# Me either - Me neither



## GSimenon

Hi everyone,

In the English test of the recent University entrance exam in my country, there was a question of multiple choice like this:

Q: I will never go mountaineering again.

A: (a) Me neither   (b) Me either

My choice was (b) but then it turned out that (a) was the correct answer. Then just like me, people started arguing about the answers.

Please help me... Wonder if both of them are commonly used... Thanks a lot.


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## Einstein

Other possible answers are:

I will never go either.
Neither will I.

Note that in the first case we can use "either" because we already have a negative word: never. In the second case there is no other negative, so we need "neither". In "me neither", the only negative word is "neither", so you can't substitute it with "either".


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## hoan965

> "I will never go mountaineering again."
> A: (a) Me neither   (b) Me either


In Oxford Advanced Dictionary, I have seen : 
  1/ (AmE, informal) 'I don't like it.' 'Me either.' (= Neither do I).
  2/ 'I can't understand a word of it.' 'Neither can I.' * (informal) 'I don't know.' 'Me neither.'

Therefore I think that the both _(a) Me neither_   and _(b) Me either_ are correct.


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## Andygc

hoan965 said:


> Therefore I think that the both _(a) Me neither_   and _(b) Me either_ are correct.


We will need AE input to confirm that. As Einstein explained, in BE _me either_ is wrong, so if you are speaking to Brits don't say _me either._


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## JustKate

_Me either_ sounds odd to me as well, but I know I've heard it. That doesn't make it right, of course.


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## Hau Ruck

_Either_ cannot be considered correct.  As Einstein said, once the negative is used, the negative must follow.

Neither.......nor
Either......or

It is incorrect to say _either_ in regards to never.


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## Pedro y La Torre

Andygc said:


> We will need AE input to confirm that. As Einstein explained, in BE _me either_ is wrong, so if you are speaking to Brits don't say _me either._



In everyday British English, I certainly would say ''me either'', despite ''neither'' being the technically correct form.


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## Hau Ruck

Pedro y La Torre said:


> In everyday British English, I certainly would say ''me either'', despite ''neither'' being the technically correct form.



Well, _a lot_ of AE speakers would say it as well....however.....Not _correct_ on either side of the pond, really.


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## mplsray

On page four of _Touchstone Level 2 Student's Book A with Audio CD/CD-ROM_, Book 1, by Michael J. McCarthy, et al., published by Cambridge University Press, available in preview at Google Books, there is a sidebar labeled "In conversation..." which says "People actually say *Me either* more often than _*Me neither.*_" There is a tiny, unlabeled bar graph showing the difference, but it is not very helpful.


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## Hau Ruck

mplsray said:


> On page four of _Touchstone Level 2 Student's Book A with Audio CD/CD-ROM_, Book 1, by Michael J. McCarthy, et al., published by Cambridge University Press, available in preview at Google Books, there is a sidebar labeled "In conversation..." which says "People actually say *Me either* more often than _*Me neither.*_" There is a tiny, unlabeled bar graph showing the difference, but it is not very helpful.



But does it give an example of a prior sentence that it is following?  There are many examples where either _neither_ or _either_ could be used; just not after a negative or absolute positive.


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## mplsray

Filsmith said:


> But does it give an example of a prior sentence that it is following?  There are many examples where either _neither_ or _either_ could be used; just not after a negative or absolute positive.



No, it is in a section "Responses with too and either," with "neither" mentioned further down. The only indication that the use of "me either" used in the sidebar is not a use such as in "I don't know anything about him and he doesn't know about me either." is that the "me" in "Me either" is shown to be capitalized, suggesting it is part of a response sentence.


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## Bevj

Pedro y La Torre said:


> In everyday British English, I certainly would say ''me either'', despite ''neither'' being the technically correct form.



I have never heard 'me either' in British English.


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## Pedro y La Torre

Bevj said:


> I have never heard 'me either' in British English.



Unless it's somehow confined to the young (I'm 24), I find that rather hard to believe.


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## JustKate

I wonder if it's one of those things where you hear what you expect to hear? "Me either" and "Me neither" sound an awful lot alike, particularly if someone's talking fast or not enunciating every syllable. I would almost certainly not notice every single time someone said "Me either," and if I wasn't really paying close attention, I'd probably assume I'd heard what I expected to hear, which is "Me neither." I notice "Me either" sometimes, I'm sure, but every time? Kind of doubt it.


