“Me neither.” or “Me either”

Why is everyone debating the pronunciation? Andy was asking about 'either' versus 'neither.'

GHadikin Jul-20-2004

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A Briton would hardly recognize the construction "Me either," which tends to be an exclusively American grammatical phenomenon in my experience. "Me neither" would be the preferred British expression.

Neither is incorrect. American English is American English and British English is British English. It seems useless to debate what it would be in a formal context, since it is hard to imagine in what formal context the phrase would be used.

Dave3 Jul-21-2004

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Glenn: "Everyone" is not debating punctuation. I was simply attempting to answer Michelle's question.

Dave: Love your last para...very good breakdown of the right way to look at this... however, you may want to substitute "both can be considered correct" for "neither is correct," as you don't mean to say "either is incorrect." lol.

speedwell2 Jul-21-2004

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I mean "pronunciation," natch... still have not had my coffee this morning...

speedwell2 Jul-21-2004

LOL. It didn't even occur to me that "Neither is incorrect" had a double-meaning in the context of this discussion. *Duh*

What I meant of course was that neither NEITHER nor EITHER is incorrect in the expression "Me n/either". I didn't mean that NEITHER was incorrect in the context of "Me n/either". Do you understand that now? Me neither. I mean either. Oh f*ck it.

:D

Dave3 Jul-21-2004

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LOL!....The last thing they're doing is being "pompous." They're showing there view on a certain grammar lesson. Which from what I know, in AMERICA, is always "me either." To an American(or at least me), "me neither" is somewhat childish...Kind of like "me shneither." If you were talking, especially formally, you would never(again in America) go out of your way to say me neither. That's just my opinion and observation. No need to get complacent and overjudgmental.

Josh1 Aug-11-2004

The difficulty is that Americans neither write nor speak English; they use American, a dialect based on English, but now far removed from it.

One has only to consider the abomination "gotten", an archaism which disappeared from English in the late eighteenth century, but was cocooned in America following the revolt against Britain, which resulted in the isolation of the United States from the remainder of the English-speaking world for several decades.

Some of the annoying, but fascinating developments of American, as opposed to English, are the rolled Rs which all Americans use, but which occur in very few areas in the UK, and not at all in other former British colonies, and the dialect’s grating attempts at shortish As, of which there are two variants, that used in such words as "last", and that employed in "can't".

Apart from Canada, every other English-speaking nation eschews these odd pronunciations, and a long A is used except by those in Yorkshire and Lancashire and thereabouts, where a genuine short A, rather than a strangled cross between the two, is used for both words.

Yet the Yanks pronounce "father" correctly; do any of the more educated Americans ever think about the idiocies of their spelling and pronunciation? Do any of them yearn to speak English?

Ken3 Aug-17-2004

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Whoever just wrote that parody on linguistic imperialism and bigotry is a comic genius. :D

Dave3 Aug-17-2004

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Aw, he's just letting off steam, as must all bags of hot air from time to time. ;D Self included (i.e. my latest protestant thesis against the industry-catholic style manuals).

I actually speak American English with an accent so "pure" that a professional linguist with the American military who I dated for a while said it was one of the things that attracted him. If Ken, who presumably would prefer to speak Norman French if he could get away with it, heard American English described as a "pure" anything, he'd probably spontaneously combust.

speedwell2 Aug-17-2004

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I think the example is correct. I was in the process of writing a script for a local news broadcast and I was curious which was the proper, "me neither" or "me either". I thought it was the second but I have often heard the first used and also have seen it typed online. But when I said it in my mind I thought something sounded...off. So I looked it up. It may not really be considered a big deal in most every day life, however, I do not wish to use improper english in matters that are meant to be taken seriously and which are professional. So I will be using the second.

