I'm not a particularly refined man. I have my rough edges. My shirt is often hanging over my belt (or at least part of it) and I don't always keep the hair in my ears trimmed. I figure it comes from my rural roots in Northern Ontario. This lack of refinement applies to my speech also. I get the usage of "me" and "I" mixed up from time to time and yes, I often split my infinitives.
This doesn't go over well in my home. You see, I have a grammar cop often sitting next to me or worse, editing my missives. She does not split her infinitives.
Depending on who you read, splitting an infinitive is akin to burping out loud after a good meal. Thankfully, it's not that bad in my home. At the very worse, we discuss the merits or lack thereof of a good split infinitive.
I do believe that this discussion is over once and for all. I have it under good authority that this issue is over blown and officially now a "non issue". Isabel Dalhousie is my authority. She is the brainchild of Alexander McCall Smith, the author of the Ladie's Detective series and of course, the Isabel Dalhousie novels. Isabel is a philosopher of ethics and edits the Review of Applied Ethics in this series. If I may quote Isabel from Alexander's latest novel about her activities:
"Why not split an infinitive if one wanted to? The sense was as easily understood whether or not the infinitive was sundered apart or left inviolate".
Case closed!
P.S. The most famous split infinitive apparently is from Star Trek, "to boldly go ...." but then I'm sure you already knew that.
