Here are two things that really annoy me, writes Phil Hill.
I get cross with myself when I make a silly mistake - which happens far more frequently than I would like.
And I get annoyed when someone else slips up but won’t even contemplate acknowledging they might just be wrong.
When both happen in the same conversation it becomes more than a little irritating.
Hopefully nobody noticed the steam issuing from my ears during an incident in a café in Taunton this side of Christmas.
I won’t say where, but I was meeting a friend for a catch-up.
A smiling barista enquired, “And what would sir like?”
Sir - that’s me - replied: “A cappuccino for me and my mate, please.”
The smile turned into a grin and responded:
“My mate and I.”
My turn:
“Sorry, my fault.
I should have said, ‘for my mate and me’.”
She said:
“No, you should have said, ‘for my mate and I’.”
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I tried to explain how I had used all the right words, but not necessarily in the right order.
I have no idea what the poor, thirsty customers in the growing queue behind my mate and me (take that barista!) felt.
I told her that if she liked, I could give her the grammatical reason behind my correction of her half-right correction of my initial half-wrong request.
Unbelievably, she retorted:
“Don’t bother.
"You’re wrong.
It’s correct to say ‘for my mate and I’ because that’s more polite.”
Ironic comment that one.
I’m sure she’d have struck up a teapot stance if she hadn’t had her hands full.
I handed her an olive branch through gritted teeth, saying:
“No harm done.
We’ll agree to disagree.”
Not prepared to back down, her happy face turned to thunder as she barked back:
“Google it and you’ll see I’m right.”
Anyway, the coffee was great.
But I can only guess what she might have put in it if she had been out of view.
On the way out, I tried to make my peace as I passed the barista, but she blanked me as I smiled:
“Thanks very much.
Lovely coffee.
Have a happy 2026.”
I didn’t bother consulting Google, but if anyone wants to know why it was correct in this instant to use ‘my mate and me’ I’m pretty certain Mr G - or should that be Mrs G? - would back me up.
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