For me its "me".
And just for fun try the link :-)

That´s hilarious!
But look at the results of "mind my"! There is often a comma or a colon between "mind" and "my". And more often, it´s followed by a noun. So definitly "me" before a verb.

I`ve never seen a dead heat on the "fight" before

myklausunna, sagt das Dein verläßliches englisches Sprachgefühl oder ist das die Schlußfolgerung aus dem Google-Ergebnis?

Ich bin zwar kein englischer Muttersprachler, meine aber, mit einiger Gewissheit behaupten zu können, dass die korrekte Version eigentlich "my" ist. Allerdings ist es gut möglich, dass das auch natives nicht immer wissen/beachten.

Ich lasse mich gerne von Natives/Grammatikexperten unterstützen oder beschimpfen, je nachdem ...

Übrigens: Wenn man den Googlefight mit dem kompletten Begriff durchführt, gewinnt auch mein Vorschlag mit "my" sehr deutlich:

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_...

Mein Sprachgefühl, but there may be regional differences,I`m from yorkshire,and we say "me"

Ich hatte die Frage "me oder my ...ing" mal in einem anderen Faden gestellt (ganz anderer Zusammenhang) und von einem EN-NS die Antwort erhalten "both are fine" - wenn's irgendwie weiterhilft ;-)

I always thought that 'me' is informal and 'my' formal and grammatically correct. I have used 'my' before (in Yorkshire and the Midlands) and nobody bat an eyelid.
(am NOT a native speaker though!)

This Yorkshire lass would say "mind me asking", but I agree with Jalapeno that it should acutally be "mind my asking".

I'd have thought either would be alright :-)

Vielleicht einigen wir uns wirklich darauf, dass beides geht! Bei googlefight gewinnt auch beta gegen alpha... und ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob das die Naturwissenschaften beeinflusst!? ;-)

Außerdem könnten wir dem me/my ja mit I hope you don´t mind if I ask... ausweichen. Die if-Variante steht so im Longman.

haben nicht beide Ausdrücke ihre eigene Bedeutung?

- do you mind me asking - "Mmacht es Ihnen etwas aus, wenn ich frage.....

- do you mind my asking - "Macht Ihnen mein Fragen/meine Frage etwas aus

Both usages are perfectly OK with the subtle differences that birgila/DE points out.

And if you want to believe the fight link both versions are equally valid.

Ich habe mich schon gewundert, dass birgilas Argument nicht schon früher kam, wollte mich aber nicht reinhängen, da ich nicht kompetent bin. Einmal ist "asking" IMO Verb und das andere mal Nomen.
Can you see me painting?
Can you see my painting?

@myklausunna:

Entschuldige, dass ich nicht nachlasse, aber dein Googlefight ist nicht aussagekräftig. "mind me" und "mind my" sind als Suchbegriffe nicht präzise genug. So enthält deine Suche zum Beispiel mit Sicherheit jede Menge Treffer für "mind my own business" oder "Don't mind me, I'm just passing through" oder was auch immer.

I did mention "just for fun" no gugl findings can really be taken as "aussagekräftig"

I agree with Alex. The meaning is the same, but there's a difference in register. "My" is more formal.

Hurra, heute mache ich mir Feinde! ;-)

judex, dein Beispiel halte ich auch nicht für aussagekräftig, da "painting" tatsächlich ein Nomen ist. "asking" ist jedoch keines, sondern einfach nur das Gerund von "to ask".

Both are acceptable, but there is a subtle change in meaning, (to my mind at least) and this subtle change leads me to prefer:

I hope you don't mind my asking you for some input.

Ya. Fine, why?

1) 'me' as the object of the verb means it is the person that might be irritating.
2) 'my asking' as the object implies the question itself is what is potentially irritating.

Let's reword this for a clearer understanding.
 
1a) I hope that I am not bothering you....
2a) I hope that my question isn't bothering you...

Now, if a question is bothersome then the person doing the asking is bothersome. Yes. Of course.
BUT, the difference is whether or not that person cares if they are being annoying.

Personally, I don’t think you should care if you are being annoying. Be nice to yourself. In fact, be very nice to yourself.

Always place the potential irritation on the question and not on yourself.