Starr_Jonas Jan-25-2011

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My Husband and I get into this "me either" "me neither" discussion all the time. As I am an American, if he said, "I cannot wait for Christmas" I have always very naturally replied "me either". He always corrects this and supplies "me neither". (pompous ass?) LOL. I have always very naturally had a sense of this is a positive, excited, type statement when someone says it. Usually because of their gestures and expression. In my mind that requires a more positive type response so "me neither' just feels negative in my view.
As for the term "gotten"...........SO IT WASSSSSSSSSSSS included in English at one time? Maybe we Americans just moved before it died out over there! In my view just because you kicked a word out of your version of English doesn't mean it never existed as acceptable. The fact of the matter is all English was bastardized long before there were American English speakers. If you English speakers were still speaking the true queens tongue, before the rule books were written, and edited several times over, nobody would be complaining about who speaks correctly or incorrectly. We would all sound funny period! Language is language and there are subtle or profound changes between nations, tribes, colonies, races, etc. It all boils down to context and how something is being expressed physically and emotionally, whether or not you will understand it as it is conveyed. It's the expression that prompts the response. Another thing I do during this discussion of "me either/neither, when I say something like, neither "me neither or me either" is incorrect...I differentiate with " Neyether, neether nor eeither. is incorrect" So I even switch up the pronunciation phonetically. Which really drives my pompous ass of a husband nuts LOL.

jc1 Apr-30-2011

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NEITHER NOR
EITHER OR

the FORMAL way to use neither is... neither can i, neither do i or nor do i...

you use EITHER when a negative clause is implied.. for example i do NOT want to go to school EITHER.

NEITHER CANT be used when a negative clause is implied... for example, you CANT say: i do NOT want to go to school NEITHER.. that's wrong! the correct way to say it..NEITHER DO I, NOR DO I.

now it is common to use ME NEITHER or ME EITHER(they are BOTH informal like dont/do not and doesnt/does not) it is NOT just me neither*.. but still it is more acceptable to say me NEITHER as a short answer than me EITHER..

even though they are both used, EITHER was NOT meant to be used that way as me either ..just becuz people get lazy and just rather say me either(normal in american english) EITHER's correct use is to use it with sentences with negative clauses on it (dont, doesnt, isnt, im not, arent) NEITHER CANT be included in this cuz that would mean you are using double negation which is WRONG

but for the original question ... THEY both are informal but *me NEITHER* is still correct.. some people use me EITHER and even though people understand it and it's normal in american english to say it..GRAMMATICALLY correct the use of either is not for me either

Indhira Nov-30-2011

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I go with the general flow: 'me neither' is absolutely standard spoken English, but there are (formal) occasions when 'neither do I' would be more appropriate. But my main concern is 'me either', because there is no negative; it makes no sense to me. 'Not me either', though unidiomatic would at least make sense.

It seems however, that 'me either' is in common use in North America:
http://throwgrammarfromthetrain.blogspot.com/2010/01/me-either-me-neither.html

but the usually pretty laid-back Prof Paul Brians at WSU Common Errors sees it as an error:
http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/meeither.html

Warsaw Will Dec-02-2011

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Good day everyone!
My name is Tim, I'm from Moscow...

I've got a question about how should I write the following:

1. I can neither understand nor believe in what I saw..... (something)
OR
1.1. I can't neither understand nor believe in what i saw.... (something next)
2 I would neither understand nor believe in what I saw..... (something)
OR
2.2. I would't neither understand nor believe in what I saw..... (something)

I'm a little confusing about this... :-)

Thank's in advance
Tim

Tim_B Feb-28-2012

Tim,

The first version of both examples is correct. In the second version of your examples you have a double negative. If you expand the contractions it becomes a bit more clear, i.e. "I would not neither understand nor believe in what I saw...". In addition to being incorrect, the double negatives would cancel each other out and change the meaning of the sentence.

Ian

Ian1 Mar-24-2012

"Me too" for positive repetitions.. "Me naither" for negatives.. lol

kodoo23 Apr-27-2012

Both "me neither" and "me either" are correct. How can that be? They both are short forms. "Me neither" is short for "neither do I" while "me either" is short for "I don't either". Back in the olden days, we wouldn't hav put two said vowels together … like me + either. Thus we said "mine eyes" (e on mine is silent) or "mine eyen" rather than "my eyes/eyen" which is likely why most or many folks like "me neither" better. But that "rule" is not noted much nowadays.

Anent the "me" instead of "I", it's the old dativ form. We see it in "methinks" (It seems to me) from Old English "mē thyncth", from mē "to me" + "thyncth" — "it seems" (3rd person, sing.) from "thyncan" — seem; akin to, but sunder from, think).

