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30 October 2008

USC linemen get pushed around by a bad case of pronoun abuse


Billy MacDonald, a genial local television sportscaster in Los Angeles, recently interviewed University of Southern California football line coach Pat Ruel. The focus of MacDonald's questioning hinged on Ruel's charges playing at high levels of efficiency: How is it they perform so well, asked MacDonald, also known as Billy Mac. "Our guys push each other each day for starting positions," responded Ruel.

Billy Mac's followup question: "Who's pushing who?"

No, Billy Mac. The big fellows push each other each day in practice to gain a starting position for Saturday's game. When you push someone, you need to represent that someone as an object; otherwise, you'd be pushing yourself, which is possible to express if you mean "self-motivated."

Billy Mac meant to say: "Who's pushing whom."

Thus: I push him, not I push I.
He pushes him or them, not He pushes he or they
and, Who's pushing whom, not Who's pushing who?

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