For support I offer a quote from the greatest writer in the English language, Theodor Geisel aka Dr. Seuss (from memory, apologies for any errors)

“Say or ask what you feel. Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter won’t mind”

my asking - meine Frage
me asking - dass ich frage

@radagast:
A nice explanation, but I don't find it convincing. The object of the main verb ("mind") is in fact "me asking you for some input" or "my asking you for some input", not "me" or "my asking".

Michael Swan "Practical English Usage"

292.3 (page 278):
determiners and possesives with -ing forms
We can often use determiners with -ing forms:
- the opening of Parliament
- Does my smoking annoy you?
- I don't mind your going without me.
- I hate all this useless arguing.
Possesive 's forms are also possible:
- She was angry at Lina's trying to lie to her.

292.4 (page 279)
object pronouns gefore -ing forms
In an informal style it is more common to use object forms instead of possesives with -ing forms, especially when these come after a verb or preposition:
- I don't mind you going without me.
- She was angry at Lina trying to lie to her.

Einhergehend mit Michael Swans Erklärung habe ich in Sprachschulen in Kanada und Nordengland beigebracht bekommen, dass der einzige Unterschied zwischen
- if you don't mind me asking und
- if you don't mind my asking
im Level der Förmlichkeit besteht. Wobei ich mir bis heute nicht 100%tig sicher bin, ob das wirklich in jeder Situation stimmt bzw. für jeden Satz, der einer ähnlichen Konstruktion folgt.

@Jalapeño
Da folge ich Dir nicht ganz. Der Übergang ist fließend und formal kann das Gerund immer Nomen sein. "Stop (that) laughing!" genau wie im Deutschen
"Hör auf zu lachen" "Hör mit dem Lachen auf"

@ricksi
Ok, fair enough. I'm freely admit I'm no grammar expert. All the same, I stick by what I wrote. I think one sentence focuses on the person and the other on the question. Idiosyncratic? Perhaps.

@rickski...I meant rickski above. Apologies.

@judex - does that mean that you agree with Briglia + me... one is the noun and one the verb?

Main Entry: paint·ing
Pronunciation: 'pAn-ti[ng]
Function: noun
1 : a product of painting; especially : a work produced through the art of painting

Der Unterschied ist, dass du in jedem Wörterbuch "painting" als noun findest. "a painting", "the painting", "two paintings", "famous paintings" - alles in Ordnung.

"laughing" dagegen ist kein noun, steht nicht als solches im Wörterbuch, und Formen wie "a laughing", "the laughing", "two laughings", "famous laughings" etc. ergeben keinen Sinn.

Aber vielleicht versteige ich mich auch mal wieder in Dinge, von denen ich nichts verstehe, nur weil ich Hunger habe, und meine Verabredung fürs Mittagessen auf sich warten lässt ...

;-)

Jalapeno
the asking of a question is appropriate

@noli
Ja, so sehe ich es, wobei ich Nomen (=alles was dekliniert werden kann) dem Begriff Noun (=Substantiv?) vorziehen würde. radagast scheint auch dieser Meinung zu sein.

@Jalapeño
Ich sagte ja, der Übergang ist fließend. Manche sind schon "echte " Nouns andere eben substantivische Gerunds. Das ändert aber nicht daran, dass es prinzipiell immer funktioniert.

RE: "Formen wie "a laughing", "the laughing", "two laughings", "famous laughings" etc. ergeben keinen Sinn."

"I still could hear their laughing". Da ist es doch eindeutig formal als Nomen gebraucht oder ist der Satz falsch? Das Gerund ist doch gerade dadürch ausgezeichnet, dass es so eine Art Zwitter ist.

The laughing of the children really gets on my wick!
;-)

The Shining!?

@Jalapeño (##6, 17): Mit Deinem Einwand gegen myklausunnas Guglfeit hast Du natürlich recht. Aber die gleichen Gegenargumente gelten auch für Deine eigene Gegenüberstellung.
Wenn man den Googlefight mit dem kompletten Begriff durchführt, gewinnt auch mein Vorschlag mit "my" sehr deutlich -- Nein, nur wenn man, wie Du, die Anführungszeichen weglässt. Vergleicht man wirklich die "kompletten" Begrifffe gewinnt "mind my asking" haushoch (>3:1): ;-)
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_...
;-)

I used to be an EFL teacher and this is a classic question from the American English TOEFL test, in which the correct answer is "my asking". I think UK English would prefer "me asking". so both are correct depending on the country you use them in!