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## Chasint

Personally I always say "Nor me" but if I had to choose between a and b I would say "Me neither"


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## MarFish

Person 1: "I don't like those shoes."
Person 2: "Me either." (incorrect, should be "Me neither.")

I am a victim of saying "me either". I know it's incorrect, but I am starting to think it's just colloquial usage since it's a very common spoken mistake. If you hear "me either", it means the same as "me neither", although incorrect.


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## natkretep

When I first saw the opening post, I thought it was a cut-and-dried case. Of course it's 'me neither'. So I am genuinely surprised to see that some folks use 'me either' because I'd never heard it before (or thought I'd never heard it before).



JustKate said:


> I wonder if it's one of those things where you hear what you expect to hear?



Maybe?


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## icecreamsoldier

A few years ago now some American friends were over here and I first  encountered this "me either" in spoken English (I wonder if any AE/"me either" speakers out there could confirm that they would _write_ "me *n*either").  It hurts my poor ears.   Worse is that it is, like "different than", entering New Zealand  English (at least among the younger generations) as we are so prone to  media influences.  I would always say "me neither"; to me "me either" is  meaningless and ungrammatical.


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## Einstein

Pedro y La Torre said:


> Unless it's somehow confined to the young (I'm 24), I find that rather hard to believe.


It must be, because I've never heard it... either.

Like Biffo I'd say "nor me"; "me neither" sounds AE to me, but not wrong.


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## Andygc

Pedro y La Torre said:


> In everyday British English, I certainly would say ''me either'', despite ''neither'' being the technically correct form.


But do you speak everyday British English? Your native language is 





> English, of the Irish variety


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## Pedro y La Torre

Andygc said:


> But do you speak everyday British English? Your native language is



True. 
I'd consider Hiberno-English to be part of the broad British English family (Northerners are still part of the UK after all); but it may be that H.E. is closer to AE than BE on this, as with other things.

Still, I'd almost always write ''me neither'', nor would it shock me to hear ''me neither''; in oral speech, I'd hear and find myself using both.


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## bonbon2023

According to the Collins Cobuild Dictionary._
[PRON] [with brd-neg] You use either in a negative statement to refer to each of two things, people, or situations to indicate that the negative statement includes both of them._
_1.She warned me that I'd never marry or have children.-'I *don't* want *either*.'

__[CONJ] You use either in a negative statement in front of the first of two alternatives to indicate that the negative statement refers to both the alternatives._
_2.There had been *no *indication of* either *breathlessness* or *any loss of mental faculties right until his death._


And if you want to change the sentence having 'not~either' or 'no~either', you should not use not with neither.

2'.There had been indication of *neither* breathlessness *nor* any loss of mental faculties right until his death.



hoan965 said:


> In Oxford Advanced Dictionary, I have seen :
> 1/ (AmE, informal) 'I don't like it.' *'Me either.' (= Neither do I)*.
> 2/ 'I can't understand a word of it.' 'Neither can I.' * (informal) 'I don't know.' 'Me neither.'
> 
> Therefore I think that the both _(a) Me neither_ and _(b) Me either_ are correct.



I couldn't find the sentences in the Oxford Advanced Dictionary. Maybe yours is Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Vietnamese Dictionary.
And I found the same error on the Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Korean Dictionary.
_‘I don't like it.' ‘*Me either.*'_


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## Einstein

bonbon2023, your examples are not really relevant here, because you are citing "either/neither" used as adjectives, although the rule about negations applies also in your examples.
In the original question, we're looking at either/neither as the opposite of "too".

*They went there and I went too.
They didn't go there and I didn't go either. OR They didn't go; me neither.*


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## wandle

GSimenon said:


> Q: I will never go mountaineering again.
> A: (a) Me neither   (b) Me either


Presented with those alternatives in a test, I would choose (a).

In real life, I use neither. For the present example, I would say 'Neither will I'.

This obviously needs to be adjusted for different cases to make it agree with the context: 'neither did I', 'neither should they', 'neither have we' etc. This gives you a formula which covers all situations equally well.

It was explained to me at school that options (a) and (b) are both ungrammatical and I have never used them.


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## JustKate

What's ungrammatical about "Me neither"?


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## wandle

The person here is the subject of the verb.


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## Hamlet2508

Can't seem to remember having heard  "me either" in everyday British English .


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## Pedro y La Torre

Looks like I'm leading this battle alone, well, I suppose the important information for learners to know is that ''me neither'' is the correct form, whatever you hear the likes of me saying from time to time.


