Y’all know how much I love tv, and like everybody else, I especially love The Office (except for my sister, she hates it, but she’s from another planet). With the approaching departure of Steve Carell’s character from The Office, I’ve been going over great Micheal Scott conversations (problem: they’re all great) with hopes of sharing some of the best ones with you. Narrowing it down has been difficult, but I’m still working on it. So far, here’s one of my favorite conversations ever heard on television. Michael Scott perfection.
Ryan: What I really want, honestly Michael, is for you to know it, so that you can communicate it to the people here, to your clients, to whomever.
Michael Scott: [chuckles] Okay.
Ryan: What?
Michael: It’s “whoever,” not “whomever.”
Ryan: No, it’s “whomever.”
Michael: No, “whomever” is never actually right.
Jim: Sometimes it’s right.
Creed: Michael is right. It’s a made-up word used to trick students.
Andy: No. Actually, “whomever” is the formal version of the word.
Oscar: Obviously it’s a real word, but I don’t know when to use it correctly.
Michael: [to camera] Not a native speaker. . . .
Pam: It’s “whom” when it’s the object of the sentence and “who” when it’s the subject.
Phyllis: That sounds right.
Michael: Well, it sounds right, but is it?
Stanley: How did Ryan use it, as an object?
Ryan: As an object.
Kelly: Ryan used me as an object.
Stanley: Is he right about that . . .?
Pam: How did he use it again?
Toby: It was . . . Ryan wanted Michael, the subject, to explain the computer system, the object . . .
Michael: Thank you!
Toby: . . . to whomever, meaning us, the indirect object–which is the correct usage of the word.
Michael: No one asked you anything ever, so whomever’s name is Toby, why don’t you take a letter opener and stick it into your skull.
(“Money,” The Office, 2007)
Michael Scott’s (and of course Steve Carell’s) last episode is tonight at 9pm on NBC.
