Me, Myself and I

I know first-hand that nobody likes to be corrected. That said, the ever-increasing obsession with such websites as Myspace and facebook (both of which employ picture-posting mechanisms of some sort), along with the relatively new digital photo-sharing sites as Shutterfly or Snapfish, has made it necessary to explain to the internet-loving public something about posting photos. Whether these sites are genuine networking and keep-in-touch tools or simple technological outgrowths of this generation’s burgeoning narcissism and stalkerism is another issue altogether, and one that would require far more in-depth analysis (though I presume the latter). In the spirit of contributing to the greater good, I'd like to address a grammatical mistake that is commonly made among Myspacers, facebookers, and fellow bloggers alike: captioning pictures incorrectly. I’m not sure which is more disheartening: the posting public’s absolute ignorance of elementary grammar rules or the ensuing overcompensation aimed at avoiding mistakes which, consequently, results in utter failure.

Rudimentary English courses teach some version of the “I vs. me” lesson, though quite often for many students this valuable bit of subject vs. object pronouns goes in one ear and out the other. The basic rule is to use the subject pronoun "I" when "I" is the subject of the sentence, and to use the object pronoun "me" when "me" is the object of the sentence. Oxford Dictionary explains it this way: "I am the subject of the sentence, but the object of the sentence is me." What follows is the easiest way, in my opinion, to master the art of choosing between “I” and “me,” with specific regard to photo captioning.

Lisa and I went to the store.

To determine whether this sentence is grammatically correct with regard to the use of “I,” remove the extra person from the sentence.

I went to the store.

This sentence, like the cheese, stands alone. It is idiomatically legitimate. Therefore, “Lisa and I went to the store” is correct. Alternatively, “Lisa and me went to the store” would be incorrect, and cacophonous, I might add. That was easy. Now what if we recast the sentence to make it sound like a caption?

This is a picture of Lisa and I in Times Square.

Hmm. That sounds pretty good, right? Wrong! This sentence, apart from making my ears bleed, is grammatically incorrect. The easiest way to tell is to remove Lisa from the sentence.

This is a picture of I in Times Square.

Now can you see the problem? Unfortunately, many people make this mistake in captioning pictures in shared photo albums for the world to see, to my obvious irritation. This, therefore, is my way of straddling the proverbial fence between a not-so-subtle and not-quite-offensive way of telling my friends and foes to (pretty please) take a look at their own captions.

In fact, I would even venture to encourage caption-crafters to err on the side of “me.” At least that way, if you get it wrong, it more likely resembles the vernacular than a (failed) valiant effort in sophisticated syntax.

Lisa and me in Times Square is correct.

Time for I to sign off, er, me have to go.