In time for me – Wikipedia

” My mistake ” is a phrase expressing recognition of an error on the part of the speaker. We commonly meet the spelling ” As much for me ” , that according to the French Academy “nothing justifies”, but which is defended by authors and grammarians. The Orthonet site considers that the two spellings are correct today.

According to the French Academy ^{[ first ]} , “In time” is a military expression meaning that one of the soldiers was not in time by making a movement, and that the operation must be taken up from the start. The military greetings with weapons being sometimes very complicated, a hesitation of a few soldiers in a peloton can immediately give an impression of disorder.

The expression “at time” is used several times by Georges Courteline in his 1888 work The train 8 h 47 ^{[ 2 ]} :

” – Wear … weapon!” A time, three movements!… One! […] And the palm of the right hand supporting the butt of the rifle, the left hand surrounding the cannon, they remained five minutes motionless, at the time , keeping the position, the neck cooked under the sun. »»

“Move this movement again by decomposing it. At the time ! At the time ! I tell you that is not that! »»

In support of the spelling “at time” of this military expression, certain grammarians ^{[ 3 ]} Lighten the Italian command “Al Tempo! », Of equivalent use.

In the figurative sense, “in time for me” means that the one who speaks recognizes that the fault comes from him. The expression is generally followed by the correction of the error, if it has not already been expressed.

Here is an example of use: I think I have ten euros. In time for me, I have twelve.

First appearances of the expression “at time/as much for me” [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Jacques de Garches, in a short story published in 1892 in The caricature , makes said by a lieutenant: “Besides, in time for me: clumsiness! When the same news was published in 1898 in The little caricature , “In time for me” is replaced by “as much for me” ^{[ 4 ]} .

In 1902, Paul Reboux written ^{[ 5 ]} : “She is not there,” he thought. As much for me … my faith, let’s go! »»

We find the spelling “in time for me” in two books by Maurice Genevoix on the First World War: Sous Verdun (1916), where a captain, noticing that he ordered fire by mistake, gives the counter-order: “Ceal! At the time ! My mistake ! »» ^{[ 6 ]} ; And Mud ^{[ 7 ]} (1921), where, during a familiar conversation with his lieutenant, a soldier accompanies from a “time for me” the observation that the event did not prove him right.

The French Academy does not decide on the moment when the (military) meaning of “time for me” would have slipped towards that of “I was wrong”: “It is impossible to know precisely when and how was the familiar expression My mistake , the result of military language, in which at the time ! Said to order the resumption of a movement from the start ( In time for buttons , etc.). This sense of It is to be taken over , we were able to slip into the figurative use. One says My mistake To admit your error – and to concede that we will resume or reconsider things since their beginning. This is because the origin of this expression is only understood that spelling As much for me is common today, but nothing justifies it ^{[ first ]} . »

The position of the academy, according to which the good spelling is “in time for me”, is also that of Little Robert ^{[ 8 ]} and the 2009 edition of Correct French ^{[ 9 ]} from Maurice Grevisse. Orthonet , linguistic breakdown site created by the International Council of the French language, indicates for its part that the two spellings, “at time” and “as much”, are “acceptable” and that the last of them “is no longer faulty »Today ^{[ ten ]} .

Etymology and the correct spelling of this expression are often questioned in question ^{[ 11 ]} .

The article ” My mistake or as much for me ? Is one of the most consulted on the site langue-fr.net ^{[ twelfth ]} .

Maurice Grevisse, in Good use ( ten ^{It is} edition, 1975 ^{[ 13 ]} ), underlines that the spelling “at time” still raises a doubt, and recalls that André Thérive ^{[ 14 ]} estimated that “at time” is a pedantic substitute of “as much”. Likewise, according to the thirteenth edition of the Good use de Grevisse (Refounded by André Goosse, 1993 ^{[ 15 ]} ), the spelling “at time” of the military and gymnastics injunction may be an alteration of as much . The fifteenth edition of Good use (2011, edition of 75 years) indicates ^{[ 16 ]} : « At the time is often altered in as much », And specifies that Damourette and Pichon wonder if as much is not the primitive form.

Thesis by Claude DUNTON [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Following the article by Claude Duneton in Le Figaro Literary ^{[ 17 ]} , Internet users defend the spelling “as much for me” by calling into question the etymology invoked by works like The little Robert , Correct French of Maurice Grevisse or the French Academy ^{[ 17 ]} .

Claude Duneton exhibits in this article several theories in parallel. He begins by asserting that the expression “in time” in its own sense is not used by the military.

According to him, the expression must be understood as “I am not better than another, I have as many mistakes as you at my service: as much for me. »»

Claude Duneton sees an argument in favor of “as much for me” in English idiom so much for that he considers having an “almost similar” meaning.

What he considers his ultimate argument is the presence in the dictionary of Curiosite Françoises ^{[ 18 ]} from 1640 of the expression “as much for the embroidery” described as ” Raillerie so as not to approve what is said. Vulgate. “.

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