Re: Charlie and I (Really on topic :)

"Raymond A. Brown" wrote:

> Indeed, to this old Britisher "This is he" sounds even weirder & more
> stilted than "This is I".  I've never encountered on the phone this side of
> the pond.
Well, like I said, it's more of an exception than a rule -- though
a considerable exception.  I remember being over at a classmates
dorm last year when the phone rang.  He picked it up, and said
"This is him", at which I was a little surprised*, because in my
experience "This is he/she" is relatively common as an ossified
form.  Most people I know, if they use a pronoun in answering,
will use the nominative as I've described.  (It is of course easy
to avoid the pronoun, so it's not the only acceptable possibility,
by far.)

*(The really surprising thing is that he also regularly uses the
present subjunctive in phrases like "whether he be", etc.)

=======================================================
Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

Denn wo Begriffe fehlen,
Da stellt ein Wort zur rechten Zeit sich ein.
   -- Mephistopheles, in Goethe's _Faust_
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