Job Discussion Forums

[dmb]

During the last ten minutes of class today I discovered that one of my students has an unusual hobby. Camels. So I asked him a few questions about it. The converation went something like this...

me"How many camels do you have?"
him"50"
me"Do they all have names?"
him"yes"
me"How do you tell them apart"
him"By the smell or the their footprints"


Are there any camel experts out there who can verify this? Or is he taking the ........

[leeroy]

I honestly have no idea about smelling camels' footprints, but on a completely unrelated matter...

I noticed you used the objective pronouns in your "transcript",i.e. "me" and "him"

[dmb]

It's half past one in the morning and I've had a few beers. I really didn't think about it.
Did I vote on that drinking thread

[leeroy]

No dmb! I'm not criticising! This was genuine curiosity. Even in perfect sobriety, I would too have used the objective pronoun, as you did.

(I have a feeling, though, that if an alcohol breath-test was required before you could post on Dave's that this would be a ghost town!)

I'm just wondering why, in the hope that a grammar-geek would satisfy my curiosity...

[lajzar]

The reason you used the objective pronoun is because, in English, that is teh accepted norm, both by prescriptive grammarians and descriptive grammarians.

Hey Those guys are in agreement for once! Let's not rock this boat.

[FGT]

If the conversation was conducted in English (regardless of pronouns!) then I wouldn't worry. This is a student who may be taking the **** but he's speaking English! Isn't that what we want? Personally, I encourage my students to lie, viz : I've been to Tibet and drunk yak's milk. It makes for some interesting and enjoyable lessons!

[denise]

[dmb]

So which is better English?

My friend and I went to the bar last night


Me and my mate went to the bar last night

[khmerhit]

My camel and I went to the bar last nite.

[leeroy]

I have no problem with "Me and him went to the cinema", although a lot of people do. Perhaps it's a regional thing, - "the damn English invented the language and they can't even speak it."

[Wolf]

I can't say if your student owns 50 camels or not.

But farmers can tell cows, or horses apart. Would it really be odd, I wonder, if a camel owner/trainer/trader who grew up around the animals would be able to tell them apart.

The last comment "by smell or their footprints." Hmm. Footprints doesn't seem that odd. But can camels really smell that different. Could he meant that the camels tell each other apart by smell?

[johnslat]

Dear khmerhit,
" My camel and I went to the bar last nite. "

Hope you weren't the one buying the drinks. Those critters can store up a lot of booze in their humps. Personally, I always demand separate tabs.
Regards,
John

[Shonai Ben]

[johnslat]

Dear Shonai Ben,
" I always smoke my camels at the bar. "
I really hate to do this, but such brazen, wanton cruelty must be stopped.
I'm informing PETA immediately. You can expect a squad of attack Dobermans to visit you shortly.
Regards,
John

[johnslat]

Hate to get back to pronouns, but I was thinking - dmb wrote

" So which is better English?
My friend and I went to the bar last night

Me and my mate went to the bar last night "

Now, " Me and my mate went to the bar last night " doesn't grate on the ear much, does it? On my ear, anyway. Perhaps because it's a structure that's heard fairly often in everyday conversation. But

" Us went to the bar last night "

would grate a lot.

So, I guess what you teach depends a lot on the circumstances. If you're doing a TOEFL class, for example, you ought to teach the " correct usage " of subject/object pronouns. But, if you're doing an " informal conversation class ", while you might also want to teach the " correct usage " ,it probably wouldn't be amiss to mention how, from " native speakers in real life " your students will often hear such constructions as

" Me and my mate went to the bar last night ".
Regards,

John