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## Hau Ruck

Pedro y La Torre said:


> Looks like I'm leading this battle alone, well, I suppose the important information for learners to know is that ''me neither'' is the correct form, whatever you hear the likes of me saying from time to time.



I, like many here, will just_ naturally_ say "me either" to most situations.  Unless it's a neither/nor, either/or instance, I tend to always use "me either."  As you said, it's not always correct, but very idiomatic.  It's like many things on these forums, we strive to teach the proper way, and note when variances are "acceptable" to most.


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## KHS

I disagree that the negative means that "neither" is obligatory.  In fact, just the opposite:
_I won't ever do it either.
I will never do it either.
_We can often have a type of ellipsis at work in this type of short answer as well.

That said, I prefer "me neither."  I also confess to having skimmed a great deal of the discussion, so it's quite possible I have misunderstood parts of what were said.

I checked the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca

While not all results are related to exactly the usage we are discussing, here is what I got:
me neither = 208 instances
me either = 275 instances

Whether there is more interference from other structures in one result than the other is not something I checked.


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## hoan965

> Originally posted by Bonbon 2023:  I couldn't find the sentences in the Oxford Advanced Dictionary. Maybe  yours is Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Vietnamese Dictionary. And I found the same error on the Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Korean Dictionary.
> _‘I don't like it.' ‘*Me either.*'_


You can find these sentences in OXFORD ADVANCED LEARNER'S DICTIONARY - Seventh edition 2005 - Oxford University Press 2005. Page 491


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## KHS

I decided to check the BNC.  Of the 50 instances of "me either," not a single one was the structure we were discussing.  Of the 22 instances of "me neither," every single one was the structure which we are discussing.


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## Einstein

> What's ungrammatical about "Me neither"?





wandle said:


> The person here is the subject of the verb.


Yes, but it's just the negative version of "me too", which is very common also in BE, even though "me" is not a subject pronoun, and is easier for foreigners to handle than "So do/did/have/had/will/would/can I". You have to accept that "Me neither" is equally legitimate, and as legitimate grammatically as "Nor me", which is certainly widespread in BE.

As for Google searches, "me either" can easily appear in a sentence like "he didn't speak to me, either", where there is already a negative. But here we have a lot of AE speakers who find "me either" natural also as a complete answer and we have to accept that fact (I, being BE, don't say either "me neither" or "me either").


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## wandle

'Me too' is perfectly correct where the person is the object of the verb which is understood.
_'Count me in'. 'Me too'._ 

Children will say _'I'm coming!'_ _'Me too!'_  but this is ungrammatical and better avoided.
_'I'm coming!' 'So am I!'_ 

Likewise, 'Nor me' is correct where the person is the object.
_'It doesn't impress me.' 'Nor me.'_ 

On the other hand, 'neither' or 'either' is not good:
_'It doesn't impress me.' 'Me neither'_  _'Me either'_


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## Einstein

Yes, *wandle*, I think this is perfectly clear to everyone, but we have to accept that "me" is widely used as an emphatic form also for the subject. How many people nowadays say "It is I" rather than "It's me"?


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## wandle

Most people do say 'It's me' and so do I, but that is where I draw the line.


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## moonglow

Are these correct exactly as is? I constructed these sentences solely for the sake of example to determine whether the use of "either", "neither", "Neither do I" and "Nor do I" is correct.


Joe: "I don't want to go."
Pat: "Me neither."


*************
Jake: "I don't want to go."
Frank: "I don't want to go either."
Emily: "Me neither."
Harold: "Neither do I."
Sam: "Nor do I."


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## Chasint

moonglow said:


> Are these correct exactly as is? I constructed these sentences solely for the sake of example to determine whether the use of "either", "neither", "Neither do I" and "Nor do I" is correct.
> 
> 
> Joe: "I don't want to go."
> Pat: "Me neither."
> 
> 
> *************
> Jake: "I don't want to go."
> Frank: "I don't want to go either."
> Emily: "Me neither."
> Harold: "Neither do I."
> Sam: "Nor do I."


It depends what you mean by 'correct'.  In my version of English I would not say the following crossed-out versions.

Joe: "I don't want to go."
Pat: "Me neither."


*************
Jake: "I don't want to go."
Frank: "I don't want to go either."
Emily: "Me neither."
Harold: "Neither do I."
Sam: "Nor do I."


I have a very good reason (at least I think it is!) that I shall explain in the following post.


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## Loob

Mysterious, Biffo!

"Me neither" seems like a perfectly reasonable answer for Pat and Emily to give - though it's more informal than the neither-formal-nor-informal "Neither do I"/"Nor do I".