AnWulf May-14-2012

Language changes and is transmitted orally. Saying something is "correct" or "incorrect" is incorrect. There is "accepted among certain people" and "not accepted among certain people." Language changes through "misuse," slang, solecism, malapropism, you name it. The prigs on here need to go relax somewhere nice and peaceful and stop school-marming the rest of us peeps ("peep" has entered the vernacular now, peeps).

Coondog Jun-21-2012

In the context of:-
"Speaker A: I don’t like going to the beach when it is cold outside.
Speaker B: Me neither (or Me either)"
I think that "nor" is preferable to "neither" or "either".
Whether it be "nor me" or "nor I" is a different story.

user106928 Jun-21-2012

Ether is used to avoid a double negative people. that plane...that simple.

YUP Feb-16-2013

http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/

@Hairy Scot - "Nor I", would be pretty formal, I think. "Nor me" sounds more neutral to me. Some possible answers, in descending order of formality, the numbers are the number of hits in the British National Corpus (when followed by a comma or full stop):

Nor I. (12)
I don't either. (0)
Nor do I. (19)
Nor me. (16)
Me neither. (10)

Warsaw Will Feb-16-2013

@WW
I agree.

It is plain that we are on the same plane!

:-))

user106928 Feb-16-2013

He didn't remember and neither did I.
I hadn't been to New York before and neither had Jane .
‘I can't understand a word of it.’ ‘ Neither can I .’
( informal ) ‘I don't know.’ ‘ Me neither .’

pero Apr-03-2014

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Neither do I or me neither are just like informal expressions, actually when someone say like " Me neither " it's the opposit of " Me either " just like that "n" means NOT, but it isn't right to say, " Me not either " Haha, please don't do that! Actually I think that neither do I is a little bit ugly to say, I don't like to use it...

Tiago Newton Feb-01-2016

I'm from England, and 'me either sounds odd to me. Nobody says it. I had to look it up, though, because I noticed someone online say 'either', then I questioned my way.
Maybe I should have just said 'nor did I... or I didn't either, because I know those are correct :-)

Zoe Apr-06-2016

"Me neither" in almost all situations is being used to mean "I don't want to". Therefore, the word "me" is being used as the subject of the sentence and is incorrect, because "me" is the objective case.
I know that "me neither" sounds normal because it is commonly used. However, the question concerns what is correct English, so any of us who have come to this site recognize that there is a standard to which we comparing our speech.
Therefore, the concept that if a "native speaker uses it, then it must be correct" is abhorrent to me. If that were true, there would never be English classes in school and there would be no sites like this!

V. May-12-2016

Nor I.

user106928 May-15-2016

Found this on this website: http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/meeither.html

...Inside a longer sentence, “me either” can be perfectly legitimate: “whole-wheat pie crust doesn’t appeal to me either.” But by itself, meaning “neither do I,” in reply to previous negative statement, it has to be “me neither”: “I don’t like whole-wheat pie crust.” “Me neither.”

CC Jul-26-2016

“I don’t like whole-wheat pie crust.”
“Nor do I.”

user106928 Jul-31-2016

well, actually, grammar rules themselves don't exist. there has never been any set rules, because the "rules" depend on how a majority decides to speak, and they change as the years go by. "ain't" used to be considered grammatically correct and was used by rich English folk, but when "commoners" started using it, they decided it wasn't proper English. this fact won't change how society treats grammar (like it's friggin LAW), but I feel like we should all be more lax and just use whatever feels right to us. I mean, soon, "I did good on my test" will be considered proper grammar.

Nonyobizz Feb-15-2018

"Me either" makes as much sense as "I could care less", I think both are dull-brained mistakes, possibly originally by a non-native English speaker, then subsequently accepted as good English. "Me neither" is rough, but at least logical: "nor I, either" just isn't heard these days, but "neither am/have I" is commonly heard and logical. Grammar: descriptive rather than prescriptive, but some howlers ought to be laughed out of court.

osbert Feb-22-2018

"Me either" makes as much sense as "I could care less", I think both are dull-brained mistakes, possibly originally by a non-native English speaker, then subsequently accepted as good English. "Me neither" is rough, but at least logical: "nor I, either" just isn't heard these days, but "neither am/have I" is commonly heard and logical. Grammar: descriptive rather than prescriptive, but some howlers ought to be laughed out of court.

osbert Feb-22-2018

"I drank beer in college, and I never assaulted anyone."
"Me either" or "Me neither" or "Me too".

