“I and my wife are thankful God answered our prayers and gave us children.”
Yes, “I and my wife.”
Now, grammar grumps, cool your fingers and curb your complaints. 🙂 I claim divine precedent for putting myself before my wife. Or at least scriptural precedent. Or at least Pauline precedent.
Oh, and I’m not relying on mere gender doctrine, either—which would actually tell me to put myself last. I have better justification for my grammar.
In 1 Corinthians 9:6, Paul wrote, “Is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?”
Except that isn’t what he actually wrote.
This is what he actually wrote: “μόνος ἐγὼ καὶ Βαρναβᾶς οὐκ ἔχομεν ἐξουσίαν μὴ ἐργάζεσθαι;”
In Greek: “ἐγὼ καὶ Βαρναβᾶς” (“I and Barnabas”)
In English: “Barnabas and I”
That’s how the ESV “corrects” Paul’s good Greek grammar to make it good English grammar. The KJV and about a dozen other English translations retain Paul’s order, but most read like the ESV.
Surprisingly, however, here is the NIV: “I and Barnabas.”
Wow! I see no semantic reason for retaining the Greek order of these words, and the NIV places a high priority on using normal English language conventions. Yet here they are more hyper word-for-word than the ESV. What gives?
At any rate, there you have it: Both Paul and the NIV give me permission to put myself first.
I and you will just have to get over it.
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