Tim Tebow stands apart from his sports contemporaries in many ways, and you can add his respect for the language to the list. Our book – Me and Him Are Killing English! – advances the premise that the degraded speech you and I (not me and you) hear around us everywhere mirrors how sports and entertainment role models speak. We’ve dubbed it “me and him” talk.
Do what we did – use Google to search that term, along with “me and her.” See what you find. What we found was daily evidence of entertainers and athletes being “cool” with their slack speech and unwittingly offering proof they slept through grammar class.
In other words, they’re killing English with their lips.
And that’s not cool. The little book’s co-premise is that although our cultural icons' talent is so far off the charts that it doesn’t matter how they speak, the average person’s job and career prospects are damaged by “me and him” talk.
So hats and helmets off to Tim Tebow. Google his name and “me and him” in the same search window, and guess what: Tim's not a “me and him” talker! The hits you receive show pronoun abuse by fans, teammates, journalists or on-air analysts, but not the Denver QB. (Typical hit: “It’s no surprise me and him are back in the playoffs….”)
For that reason alone, Colin Cowherd, host of ESPN Radio's The Herd daily sportstalk show, should lighten up on Tim Tebow. He may not be a pocket passer, but he uses the language properly.
That’s important in a role model, and since Colin is also one, let’s hope against hope that he humbles himself and embraces Tim Tebow for that reason, too. (Keep reading below for our observations about Mr. Cowherd's on-air pronoun abuse.)
1 comments:
Good one!
Post a Comment