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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To hate the use of am instead of i’m?

53 replies

TotallyDoneWithThis · 23/12/2019 13:26

I know I should get a life but it really grates on me when people use the word ‘am’ instead of ‘i’m’, for example...am really pissed off...am going to the shop...am not looking forward to Christmas.

OP posts:
BlueBirdGreenFence · 23/12/2019 13:34

I hate when people don't know how to capitalise letters properly but complains about others' small mistakes. Makes them look thick and judgemental.

InsertFunnyUsername · 23/12/2019 13:37

Meh, am not bothered by it.

Glasgowgin · 23/12/2019 13:40

I take it you don’t live in the west of Scotland then? Your head would probably explode; it’s completely usual here.

Knittedfairies · 23/12/2019 13:42

I'm is a contraction of I am, so what's really annoying you is the missing I.
Am not really bothered about it.

CodYe · 23/12/2019 13:42

Calm your farm a moment... are you hating accents that use this, or written versions?

Butchyrestingface · 23/12/2019 13:43

I take it you don’t live in the west of Scotland then? Your head would probably explode; it’s completely usual here.

This, basically. But so as not to trigger anyone, ah um pure confused about whit the OP is on aboot.

TildaKauskumholm · 23/12/2019 13:47

It's not replacing I'm with am, it's omitting I, and I think it's acceptable in casual speech. There are many worse things in common use.

thistimelastweek · 23/12/2019 13:50

Sumdi gonnae explain tae Butchyrestingface?

CodYe · 23/12/2019 13:51

I notice when people say 'should of' because it stands out as wrong, but that's as close to getting cross about it as I can get.

OP, have a cuppa and put your feet up for ten. Sounds like you've got a lot on and lots of things are niggling you.

eddiemairswife · 23/12/2019 13:55

Perhaps the OP isn't familiar with accents other than her own.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 23/12/2019 13:56

While you're getting your life you should spend some time looking up when and where to use capital letters.

steff13 · 23/12/2019 13:59

I've never thought about it before, but it would be common to omit the "I" in Spanish. You could say "yo soy" (I am) or just "soy" because the "I" is implied. Why not do the same in English? You wouldn't say "he am" or "she am" or "they am," it's only ever "I am." So why not eliminate the "I?"

There's precedent in English as well; it's perfectly acceptable to say, "please go to the store," rather than, "you please go to the store," because the "you" is understood.

Wattagoose90 · 23/12/2019 14:00

Agree. "an" instead of "and" grinds on me even more so.

Butchyrestingface · 23/12/2019 14:11

Was it not Bridget Jones who started the whole dropping pronouns thing?

Of course, it’s very normal in all the other European languages je spraken. **

housemdwaswrong · 23/12/2019 14:28

I do it all the time in messages, and as said before it's not replacing I'm it's omitting I. Of all the things that wind me up about grammar, and there are many, this isn't one of them. Different to instead of from, misuse of loose/lose and breath/breathe I find particularly irksome, but 'am feeling tired' in informal speech doesn't worry me. Horses for courses I suppose.

PechaKucha · 23/12/2019 14:32

Ave started doing it since a moved to the West Coast, am blaming them!

DGRossetti · 23/12/2019 14:35

I've never thought about it before, but it would be common to omit the "I" in Spanish. You could say "yo soy" (I am) or just "soy" because the "I" is implied.

And Italian ...

Tombliwho · 23/12/2019 14:42

OP you should know by now if you're going to make a spelling and grammar AIBU thread your own writing has to be absolutely on point Grin

StrawberrySquash · 23/12/2019 15:31

It makes more sense to do it in a heavily inflected language like Spanish, where there is a different form of the verb depending on the subject (I/you/he etc.) You can work our that it's 'I' because I am=yo soy and you are= tu eres, he is=él es.
And that different form is also a thing for more regular verbs, e. g. To eat: yo como/tu comes/él come/nosotros comemos etc. But English is far more regular I eat/you eat/he eats (the exception)/ we eat etc. It's nearly always eat.

Bessica1970 · 23/12/2019 15:41

This is an accent thing rather than a bad grammar thing. You probably say lots of things differently to me, but I wouldn’t judge you for it. Written word is different though, and I would be (silently) judging Xmas Blush

StoorieHoose · 23/12/2019 15:44

Scottish twitter would tip you over the edge

saj90 · 23/12/2019 15:46

Drives me up the wall OP.

Ericaceae · 23/12/2019 15:55

Fairly middle-class, central-belt Scottish accent here, and I can't wrap my tongue round I as the vowel in "I'm" in the same way I can't wrap it round the I in "bird".
So I can't get het up about casual language in social media posts reflecting the writer's accent.

ElusiveOrangeTwirl · 23/12/2019 16:58

Iv instead of I've annoys me. I've seen it a lot recently.

Kaykay066 · 23/12/2019 17:00

Yous is one that bugs me, but it’s a wee thing in scheme of things, Just annoys me we all have those things.

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