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?

Think @jux just chimed in at the right time to evidence my point - grammar schools in the 60s have obviously entrenched this rule when it’s harmless! (also please don’t think I actually care -I’m a former English as a foreign language teacher firmly of the opinion that as long as meaning is conveyed the rest is desirable, apart from the reflexive stuff this thread is actually about because that is annoying and sounds passive aggressive somehow)

Haha actually misread @jux’s post - yes I like your rule there, I don’t think you have to put yourself last if youre saying ‘me’. Anyway I’ll go away now.

I agree it’s people trying to sound “posh”. My ILs from do it when they visit us in the big city lol!

Is it wrong that I want to correct people? I try very hard not to but it's only a matter of time!

Oh God yes, they always say this in those fly on the wall police shows to make themselves look extra intelligent and authoratitive.

'Im going to have to ask you to accompany myself to the station.'

And yes estate agents
'I will forward that on to yourself later today'.

And I used to work in cold calling
'so that is an appointment Thursday at 10am for one of our sales reps to come and visit yourselves at home with our brochures'.

When I did my post grad, my tutors told me to avoid using top line punctuation, because there was such a good chance that people marking it would be unsure about it.

What is top line punctuation?

It makes me want to scream!

@LoveInTokyo

Haha, my boss is in fact a partner in a law firm. Perhaps the same one!

PinguDance Noooo! You can never say ' ‘thank you for the invite to I’

Whether or not the 'I' is correct (and I don't think it is), it's an invitation, not an invite!

People think it sounds posh I think. Hotel receptionists are terrible offenders ime

It makes me stabby.

Echoes of Adrian Mole perhaps? Did he say that a lot?

Ha OP thanks for starting this thread, I was watching an interview earlier and thinking exactly the same thing! I hate it!

Police Officers are the worst offenders.

Village I'd suggest you never visit the West Country. At least not the little bit of Dorset I grew up in! Sentences like 'she brung it round here for I this morning' are fairly commonplace. I didn't notice it much growing up, but having lived in Yorkshire for over a decade it sounds so wrong when I go back to visit!

That and, my personal favourite, 'where's that to then?'

Captain What does “Where’s that to then?” mean?

Posting a parcel?!

It drives me absolutely demented!

Re the me/I debate, Prince Harry's speech at his father's garden party:
'“You have inspired William and I...'

Sounds wrong to me...

CaptainCallisto I know what you mean! But I think with the right regional accent all sorts of things are fine. Your example, for example.

I'm Scottish and still think 'amen't I?' is perfectly fine.

And I still can't see a problem with 'a very lot' even though my mum explained it to me in detail when I was seven, as in 'I like chocolate a very lot.'

Can't see anything wrong with that at all.

“We have ran out of coffee” and “She had went yesterday” are my pet hates. Common in the Liverpool area I think.

I agree that the police are really bad at this - i first noticed it when i worked there over 8 years ago. I wonder if it is to do with having to give evidence in court and thinking it sounds ‘professional’. Drives me insane these days - pleased to see i am not alone.

I hate it.

I though it was a regional south coast thing

It's poor grammar pure and simple. Usually used by someone to try to make themselves (!) sound more intelligent/sophisticated.

It's one of my pet peeves and I correct it multiple times a day (but then I am the boss).

This along with the bloody misuse of apostrophes, their they're there, you're your, hear here, bear and bare are the bane of my work life.

Oh and people saying schedule with a hard c (the American way). For some reason this gets me too.

That and, my personal favourite, 'where's that to then?'

They do that here in Wales too. My son was born in England, but has lived in Wales since he was 10, and picked that up. When he asked me "Where's that to?" he might as well have been speaking another language, as my brain couldn't compute it for a bit! I said "What do you mean, "where's that to"?", and the conversation went back and forth a couple of times before I realised what he meant!

They'll also say things like "Is that coat his jacket?"

Where's that to =where is it. Also common in Cornwall, where we often drop words like "at", "to" or "the"...
Where's X to?
E've gone pub.
Or one of my favourites where "come over here please" is rendered as " 'ere minute"

It drives me absolutely bonkers. WHY???!!!!!!