Hard & Fast Rules

Wally Urkie, a sales associate at The Linoleum Barn in Overland Park Kansas and winner of the Employee Of The Month award for two months in a row, writes:

Dear Grammer Genious,

Would you settle a bar argument? This has come up three weeks in a row at our mandatory Friday afternoon/evening Team Build at Chili’s, usually after the 5^th or 6^th Bud Lite.

Which is correct: “between her and I” or “between she and me”? Also, is there a hard and fast rule?

Incidentally, you're all we talk about. When somebody is quoting you, everybody else shuts up to listen.

- Signed, Wally Urkie

Dear Wally,

Technically, “between her and I” is correct, for reasons that I don’t think you would understand because it's complicated. However, “between she and me” is more commonly used because of its elegance.

All grammer rules are hard and fast rules; hard because they’re so difficult, and fast because they keep changing with lightening speed.

- The Grammer Genious