Is ‘whom,’ the ‘least favorite pronoun,’ dying out?

If that was your reaction the last time you heard someone use the objective case of who, and especially if you chirped whom in a mock-English accent, it’s time to high-five your cube-mates.

The Atlantic, America’s 156-year-old intellectual journal, is throwing a preemptive wake for “America’s least favorite pronoun.”

“Whom, I am thrilled to inform you, is dying,” states staff writer Megan Garber. “But its death, I am less thrilled to inform you, has been slow.”

Judging from the “Amens!” in some parts of the Internet, I am among the few who will be mourning poor whom. Granted, she’s like a cranky old aunt who makes us feel guilty. Yes, she can make communications stuffy. I know: Language evolves, and if I can’t deal with that, why don’t I speak like the author of “Beowulf,” who wrote “hwám þæt sweord geworht” when he meant to say “for whom the sword wrought”?

‘Don’t leave us’