least not for Me

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