[lit-ideas] Re: Anonymity and revelation...

Mike Geary quotes Paul Stone:

the person in question wrote "it was "me" ", in which case the "me" becomes a noun, NOT a pronoun and therefore is perfectly grammatically correct. 

And replies:

No wonder Canada's not a superpower with thinking like that running rampant. "Me" is a noun? Indeed! Hocus pocus, dominocus, you're a noun, ta-da! Thank God I live in the USA, where nouns are nouns and pronouns are pronouns. God is in His heaven and all is rightwing with the world.

Paul Stone has a pretty good case. Mike's use of double quotes to mark off 'me' suggests that he's using 'me' as a name (compare 'using me as a name'), which, if you think proper names are nouns, implies that Mike is clearing things up by renaming himself. That proper names are nouns is another fallacy but it's one accepted by grammarians for government work.

Robert Paul
Department of Semantic Ontology
Mutton College
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