Needed: Grammar Guru

A few weeks ago, I was browsing through one of my Facebook friend's photo albums (Riley O'Neill), and stumbled upon the pictures he took at his good friend's wedding. One picture, in particular, caught my eye because the caption simply read "the groom and me", but then in the comments section, someone had corrected him, saying it should be "the groom and I". Being the closet confrontationalist that I am, I decided to enter the debate and put my two cents in, supporting Riley's original comment on the picture.

Unfortunately, I already deleted my two comments before I decided to write a blog about it, doing so in order that I would not receive any more notifications from the picture, because clearly nothing good was coming from it. I was only getting frustrated every time I was reminded of the event. But I will re-enter to the best of my ability what I commented so that you will fully understand the debate and situation.

Keegan O'Neill

groom and I

July 4 at 12:58am

Riley O'Neill

thanks mom

July 4 at 3:56am

ELISABETH JONES: No Riley, I think you're right with the "groom and me", because if you left the groom entirely out of the picture, you wouldn't write "I" in the caption. At least that's how I think the rule goes. :)

Keegan O'Neill

nope, groom and i

July 11 at 8:00pm

Riley O'Neill

i have to agree since my mom would correct me all the time on this, hence the "thanks mom" above..

July 11 at 8:31pm

ELISABETH JONES: "I" can only be used as a subject of a sentence, and "me" as an object. and in this picture, there is an implied "This is a picture of" in front of your caption, making you and the groom the direct objects. I'm not trying to be argumentative, just giving my opinion! :)

Brock Kenneth Robert Thulin

hahaha now son, it is "groom and I"

July 13 at 6:01pm

Riley O'Neill

Elisabeth for how smart i know you are you should know this one, its one of those exceptions...

July 13 at 6:11pm

Matt O'Neill

i think its Elisabeth i suppose to have a 'z' , not an 's' ... u might wanna check on that one too while you're at it ;)

5 hours ago

As you can see, the debate ended very tactfully! Personal attacks on something a person has no control over and completely irrelevant to the topic is very mature, and it only makes that person's stance on the debate that much more convincing. In response to Matt's comment: Elisabeth with an "s" is the original way of spelling the Hebrew name in the English language, and is still how the Dutch spell it. It is how the British spelled the name for centuries, which can be seen by opening up any King James Version of the Bible (click here for confirmation). Elizabeth with a "z" is the Americanized version of the name. I'm not arguing one as being better than the other, I'm just explaining my name is not misspelled! Other people who share my unique spelling: Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Elisabeth Elliot, Liz Claiborne.

But back to the point. I have asked 3 people whether "I" or "me" should be used in this situation, and all 3 have said "me". I gave my reasoning above as to why I believe it is "me", but the people arguing for "I" never backed up their claim with a stated rule or example. I searched online this morning for almost an hour trying to find the proper way to use "I" in a picture caption, but could not find a credible source (yahoo answers has no validity in my book). If anyone out there knows the answer, or would like the healthily debate this all-important linguistic enigma, please do so. I really want to know the correct way to caption my Facebook pictures!

But until proven otherwise, I'm sticking with "me".

Me? Uncultured?

Yesterday my beau hunk got off of work early at Ft. Knox so he decided to drive up to Lexington to spend a few hours with me before driving back that night. What a doll. We decided to have a quiet night in at his place, so we headed to Yu Yu Asian Market to buy some goods, in hopes of concocting the ultimate Asian meal. After selecting the perfect tofu, spices, and dumplings, we went to the check out lane. Not surprisingly, I got distracted by the assortments of Asian candies nearby. My eye was drawn to a small 6 oz bottle of Korean Ginseng Drink. I don't really know what ginseng is, but it seems to be in a lot of health drinks, so I figured it couldn't hurt. Plus, it was Korean, so I figured Ed would know what it is. So I held one up and asked Ed if he wanted it. To my astonishment, he said no. Ed never turns down anything, especially gustatory items, so I asked if he was sure, and he confirmed his answer. I put it away and went on my way, but Ed had a funny look on his face. As we walked out the door, he began laughing then explained to me what had just taken place. Apparently in Asian cultures, that drink is used as an aphrodisiac! When I unabashedly asked him in front of everyone if he wanted the drink, the guy at the checking out started chuckling under his breath. You live, you learn. Apparently you don't have to go to another country to make a cultural mistake! I should have known better, I lived in Taiwan for 2 years (although I was much too young to know the secrets of aphrodisiacs).

At least I made some mean Mapo Tofu last night. :)

Finding the positive

I learned an incredible amount of information this past year, more than I thought humanly possible. I must also admit that most of it has left my long term memory bank, but I am sure it will come back quickly when I start studying for boards next summer (this is my new optimistic side). One of the greatest things I learned was about myself: I am most definitely not perfect. Now, now...don't freak out on me...I never thought that I was actually perfect, but I did have a pretty high self-esteem...you know, Aggie soccer babe, good grades, great friends, All-American accolades...a fairly fabulous life. Then as much of you know from my numerous self-defeating, ranting blogs over the past 11 months, I was greatly humbled this year. I had to get used to the B average, to not being the best at everything I do, to not being in shape and have a rockin' bod, and had to learn how to set lower goals and standards. While you may think that is pathetic of me, it had to be done for my sanity. I would have been miserable if I had not learned to find joy and satisfaction in a B.

But the point of this blog post is not to be self-deprecating. I want to talk about the positive aspects of being mediocre. I played soccer for the first time last night in 8 months. I stepped on the field with low expectations, and didn't even live up to those. I am in horrible shape. I have lost my quick first step. And let's not even talk about my first touch. It really was a pathetic display of athleticism (which someone pointed out by saying "I thought you were a D1 athlete?" after I whiffed the ball). Surprisingly, I walked off the field afterwards like nothing had happened. After 11 months of being brutally beaten by med school (particularly biochem), I am so used to be a loser and being mediocre that my crazy competitiveness has gone. Out the window. Vanquished. I never thought it would happen, but it has. And praise the Lord, because my competitiveness was just a wee bit over the top.

I have now reached a healthy level of aggression, and I am that much wiser because of it. And you can trust me, because I'm 1/4 of a doctor. :)