@ Das Archiv, HUH !! your own link speaks against you "mind me asking" wins with odds over 3 to 1

There are two distinct arguments being made here: one is about the extent to which “asking” is a noun, and one is about language register. I think these are totally separate ways of considering the problem, and we have to decide which one is most useful.

Consider the first argument. “Asking” lies somewhere on the continuum between gerund and fully-fledged noun – noli’s “The asking of a question is allowed” sounds very natural to me – and so I think it’s grammatically okay to say “my asking”. This gives rise to the difference in meaning pointed out by radagast:

a) “I hope you don’t mind my asking you for some input.”
“Yes, I do mind. I don’t want to be disturbed right now.”

b) “I hope you don’t mind me asking you for some input.”
“Yes, I do mind. Only John is allowed to ask me.”

This interpretation sounds technically correct to me, but also highly pedantic and rather subtle, and I have difficulty imagining anyone making it in reality. I also can’t easily think of circumstances when situation like (b) might arise.

Now consider the second argument, which is simply that “mind me asking” is informal and “mind my asking” formal. This is the “official” line according to sm (but which “American English TOEFL test?) and Michael Swan (whose explanations I’ve always found to be excellent), and fits with my intuitive language feeling.

I think one can either apply the first argument or the second, but you shouldn’t mix them. Personally I favour the second one, since the first is too subtle for normal life. Whatever – in most cases both arguments suggest that one should normally say “I hope you don’t mind my asking”.

there is only one TOEFL test, the one for entry to US universities(www.ets.org/toefl/learners/cbt/index.html) It is a little strange with (to my mind) an overemphasis on old-fashioned grammatical structures which do little to prepare the student for what they will hear in lectures.

Danke Euch allen für die spannende Diskussion!
:)

Philip, I agree that the real point here is a difference in formality. I don't agree that argument 1 is "technically correct" - it's clever, but not correct. And I don't think "the asking of a question is allowed" sounds "very natural". To me it sounds very artificial, a sentence constructed to make a point in a debate about grammatical form. The same idea expressed naturally would be "you're allowed to ask a question".

@Das Archiv:

Seltsam, ich hatte meinen Google-Fight eigentlich mit Anführungszeichen gestartet. Anscheinend werden diese aber geschluckt. Sucht man klassisch bei Google einmal nach "mind me asking" (488.000) und einmal nach "mind my asking" (151.000), hast du tatsächlich Recht, "mind me asking" kommt sehr viel häufiger vor. Merke: Lieber selber manuell zwei Google-Suchen starten, als Googlefight vertrauen.

@Philip:

Die ganze "Gerund"/"Noun"-Diskussion war nur ein Seitenstrang.

Ich bin wie du der Meinung, dass der Unterschied zwischen "me asking" und "my asking" einer der Sprachebene ist. "My asking" ist hochsprachlich, "me asking" eher standard- bis umgangssprachlich. Das habe ich auch schon in meinem ersten Beitrag #5 ausdrücken wollen.

Ich stimme auch zu, dass der feine Unterschied wohl nur in theoretischen Diskussionen wie dieser von Bedeutung ist.

Ob es darüber hinaus tatsächlich noch einen Unterschied zwischen BE und AE gibt, vermag ich nicht zu beurteilen.

@judex: Die ganze Gerund/Noun-Diskussion ist im Prinzip natürlich Haarspalterei. Vielleicht liegen unsere unterschiedlichen Ansichten daran, dass ich von "nouns" sprach, du aber von Nomen.

@myklausunna: Du hast natürlich recht, ich habe mich mit einem dummen typo selbst ausgetrickst ;-(

We appear to have answered the original question (“me asking” is informal, “my asking” is formal), but there are still a couple of points I’d like to make.

@rickski
“argument 1 is clever, but not correct”
Perhaps we have a different understanding of what “correct” means. I don’t think the argument has a logical flaw, so it’s therefore correct from my perspective, but it’s not the way people use language normally – perhaps this is what you mean by “not correct”. (If not, please tell me where the logical flaw in the argument is.) Here’s an example of how it could be used:
“John, my work placement student needs to get some input on these linguistic arguments. The real expert on the topic is Dr. X, but he’s rather arrogant and won’t talk to someone as junior as him. However, he won’t mind you asking him – could you help us?”
I don’t think “your asking him” would sound as good here.

Re “the asking of a question is allowed”
You’re right, it’s not the most natural way of phrasing the sentence, but it doesn’t stand out as wrong, which is what I should have said.

