"To who", or "To whom"? 5

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

A website I'm working on has a box where you can send a message to one or more recipients, and add data about a location and topics.

We currently have 4 fields with these labels:

"What do you want to say?" (the message)
"about where... " (the location)
"about what..." (the topic)
"to who..." (the recipients).

In this situation, is the use of "To who" correct, or should it be "To whom"... or perhaps neither of the two?

Thanks!

Dan





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[strongm]

>Who is on first!
>Non-cryptic answers only, please.


Dan, it's a famous Abbott and Costello routine

 

[KenCunningham]

...as referenced heavily in Rain Man.

Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks - make sure most are the former.

 

[KornGeek]

Conversely, let's see what happens in sentences where we incorrectly spell pronouns to be actors when they should, instead, be victims of some action:
The car struck I.
The girl likes he.
The cat scratched she.
The host treated we well.
I stored they in the cupboard.

Santa,

All grammar aside, I do have a question about this. Just how long have you been storing your victims in the cupboard?

 

[SantaMufasa]

Me can't remember how long. <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

A few weeks after coding the words 'to whom...' into the field label, the copy was changed to 'to who...' just before the soft launch because 'to whom...' was deemed by several people to be 'a bit posh' ;-)

I have to say I agree - even though my actions supported doing the right thing



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[SantaMufasa]

'to whom...' was deemed by several people to be 'a bit posh'

At what point, Dan, is thems wot thinks it 'a bit posh' to use &quot;whom&quot;, simply justifying their own ignorance? Is it a good idea to dumb down our speech so as not to offend those that slept through English class?


Personally, if I was reading an aircraft-maintenance manual, and the manual was replete with &quot;non-posh-sounding&quot;, sub-standard English, would that make me feel more comfortable, or would it make me wonder (fearfully), &quot;If they are careless with the language, how careless are they with the maintenance instructions?&quot;...I would be uneasy flying with an airline that used those maintenance instructions.

&quot;Me&quot; and my friends that know how to talk &quot;good&quot; wonder where the line is between &quot;sounding non-posh&quot; and &quot;sounding ignorant&quot;. If you find that line, let me know where it is.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Exactly my thoughts, Santa. And to my ear "to who" falls well into the "sounding stupid" category. (much like if I had just said, "to me ear".)

I think you'd be better off just rephrasing it to avoid using the wrong word. But failing that....

I think the reason this annoys me so much is that "to who" implies that you're saying, "to who do you want to send this". And I think the reason one would phrase it this way is to avoid ending a sentence in a preposition. So it's as if the author is trying (and failing) to sound smart.

If you're going to be causal about it, then 'do casual' right and say "who do you want to send this to?," which would condense down to "who to?".

I'm much more comfortable with "Who to?" than "To who?".

[tt][blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
[tab][red]The plural of anecdote is not data[/red]

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[DansDadUK]

causal:
expressing or indicating cause : causative
<a causal clause introduced by since>
etc.

casual: subject to, resulting from, or occurring by chance
<a casual meeting>
etc.

Is this just a typo, or is there some hidden meaning (which escapes me!) here?

Apart from that, I agree entirely with the last two posts.

 

[AnotherHiggins]

The first word, "causal," was just a typo I transposed the "S" and "U".

I meant for both of them to be the same word - casual, meaning "suited for everyday use" (from onelook.com).


[tt][blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
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[risby]

Personally, if I was reading an aircraft-maintenance manual

Shurely, "if I were ..."

==========================================

abjure hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

 

[SantaMufasa]

"Shurely" you jest, Risby...Having personally read aircraft-maintenance manuals, I "weren't" in a totally subjunctive mood. <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

The original quandary is now a non-issue, as space was an issue, so the labels have been made longer and more descriptive and moved inside the input fields.

Ah well!

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[BobRodes]

<I'd have thought that 'To John, Jane, Fred' would be subjects

Billy, I would suggest otherwise. The implied question is "To whom is the message to be sent?" In this sentence the subject is actually the implied sender of the message, e. g. "I will send the message to Joe." In this sentence, "I" is the subject, "message" is the direct object, and "Joe" is the indirect object. Googling "indirect object" will give more examples.

 

[hjgoldstein]

If they think "To Whom" is posh, why not jsut say "Who to?"

Dangle that preposition with pride!

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Agreed, hjgoldstein. I actually suggested the same thing in my post dated 16 Jun 09 14:54.

[tt][blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
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[Michael52x]

Has the bell tolled yet?

"Impatience will reward you with dissatisfaction" RMS Cosmics'97

 

[SantaMufasa]

why not jsut say "Who to?"

Because that is a tribe from Burundi and Rwanda. <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[Welshbird]

My sister and I have always (joking) said 'Who Toom?'

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[hjgoldstein]

Because that is a tribe from Burundi and Rwanda

Good Point.

I remember Dubya having a problem with "Hu is the President of China" (allegedly)

 

[BobRodes]

<Dangle that preposition with pride!

A grammatical indiscretion up with which I will not put.