"I am a man, and I never assaulted anyone."
"Me either" or "Me neither? or "Me too"?

user107273 Oct-05-2018

It is difficult to pronounce “me either” because you have to pu in a glottal stop before the “e” unless “either” is the first word of the sentence. Without the glottal stop you must say “meether”.

user107320 Oct-19-2018

Me neither is in no wY a double negative. “Me” is not negative but “neither” IS!

user107320 Oct-19-2018

In similar situations, I believe I use "me neither" . I've been paying attention to this for a while now, trying to see how others, choose to say that phrase. I've only heard "me either" once. And I had to stop and think for a second because it sounds so foreign to me. I'm dying to know the correct answer to this conundrum, though.

Please help !! Lol

Thank You Kindly!!

Christine

Tine Dec-18-2019

Backstory:
In a show I am watching, The Thundermans, which should be italicized but my phone won’t let me.- *this is besides the point*

Anyways, in this show, Phoebe’s friends, Cherry, Oyster, Allison, and her brother, Max were all in relationships. Max and Allison and Cherry and Oyster. They were all constantly doing stuff together as couples, since Phoebe was single she was never apart of that. Never being apart of the group started to make her feel lonely and left out.

They mentioned going to the heart tree as couples, together. Phoebe said something about tagging along, so her friends assumed she was in a relationship again.

Allison said, “Awww Phoebe, you have a new boyfriend?!” Phoebe instead of being honest, lied and said, “yah I am”. Phoebes friend, Cherry, then said, “I can’t wait to meet him”. Phoebe, knowing her lies said, “me neither!”

that made me question- did she use the right form/text? So she lied, but her friends were excited to meet her boyfriend, she said under her breath, “me neither”.

Did she mean “neither am I” as in “I can’t wait either” or “I’m not either”?

Should she of said, “me either” as in “I can’t wait either” or “I can’t either”

I processed her response as, Phoebe just lied and now has to find a boyfriend for the heart tree couple “trip”. Cherry is actually excited to meet Phoebe’s “boyfriend” and Phoebe is “excited” because she will just be meeting this person or will just be meeting this person/friend as her “boyfriend”.
So I saw her response of, “me neither” in a couple different ways. I saw her response as: a) in she actually can’t wait to meet him, because she has to find a “boyfriend” fast
b) she can’t wait to meet him, because she knows she lied and messed up and doesn’t know what she is gonna do
c) I saw her response as wrong, because I thought she should of said, “me either” as in I cannot wait either!

After typing this I think she could’ve use either and it still would’ve been/is correct.

a) “me neither”- I can’t either or neither can I

- this would also represent I can’t wait to meet him either

-this could also represent Cherry saying, “I can’t wait to meet him” and Phoebe saying neither can I wait to meet him.

b) “me either” - I can’t either

extra info on this:

~(you typically would use “me either” in a negative phrase)-5 examples of this below⬇️

*Examples 1-4 show this w/negative phrases- Example 5 shows this w/a positive phrase *

Example 1:

[Person stating a phrase] Person A, “I don’t want to go to *person’s name* house!”

[Person responding to previous persons phrase] Person B, “me either”.

To explain this, Person A is saying, I don’t want to go to *person’s name* house and Person B is essentially saying, “I don’t want to go either.”

Example 2:

[Person stating a phrase] This person says, “I don’t like having to pick her up every-time we hangout!”

[Person that is being told the phrase] This person responds by saying, “me either”.

[What the Person being told the phrase’s response means] “I don’t like doing that either!”

Example 3:

Stacy: “I don’t really care for skittles!”

Kylee: “me either”

[What Kylee means] “I don’t care for skittles either”

Example 4: (examples of what responses would be/could be saying)

•“I don’t care for that person either”
•“I don’t want to exercise today as well”
•“I can’t wait for work to be over also”
•“I don’t feel like going in the store with mom either”

Example 5:

[Person 1: talking to Person 2] This person is saying, “I can’t wait for Christmas!”

[Person2: person that is being talked to] This person reply’s by saying, “me either”.

[What Person2’s reply also means]
“Neither can I”

~(“neither” is essentially “not either” so you use it in a confirmitive of a negative as in "Neither do I")

kylee.lauseng Sep-29-2020