@jalapeno
Sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore your post #5 – I just couldn’t be bothered to list all posters who’d contributed to each side of the debate.
sm’s comments suggest that AE and BE are the same here, since the US TOEFL test uses formal language and favours “my asking”.

Ok, wenn es die Natives so sagen stimmt es. Albion locutum causa finita :-)
Umgekehrt darf ich daraufhinweisen, dass es im Deutschen klarer unterscheidbar ist:
"Stört es, wenn ich frage/singe/pfeife/brülle?" Dann will ich erst.
"Stört mein Fragen/Singen/Pfeifen/Brüllen?" Dann tue ich es bereits.

@Philip:
To illustrate why argument 1 is not correct:
a) “I hope you don’t mind my asking you for some input.”
“Yes, I do mind. I don’t want to be disturbed right now.”

b) “I hope you don’t mind me asking you for some input.”
“Yes, I do mind. Only John is allowed to ask me.”

By placing the stress on either "me" or "my", you will end up with the meaning you attribute to sentence b). "Me" or "my" unstressed gives you the meaning you attribute to sentence a).
So, the distinction in meaning you suggest is achieved by intonation, not by word choice.

@judex
"Can I ask a question?"
"You just did."

@Philip:

Keine Sorge, ich fühlte mich nicht ignoriert, ich wollte nur deine Meinung unterstützen.

@Phillip OT
"Kannst Du Englisch?"
"Ja!"
"Was heißt: 'I don't know' "?
"Ich weiß nicht"
"Ich denke Du kannst Englischh!?"

I'm a bit late joining in on this one, but for what it's worth I, as another native British speaker, am impressed with the clarity and precision of Philip's arguments. I would only add that normally, I would use the "my asking" construction, unless the specific subtly different meaning of "me asking" was important, in which case, I would indeed emphsise the word "me". I think therefore, that although Philip and rickski appear to disagree, I find myself agreeing with both of them. Have I missed something?

Well, I'm even later, but as long as no one minds if I bump this thread back up ... (-;

>>"I still could hear their laughing".

Theoretically the true gerund is possible, but in this case I'd say it's far from the best choice. We would normally just say 'I could hear them laughing' (participle) or 'I could hear their laughter' (noun).

On the other points I agree with Jalapeño right down the line. I also agree with radagast, though I agree with Philip that there's seldom much need to make that distinction in everyday usage.

And I can definitely confirm that there's an AE/BE difference, not just with this one but with gerunds in general. Maybe we can summarize it like this:

my asking -- grammatically correct, always safe in writing (like on a test)
standard to colloquial in AE; can sound stuffy in BE

me asking -- not wrong in conversation, less advisable in writing
standard to colloquial in BE; can sound sloppy in AE

There are several threads in the archive that deal with this very characteristic BE/AE difference, but to find them you'd probably have to use a search engine and the terms 'possessive' and 'gerund' plus 'site:.leo.org.' Then jot down the titles and search for them in LEO, since the old links won't work now that all threads have new ID numbers. Then, of course, do the little (a href="URL")title(/a) thing to show their name, since the automatic naming feature also no longer works.

So, I personally think Das Archiv itself should volunteer for that little task, for obvious reasons. (-;

As for why the BE usage seems to win out in the web hits, I wonder if it's really a straightforward 1:1 comparison, or if the other options might be more varied in AE. For instance, I have a hunch that 'mind if I ask' might be more common in AE than either 'mind my asking' or 'mind me asking.' Also, 'If you don't mind if I ...' would be an awkward repetition of 'if.' So we might use other patterns, e.g.:

You don't mind my asking, do you?
Are you sure you don't mind my asking?
As long as you don't mind my asking ...
Do you mind if I just ask ...?
Would you mind if I just asked ...?


There are also many other options for the original sentence, like

I hope you don't mind giving some input on this.
I hope you don't mind sharing your reactions.
I hope it's not asking too much of you to give me some feedback.
I hope I'm not imposing on you in asking for suggestions.
I hope it's okay for me to ask you this.

And of course, the other frequent context for 'I hope you don't mind my asking' is a personal question, which can also be endlessly rephrased:

Can I just ask you if ...
I don't mean to pry/be nosy, but ...
Just out of curiosity, ...
This may be none of my business, but ...
Please don't feel you have to answer this, but ...

