Don't be afraid of "me."

I grind my teeth and bite holes in my tongue at the proliferation of people who are afraid to use the word "me." I'm told they over-correct for fear of being thought ignorant, but there's a good reason "me" is in our vocabulary.

From pastors to newscasters to newspaper journalists to talk show hosts to political cartoonists to teachers, people just can't seem to get over their fear of "me." The example that finally prompted this blog was cartoonist Jeff Stahler. When his March 3, 2010, cartoon appeared in The Paris News, one of the dialogue balloons read, "One for you & I. Another for your aging parents . . ." I guess somebody corrected him -- when I went to his website to post a link to the cartoon for this blog, the dialogue balloon was changed. It now reads, "One for you & me . . ."

So don't be afraid of "me." If it's your first inclination to use it, you're probably right.