Wednesday, March 07, 2012

"We" Has a Problem

I generally think of my having a Bachelor's in English as an asset in my working life despite the frequently perceived lack of job opportunities for the degree. It is the rare occasion that it proves an absolute problem.

While I love many aspects of grammar, I am the first to acknowledge that there are some things that I don't love. Like naming verb tenses. I like to say that my degree is my poetic license. I can break the rules for art's sake. He he.

Then there is the word "we," which as a garden variety pronoun is perfectly fine. With years of team sports in my youth, I can even appreciate "we."

The problem with "we" was barely noticeable in the beginning. I would be at work and I would hear someone say, "We need to do this . . . . We should do that . . . ." There's also the similar "Let's do this." The problem? I took them literally. I knew that this was something that "we" would did and expected the speaker to follow up with what I was supposed to do. They would come back expressing surprise when it wasn't done.

They didn't mean "we." They meant "you."

You need to do this.

You should do this.

To borrow a turn of phrase, we have a problem.

I feel an obligation to drive my new greatest grammatical pet peeve out of existence.

"Hey, Karen. We need do this."

"Okay, what part of it do you want to do, and what part of it do you want me to do?"

Or if I am feeling rather annoyed,

"So are we going to do it, or do you mean you want me to do it?"

Nothing quite like being direct. Others might deem it negative. Po-TAY-to. Po-TAH-to. Let's call the whole thing off.

I am rather found of the path of least resistance, or as I like to call it, passive-aggressive. If I am truly annoyed by someone's request for what is their idea and their responsibility and they pull the "we" trick, I harken back to my more naive days. I do nothing until they actually tell me what they want me to do.

Childish? Definitely. But I believe that some of the best learning comes from mistakes. Make a lame suggestion about how "we" should do it. Take no ownership for coordinating a group effort that a "we" indicates. Complain that it didn't get done. Learn that our=my and conclude that it isn't "our" fault.