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Someone asked whether this sentence was grammatically correct:

My best friend is a person who I can tell everything to.

A native English speaker replied:

I would say it should be "whom I could tell everything to" or "to whom I could etc", but I'm funny like that.

What does "I'm funny like that" mean here?

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    What do you think it might mean? What research have you done? Which word specifically are you confused about?
    – randomhead
    Dec 8 '21 at 1:42
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    It means “I have this eccentricity”.
    – Anton Sherwood
    Dec 8 '21 at 3:06
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    I'm funny here means I'm unusual / atypical / peculiar, and like that is just a vague reference to some aspect of the current situation (or something just spoken of) which specifically relates to the way in which I'm different to the norm.
    – FumbleFingers
    Dec 8 '21 at 14:48
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The original sentence is perfectly natural, though incorrect from a strict grammarian's perspective.

The native speaker is pointing this out, and giving the grammatically correct version. But the speaker is also aware this is a kind of priggish thing to care about, and the phrase "I'm funny like that" acknowledges this in a lighthearted way. It's equivalent here to: "I'm weird like that."

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  • Could you please put it another way? I'm still a bit confused what "like that" is referring to.
    – Mohammad
    Dec 8 '21 at 5:10
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    "like that" means "in that way". It's saying, "That (my compulsion to follow strict grammar) is an example of how I am weird."
    – Jonah
    Dec 8 '21 at 5:15
  • I see. Why "but" is used before "I'm funny like that" then? This is my understanding of the reply so far: "I think/in my opinion your sentence would be grammatically correct if you used "whom" instead of "who" but I'm used to following strict grammar rules, this is how weird I am!". "But" here contradicts the first part of the sentence, doesn't it?
    – Mohammad
    Dec 8 '21 at 5:38
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    The "but" here is meant to qualify the first part of the sentence.... It implies something like this: "It's grammatically wrong, but most people wouldn't care... only weirdos like me."
    – Jonah
    Dec 8 '21 at 5:57
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    Thank you so much. The meaning is clear as day now.
    – Mohammad
    Dec 8 '21 at 6:08

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