“call” here is a transitive verb, so the following object is in the accusative case, and “whom” is a the appropriate declension of “who”. Of course, there are almost no traces of declensions in modern English, hence the confusion.
Nope, in fact that one should also be “Whom are you calling a cult leader?” Who is the subject form, i.e. it’s supposed to be used when it’s the “who” person that is doing the actions. In this case, though, the subject is “you”, who is doing the action (“calling” someone something), and the object is the someone being called something (“whom”).
For sake of colloquial informality some purposefully adopt incorrect grammar. Regardless of whether that was the intent, such is the effect; a better question:
“Does informality conveyed through use of colloquialisms benefit the author’s purposes more than correct use of grammar?”
The above line of enquiry presumes correct grammar is desirable—a separate but sound debate prerequisite answering the former question.
I’m pretty sure it should be “who”, since the title is an inversion of “Who are you calling a cult leader?”.
“call” here is a transitive verb, so the following object is in the accusative case, and “whom” is a the appropriate declension of “who”. Of course, there are almost no traces of declensions in modern English, hence the confusion.
Nope, in fact that one should also be “Whom are you calling a cult leader?” Who is the subject form, i.e. it’s supposed to be used when it’s the “who” person that is doing the actions. In this case, though, the subject is “you”, who is doing the action (“calling” someone something), and the object is the someone being called something (“whom”).
For sake of colloquial informality some purposefully adopt incorrect grammar. Regardless of whether that was the intent, such is the effect; a better question:
“Does informality conveyed through use of colloquialisms benefit the author’s purposes more than correct use of grammar?”
The above line of enquiry presumes correct grammar is desirable—a separate but sound debate prerequisite answering the former question.