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## Chasint

JustKate said:


> What's ungrammatical about "Me neither"?





wandle said:


> The person here is the subject of the verb.



Wandle, you cannot know that from the fragment "me neither" it might also be the object.

Examples
A.
"I don't like Mondays"
"Me neither"   (Incorrect because 'me' cannot be the subject of 'like')

B.
"People don't hate me"
"Me neither"  (Correct because 'me' is the object of the verb 'hate'. Can be argued to mean "They hate *me neither*")
"Me either"  (Can be argued to be a contraction of "They don't hate* me either*" and therefore correct)


*Conclusion*
Having done my analysis, I find myself in the position of agreeing with something I have assumed incorrect for a long time, i.e.

"Me either" is correct provided that 'me' is the object of the verb in the prior statement.


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## Loob

I still find your objection mysterious, Biffo


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## moonglow

Thank you.

Found this on Brian's errors. 

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.”


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## Chasint

Loob said:


> I still find your objection mysterious, Biffo


Maybe I didn't explain it well. Let me try again.

_This jacket didn't suit me.
Me either._

Hitherto I would have condemned the above as bad grammar, however, if we think of it as an abbreviation:

_This jacket didn't suit me.
[It didn't suit] Me either._

it seems perfectly justifiable.


Does that clear up the mystery?

____________________________________________________________________________________
P.S.

On the other hand.

"I don't like this jacket"
"Me either"

is incorrect because there is no way you can make it into a simple abbreviation using the verb 'like'.
"Me don't like it either."


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## moonglow

Very good. In your second example, I think that ~ informally ~ we could use “neither”. 

“I don't like this jacket.”
“Me neither.” {The generic equivalent of both “Neither do I” and “Nor do I". Agreed?}


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## Chasint

moonglow said:


> Very good. In your second example, I think that ~ informally ~ we could use “neither”.
> 
> “I don't like this jacket.”
> “Me neither.” {The generic equivalent of both “Neither do I” and “Nor do I". Agreed?}


I don't understand your use of the word 'generic' there. I think the answer is that a lot of people do use that phrase and I see it as informal.

I don't use it myself but I hear it a lot.


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## e2efour

KHS said:


> I decided to check the BNC.  Of the 50 instances of "me either," not a single one was the structure we were discussing.  Of the 22 instances of "me neither," every single one was the structure which we are discussing.


I found 48 instances of _Me either_. Only one fitted the pattern of Me neither, and I have no idea what it meant. All the others were of the type _She didn't like me either._

This must surely prove that the response "Me either." is not used in the sense of "I don't either." or "Nor do I."


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## moonglow

Biffo, you've illuminated an otherwise previously dark path for me.

Your example:
"This jacket didn't suit me."
[It didn't suit] "Me either."

I say:
"Whole-wheat pie crust doesn’t appeal to me either" is the same as:

"Whole-wheat pie crust doesn’t appeal to me."
"Me either." ( = [It doesn't appeal to] "Me either.")

You can't say "It doesn't appeal to me neither" because it's a double negative.

“I don't like this jacket.”
"I don't either." ( = "I don't [like it] either.") So this is correct.
**You can't say "Me neither", "Neither do I" or "Me either".**

You can't say "I don't like this jacket neither" because it's a double negative.

"Me neither", then, per my understanding of the breakdown above, is and can never be correct ~ grammatically speaking ~ right? The only correct grammatical alternatives to the informal "Me neither" are "Neither do I" and "Nor do I", correct?

Do you agree with everything I've presented above, including the examples and the rationale behind each?

And in lieu of:

“I don’t like whole-wheat pie crust.” “Me neither.” (Bad ~ Incorrect in every way possible, right?)

We'd correctly write:

“I don’t like whole-wheat pie crust.” 
"Neither do I." (Correct?)

Or

“I don’t like whole-wheat pie crust.” 
"Nor do I." (Correct?)

Thank you.


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## e2efour

"Me too" is not ungrammatical! The same goes for "Me neither."

Call it colloquial or informal, if you like.


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## moonglow

So, does anybody agree here?

Biffo's example:
"This jacket didn't suit me."
[It didn't suit] "Me either."

I say:
"Whole-wheat pie crust doesn’t appeal to me either" is the same as:

"Whole-wheat pie crust doesn’t appeal to me."
"Me either." ( = [It doesn't appeal to] "Me either.")

You can't say "It doesn't appeal to me neither" because it's a double negative.

