Why have people started using reflexive pronouns so much?

[Flippetydip]

I seem to hear a lot recently of "what can I get for yourself?" or "could you send it to myself with a, b and c copied in".

You get something for yourself, I get something for you. I send something to myself, I send something to you.

Is this now considered acceptable English?

Law firm letter: Correspondence dated x from yourselves to ourselves refers.

Ewwwwwww.

Been told to change: "...there are 3 options. None is available here." To none ARE available because partner at the law firm was adamant IS is incorrect.

Wrong apostrophes really really really get me.

Overuse of reflexive pronouns and "Could you help him and I" drive me nuts. The clue is in the "him.....

what is wrong with "can I get [myself] a coffee?"

Nothing, if you're the one getting the coffee, ie preparing or pouring it. If it's said as a substitute for May I have, then it's wrong.
Please will people also learn the difference between 'may' and 'can', I recall in primary school my teacher telling us Yes, you can chew a lump of coal.......

summerstorm no. As explained above, read the sentences with and without what is in brackets:

(He and) I went to the shops.
They gave an apple to (him and) me.

You wouldn't use "me" in the first one or "I" in the second one. Adding another person hanged nothing.

@BustopherJones - my irish is a bit rusty but you're probably right.

I agree that the lack of yes and no has a lot to do quark the elaborate responses to simple questions😁

If it's said as a substitute for May I have, then it's wrong.

No, it's not. Although "may I get" would be perhaps preferable to people who still insist on the can/may distinction.

ah, the may/can distinction. I thought that had to do with something else related to "myself".

My kids say “please may you” and I know it’s wrong but I find it very cute. Probably wouldn’t find it cute on an adult in my office though.

I once got an email from a swimming teacher which said:

“I believe I tried calling yourself back, however I was unable to get through. My apologies that you've found it so hard to get hold of myself”

Put my teeth on edge.

From Oxford Dictionaries:

"But the 'permission' use of can is not in fact incorrect in standard English. The only difference between the two verbs is that one is more polite than the other. In informal contexts it's perfectly acceptable to use can; in formal situations it would be better to use may."

I am so tired of emails featuring this.

"Can he have an appointment with yourself?"

"She will send it to myself this week"

It's full on salesman talk. They think it sounds more polite.

Never heard anyone talk like this - we sometimes have ridiculous conversations at work and general ‘banter’ but we would never hold a serious conversation like this!

There is usually a better word to use than 'get'. Especially when you aren't getting it (whatever it is)

Please may I have is the correct way to ask.

I'd rather not say where I'm from, it's a backwater and could be identifying.

So mean-spirited to assume people are trying to be snooty. More often than not they're probably trying to be extremely polite.

Please may I have is the correct way to ask.

It is a correct way, but not the only one.

It makes me cringe. I heard a police officer speak like that - I think she was trying to sound clever but sadly it just sounded daft.

The second verse of Dance with my Father by Luther Vandross begins:

"When I and my mother would disagree"

It angers me everytime I hear it.

It is incredibly annoying and to me, it's right up there with split infinitives and incorrect use of singular or plural verbs, but that is a whole other thread... 😉

.....especially if it's coupled with the speech style known as 'UpSpeak', yah? Every sentence, every statement, every utterance sounds as if it has a great big fat question-mark glued onto the end of it? Like?

Yuk!

Survived - what's wrong with split infinitives? They're perfectly grammatical and in some cases it makes meaning clearer to insert the adverb between "to" and the verb.

Even The Economist, which previously banned split infinitives, has now realised it's pointless: www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2018/04/28/the-ban-on-split-infinitives-is-an-idea-whose-time-never-came

Good writers have long ignored this "rule" (examples in the above link).

I think it’s fine to say ‘...David and I’ because you CAN say ‘‘tis I”. Which is the same substitution of me for I.

The verb "to be" is an outlier because both subject and object are the same instance of the noun. Every other verb requires you indicate the case of the pronoun (so whether it is the subject or object of the verb).

So you say, in Agatha Christie style, "The killer, you are she!" rather than "The killer, you are her!"

Every action a subject does to itself requires a reflexive pronoun. So the dog washes itself, I calm myself, you pinch yourself.

You can send a letter to yourself (reflexive), but Johnny and Brenda can only send a letter to you (object pronoun).

A lot of the confusion comes because we dropped a lot of our distinction in cases in English centuries ago (because we went for rigid word order in English, which lessens the need to indicate case).

Although, interestingly, differences in case still exist in spoken form in many dialects. If you listen to a Yorkshire man very carefully, you will be able to hear cases vocalised differently with articles, so "Tha cat sat on thuh mat" (Tha for the subject article and thuh for the object article).

It's a lot easier to understand if you speak another European language where cases are vital for comprehension.

Double cringe heard recently:
“Is there anything else I can do for yourself there?”

I agree with a PP’s comment re “at all”. Which is why the Boots Optician advert makes my ears bleed:
“Have you ever had your eyes tested at all?

And the growing trend of making one word out of two, as in “Alot” (a lot) 😭

"When I and my mother would disagree"

This is not ungrammatical. It doesn't follow the convention of putting "I" and "me" last, but it is not incorrect.

As Dad said, split infinitives are grammatical, and in many cases a more natural construction.

Drives me insane!

Re summer

"The summer months" are June July and August

"Summer" is from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox.

(so summer months are different.)

So Midsummer's Day is the first day of summer? I've never quite understood how that works.