And don't
forget our Home Toon contest:
To whom it may concern:
On behalf of the staff of the IU Home Pages, I thank you all for your kind responses regarding our Sept. 19 center-fold, which we titled "Who do we serve?"
Some of you, quite frankly, were appalled by the grammar we chose.
"The word of choice is Whom!!!! How could you and your staff make such a basic error???"
So went the text from one anonymous correspondent. (We received many others; most of you were willing to attach a signature.)
Well, we thought carefully about the who/whom dilemma. And we have to admit, our decision was deliberate. If you think we fudged, well, our intentions were honorable, and in our more highfalutin reflections, downright Shakespearian.
We cite not only a gut reaction to bypass the heavy-laden "whom," but we refer you to three references: Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, The New Fowler's Modern English Usage, and the Longman Guide to English Usage.
I also checked in with Susan Gubar, Distinguished Professor of English at IUB, who has distinguished herself in my household for more than a decade for correcting the grammar of WHOMEVER (mostly teenagers) happens to be sitting at the supper table on a given night.
Using "whom" in the context of our poster title would be, said Gubar, "very fuddy-duddy."
"Common usage authorizes the use of the interrogative 'who,'" she said.
So let's move on.
And we love all the mail. So please keep sending in suggestions.
And don't
forget our Home Toon contest:
http://www.iuinfo.indiana.edu/homepages/0919/text/humor.htm
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