The than I/than me debate: MN jury required!

[IAmSherlocked]

Bob is more knowledgeable than I.

or

Bob is more knowledgeable than me?

I used the first version yesterday and was corrected by someone who said it should be the second. If I google it, there seems to be no consensus of opinion. While the general feeling is that the former is grammatically correct, the latter is becoming accepted usage.

Opinions, please! and please agree with me because the person I was arguing with is really smug and needs to be taken down a peg or two

I shall chew this over further during my swim and not drown myself at all .

I hope to see an elegantly articulated solution when I get back :o

"maybe we should ask Bob, seeing as he's so bloody clever."

pmsl, i actually can't see the screen through tears
(and no one correct me ok i'm not actually p)

I don't think i want to get that close. You can do that

More afraid than [insert case of your choice here]?

I think Imp has got it. So OP, you are right. As am I. Or As am me. :o

Yes, get Bob on for a webchat

Both are correct as long as you want 2 different meanings. The bog standard one and the ellipsis one.

I always tell my students it's 99% of the time more-than-me because 99% of the time (for them, as non-native speakers) it is.

Ah fuck the swim. I am burning more calories from helpless laughter.

i've had to revert to wiki (sorry )

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_pronoun

it seems that both me and I are classed as standard (ie correct)

"Standard: You are a better swimmer than her. (Than is used here as a preposition;[2] as such, it assigns objective case to its argument, her.)
Standard: You are a better swimmer than she. (You are a better swimmer than she [is].; than is used here as a conjunction;[3] as such, it assigns no case to she.)"
"Standard: They like you more than she. (They like you more than she [likes you].)
Standard: They like you more than her. (They like you more than [they like] her.)"

Bob is more pompous than I

i am me.

that makes sense.

Bob, for example, is more of a twat than I

oh :(
I have to go home.

don't solve it before i get back!!

I don't like this thread much at all.

Sorry Bob

The accusative thing is a red herring. There is no accusative in the phrase 'Bob is fatter than I/me.' In the phrase 'Bob eats more cake than I/me' the only accusative is 'more cake'.

Does anyone here know the Middle or Old English usage? My feeling is that 'me' would be the traditional form (? original dative) but that it was regularised to 'I' to match the Latin which uses the nominative ('Bob est pulchrior quam ego') = 'Bob is more beautiful than me'. This is a problem with a lot of 'correct' English usage as when English grammars started to be put together Latin was used as the model, whereas in fact of course English is mostly Germanic in form. (Cf the split infinitive - supposed to be wrong because you can't do it in Latin.)

Happy to be corrected on this by any experts.

I still don't get how the murderers with adequate oral hygiene are relevant?

Oh not you Bob, we were talking about another Bob, he's an oaf

Mooncup I'll be along to correct you as soon as I've swallowed a dictionary

I am crying with laughter at what I have inadvertently begun. Who knew Bob would become such a star?

Can we get him on for a webchat, MNHQ?

Mooncup according to google my extensive research, the first documented usage of "than" is as a comparative in West Germanic - which I think entirely supports the original being the Germanic form, and most likely dative, and then being Latinised.

So originally it was most likely "than me", then that probably became "than I" in educated circles, and so now we've hypercorrected to "than I" in general and think "than me" is for plebs incorrect, when actually it's more English than "than I".

i find the phrase 'Bob is fatter than me/I' very accusatory thank you very much.

Am too scared to count the running total of those who agree and those who disagree thus far...

But I bet Bob is more scared than I.

your breath really stinks did you know?

Excellent Impy, that is good to know.

Sorry Bob!