“I don't like this jacket.”
"I don't either." ( = "I don't [like it] either.") So this is correct.
**You can't say "Me neither", "Neither do I" or "Me either".**

You can't say "I don't like this jacket neither" because it's a double negative.

"Me neither", then, per my understanding of the breakdown above, is and can never be correct ~ grammatically speaking ~ right? The only correct grammatical alternatives to the informal "Me neither" are "Neither do I" and "Nor do I", correct?

Do you agree with everything I've presented above, including the examples and the rationale behind each?

And in lieu of:

“I don’t like whole-wheat pie crust.” “Me neither.” (Bad ~ Incorrect in every way possible, right?)

We'd correctly write:

“I don’t like whole-wheat pie crust.” 
"Neither do I." (Correct?)

Or

“I don’t like whole-wheat pie crust.” 
"Nor do I." (Correct?)

Thank you.


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## Einstein

"Me neither" sounds perfectly normal American English to me, so it can't be considered wrong. I've been in Italy for over three decades, so it may well sound normal in BrE too by now.

I've never heard "me either" and I don't think it's logical. "Neither do I", "nor do I", "me neither" and "nor me" all contain a negative word; "me either" doesn't.

To make an analogy: "What is there to eat?" "There isn't anything".
But the short answer is "Nothing", not "Anything".


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## Chasint

Einstein said:


> ...
> I've never heard "me either" and I don't think it's logical. "Neither do I", "nor do I", "me neither" and "nor me" all contain a negative word; "me either" doesn't.
> 
> To make an analogy: "What is there to eat?" "There isn't anything".
> But the short answer is "Nothing", not "Anything".


You clearly have missed the point entirely. That is like saying that the word 'him' is illogical because '"Him has nothing to eat." is incorrect. 'Him' is logical in some contexts and illogical in others.

By using logic, I was attempting to point out the flaws in others' reasoning, i.e. their justification for the preference of "me neither" over "me either".  I have done that to my own satisfaction. I was not implying that all spoken language should adhere to logical rules.

I have heard 'me either' and so have many people on this thread. 'Me either' is perfectly logical in some contexts just as 'him' is logical in some contexts.

My position

1. 'Me either' is logical when used in the accusative.
2. 'Me <anything>' is illogical when used in the nominative. However I sometimes use it because it is accepted and deceptively sounds better.
3. Spoken language is very often not logical at all.
4. There is a difference between prescriptive and descriptive grammar. If it comes to a fight then descriptive grammar has to win regadless of logic.
5. I don't always adhere to strict logic when speaking. I don't want to sound like Spock in _Star Trek_ or Sheldon in _The Big Bang Theory_.


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## Chasint

moonglow said:


> So, does anybody agree here?
> 
> Biffo's example:
> "This jacket didn't suit me."
> [It didn't suit] "Me either."
> 
> I say:
> "Whole-wheat pie crust doesn’t appeal to me either" is the same as:
> ...


moonglow. I'd like to thank you for reading my post. Clearly you understood what I was saying perfectly. 

The problem is of course that language isn't always logical. Hypercorrection creeps in and eventually becomes canon.

I have to hold my hands up and admit that in ordinary conversation I often say 'nor me' when logic dictates I say 'nor I' or, as you point out 'nor do I'.

My real purpose was to cut through the justifications of others that weren't holding water. What they were justifying might be acceptable. Their logic was faulty.

As I say you understood my point precisely and went on to expand on it faultlessly. Unfortunately all the logic in the world will not change how people at large actually speak.


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## dearpangchao

<< Moderator's note: This question has been added to a previous discussion. >>

(A) and (B), which one is correct?

_<< --- thread split from here --- >>_

I don't like this movie, 
(I also don't like this movie)
(A) me either
(B) me neither

<_<< ----------- See Rule#2 ----------- >>_>

Thank you.


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## perpend

I ran this through my mind a couple times.

People say both Y) and Z) in American English.
X) I don't like this movie.

Response:
Y) Me either.
Z) Me neither.


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## tomtompl

Hi.   I have some simple conversation sample in my learning assignment :    "I don't think our new teacher is good."  "Me neither!"
Do I understand correctly from above threat that "Me neither" is informal and we can replace it with formal " Neither do I" ?


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## natkretep

Yes, you understand correctly, tomtompl.


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## princeofdarkness

KHS said:


> That said, I prefer "me neither."  I also confess to having skimmed a great deal of the discussion, so it's quite possible I have misunderstood parts of what were said.



Did you mean "parts of what was said" perchance? 

By the way, you might be interested in the attachment.


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