I was playing Warcraft. I clicked on my peon.
He told me: "me busy. leave me alone."
Why is it OK to say it that way instead of just "I'm busy."?
asked Apr 5, 2020 at 22:19
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37The specific construction of "*Me X. [You Y]" probably qualifies as a trope in and of itself to represent savage/unintelligent/uneducated characters.– chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic-Commented Apr 6, 2020 at 9:18
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9The expression demonstrates that the menial peon is uneducated, he speaks a funny illiterate english...– bandybabboonCommented Apr 6, 2020 at 12:08
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8It's simply "Tarzan speak" from the famous character.– FattieCommented Apr 6, 2020 at 16:44
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23@alephzero "Me fail English? That's unpossible!"– JimmyJamesCommented Apr 6, 2020 at 17:57
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11It's not correct. That's the point.– Len has moved to CodidactCommented Apr 7, 2020 at 3:07
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3 Answers
It's wrong. This is deliberate on the part of the game designers. Peons are not known for being highly educated or well-spoken.
However, babies sometimes speak this way before they learn the difference between objective pronouns (me) and subjective pronouns (I). For that reason, incorrect constructions like "me (verb)" or "me (adjective)" are associated with "baby talk."
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5@phoog I am not aware of any dialects where this is actually considered correct. Do you have any specific examples?– FoogodCommented Apr 6, 2020 at 15:03
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5@Foogod of course the line between something being a separate language or a dialect of the same language is not strict. All I know for sure is that I hear people from the Caribbean using "me" as a (non-compound) subject from time to time, and I can understand what they're saying, and I recognize it as being (some version of) my native language, which is US English. Perhaps I would not understand everything they say in their dialect-or-language, but then again there are also varieties of English that are indisputably not different languages where I don't understand everything.– phoogCommented Apr 6, 2020 at 17:36
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8@phoog I don't think the game designers intended to be suggestin' dat peons speak Jamaican patois, mon.– TypeIACommented Apr 6, 2020 at 21:09
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Imagine a man who was raised in the jungle by animals ever since he was a child. He was not taught English since animals don't speak English. He has only recently met his first human, and is currently being exposed to speaking English (or any civilised language, for that matter) Which statement would make more sense to come from him, in this context:
- "Me Tarzan, you Jane"
- "Salutations! I am called Tarzan, and I surmise your name to be Jane?"
Your question seems to assume that Tarzan should have a grammatical (and thus educational) level equivalent to that of either the reader or the person he is speaking to - but Tarzan is inherently defined as a character who is lacking any education. It makes sense for him to not have a good handle on grammar. It literally defines his character and the entire narrative - a man who is learning about civilization for the first time.
Peons, by their very nature of being a peon, lack the same grammatical skill that Tarzan does. They are defined by their lack of refinement. Their statements specifically reveal that these are not highly trained individuals.
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2I think it's safe to assume that Tarzan, a.k.a. John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke, would know the correct usage of first and second person pronouns. Commented Apr 6, 2020 at 14:05
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4@LeeMosher but that's not the story told in the movie. Flater: Tarzan uttered these lines in a language lesson scene, not as a greeting, so this translation into more verbose English is probably incorrect.– phoogCommented Apr 6, 2020 at 14:17
"Me busy" is not standard English. It's an example of "caveman speak", which is a form of English used in fiction when depicting characters who are capable of speech, but who are very stupid, brutish or "primitive".
Your character in Warcraft is probably an orc or some species like that. The game has your character speaking in "caveman speak" in order to show that he is unintelligent.
I don't know of any real-world varieties of English that are similar to "caveman speak". In my experience, it's not similar to the speech of children, non-native speakers, or people with language disabilities.
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2Well, I think it's quite common to see "me x" sentences on discord, not sure if gamers qualify as caveman, but it is used as cute/short/distancing form in those subcultures as well.– user108108Commented Apr 7, 2020 at 18:23
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2@eckes that may be connected to
/mewhich is a common emote command on a lot of platforms devolving into use in plain language. As for Tanner, you're correct, peons are an orc character and thus the low level of english.– AndrewCommented Apr 7, 2020 at 20:17