Fowler, Burchfield, Garner

I hope you don't mind John and me asking you for some input.

In your example, Amanita, I would tend to use "me" rather than "my" (in BE), because you are asking for assistance and therefore do not want to appear unfrienldy (over-formal) -- unless the person you are talking to is an old-fashioned Latin and English teacher or is what Jespersen called "an instinctive grammatical moralizer".

It is unfortunate that -- in the past -- certain grammarians portrayed the version with "me" as ungrammatical.

In my example (above) I would definitely not use the possessive.

Garner, Modern Amer. Usage, p. 311:
Fused Participles. A. The General Rule. H. W. Fowler gave the name 'fused participle' to a participle that is (1) used as a noun (i.e., a gerund), and (2) preceded by a noun or pronoun not in the possessive case—thus 'Me going home made her sad' rather than the preferred 'My going home made her sad.' The fused participle is said to lack a proper grammatical relationship to the preceding noun or pronoun. Yet no one today doubts that Fowler overstated his case in calling fused participles 'grammatically indefensible' and in never admitting an exception. The grammarians Otto Jespersen and George Curme have cited any number of historical examples and have illustrated the absolute necessity of the fused participle in some sentences (barring a complete rewrite)—e.g.: 'The chance of that ever happening is slight.'
But Fowler had a stylistic if not a grammatical point. Especially in formal prose, the possessive ought to be used whenever it is not unidiomatic or unnatural. ...
B. Exceptions. There are many exceptions to this rule of style. For example, there's typically no choice of construction when you're using nonpersonal nouns {he was responsible for the luggage having been lost}, nonpersonal pronouns {she couldn't accept nothing being done about the problem}, and groups of pronouns {he regretted some of them being left out in the rain}.

Burchfield, New Fowler's Modern Engl. Usage, 3rd ed., p. 610:
2: Current practice. As the 20c. draws to a close the choice of construction is mostly resolved along the following lines:
(i) The possessive with gerund is frequently used when the word before the -ing form is a proper name or personal noun (e.g. Andrew, Reagan, sister, baby) ...
(ii) When the noun is non-personal, is part of a phrase, or is in the plural the possessive is normally not used ...
(iii) With personal pronouns, where there is a difference of form, usage is evenly divided ...
[But he includes as an example 'if you don't mind me saying so' with the non-possessive group.]
(iv) With indefinite pronouns usage is divided, but the non-possessive form is now dominant ...
3: Further outlook. The possessive with gerund is on the retreat, but its use with proper names and personal nouns and pronouns persists in good writing. When the personal pronoun stands in the initial position it looks certain that the possessive form will be preferred for a long time to come: e.g. 'His being so capable was the only pleasant thing about the whole dreadful day' ...; 'My being here must embarrass you' ... The substitution of 'Him' and 'Me' would take both sentences into a lower level of formality.

@MikeE: Isn't that basically what I said, that the possessive can sound stuffy (= over-formal) in BE?

Since you mentioned usage guides, I had a look to refresh my own memory. Above is Garner, who in turn cites Fowler.

What I think Garner fails to mention is that exceptions where no other phrasing is feasible aren't really that frequent. To my ears, his last two exceptions really don't sound good at all, because a clause is the obvious way around the problem: 'that nothing had been done'; 'that some of them had been left out.'

Burchfield in turn cites Jespersen, one or two of whose examples sound equally dubious -- e.g., 'He insists on no one knowing about the experiment,' which to my ears really ought to be 'He insists that no one know,' another easy way out with a clause. But he himself doesn't seem to have a strong opinion one way or the other, saying only from his BE perspective that the possessive is becoming less popular but that it's still used in some contexts. In particular, he sees the personal-pronoun context (like 'me' vs. 'my') as 'evenly divided,' which doesn't sound to me as if he thinks either option is unidiomatic.

@hm -- us
<<Isn't that basically what I said, that the possessive can sound stuffy (= over-formal) in BE?>>
Indeed. I hope it didn't look as if I was attempting to disagree. I was adding why I would avoid the "stuffy" form in this case and taking the opportunity of adding some sources and getting in my usual "cetero censeo" regarding misguided grammarians. (;-)

IMO the value of the examples where the possessive doesn't work is that they indicate how transformational grammar really works in English (what Jespersen calls "a means of subordinating ideas"), thus suggesting that the (exclusive) use of the possessive with the gerund may be a prescriptive artefact.