Once I turned 50, I started venting my frustration at the irritations of life.  It felt good, so I kept doing it.  I call these periodic and hopefully humorous verbal tantrums Old Man Rants. Let’s get to it!

Today’s Topic: The Missing I

I’m not usually a big fan of “I”. Generally speaking, in our country, “I” gets too much attention, and “we” gets screwed. But “I” has been getting shafted lately, especially by casual talkers who are either too cool to say the word, or low-talkers who mumble too much to have it actually be heard.

For example, have you ever heard someone express gratitude by saying “appreciate you” instead of “I appreciate you”?

The first phrase is a command telling the recipient to appreciate themselves. Not a bad sentiment, but not anywhere close to the sweetness of what was intended.

Same goes for the loves: love you, love it, love that. They’re all commands!

If that’s what the sayer means, then by all means go for it, but it never seems like that’s the case.

Is it really too much trouble to add that one key syllable? Can’t we just add this important, one-letter vowel and let the sentence convey its intended meaning?

(I) Guess not.

Ah- I feel better now! Time to go chase some kids of my lawn.

For more Old Man Rants and other stories of a more useful nature, visit and subscribe to Five O’Clock Shadow, an online magazine by Todd Fulginiti. You can also follow him and the other writers at Wise & Shine Magazine. For Todd’s musical life, visit www.toddfulginiti.com.