Me, Myself and I

[MatildaTheGreat]

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that posters are suddenly referring to themselves as myself rather than me or I?

Myself and my partner were going out...

They gave it to myself and dd...

I don’t know why it enrages me so.

It’s not sudden, but it is awful. More awful in real life though.

It's annoying, yes.

It annoys myself so much.

(I think people mistakenly think it makes them sound posher/cleverer).

Yeah, instantly switch off when I hear/read this. It’s usually people with an over-inflated sense of their own importance who are trying to sound intelligent.

It’s awful. And wrong. Myself is used only as the reflexive (eg I washed myself) or for emphasis (eg I did it myself). Anything else is just bad grammar!

I wonder if it’s not knowing whether to say me or I.

Grrrrrrr. Makes me irrationally cross. Please stop. And stop also with yourself/yourselves when you, - yes you - mean you.

Is there a big South African population where you live op? Many South Africans use myself, I wonder if it has caught on ?

Or a big estate agent population? They seem to love it.

It isn't unique to Mumsnet. Some people seem to fear the use of 'me' and 'you' (and plain English generally).

It's infuriating and there is a thread about this in Pedants' Corner.

I had an email from someone yesterday to say that her colleague would be attending a meeting, "instead of myself". It's like fingernails down a blackboard.

I totally misread your post I thought you meant in general life

Misuse of the reflexive pronoun is a major bugbear of mine. People who use it think it makes them sound more intelligent but it's definitely having the opposite effect. I scream in my head every time I read or hear it incorrectly. I have ASD so it's actually upsetting; there are rules!

People I know who do this think it's 'rude', or wrong to use Me or I. I know people who think the sake of Because, so use, due instead.

I used to use, myself, when I was younger. I never knew it was a SA thing, which makes sense because my Dad was SA.

I don't care about the way other people use language in a casual context. I'm not well educated and am dyslexic (and not a dick) so i can bear to give others a wide berth. However, I came across a formal bereavement oriented letter from a big institution yesterday that referred to "yourself" and it did catch my attention.

I once overheard someone on the phone saying "if yourself could send it to myself."

I did actually ask a prolific offender why he did it and he said that 'me' sounded rude and 'I' sounded too posh.

I do generally think it's because they don't know when to use 'me', 'I' and 'you' correctly. It's not hard though! 😭

There must be dumbing down in the education system re grammar

It makes me want to hit them over the head repeatedly with the biggest, thickest, heaviest dictionary I can find.

I actually haven't noticed it being as bad on here as it is in real life. The more you promote someone, the more they will talk use 'myself' instead of me or I.

I thought this was about a Joan Armatrading song...

I’m autistic, and a bit pedantic, so it really gets my hackles up, too.
Have you noticed that “He and I” has been replaced by “Me and him” in the nominative, as well? For example: “Me and him went out ”. Really? Me went out? Him went out? How clumsy and annoying!

Oh yes, the wonderful classic Joan Armatrading song! Recommended listening for all those feeling wound up about this issue.

It makes me really mad BUT I said it, incorrectly, in a large meeting at work the other day. It is infuriatingly catching.

We discussed it afterwards, I had to air my shame. No-one else knew what I was on about, they didn't know it was wrong and still didn't really get it was wrong. My colleagues explained that 'me' sounds impolite.

I, subject, me, direct object, myself, reflexive pronoun.

These things are horribly catching , like the new one of starting every sentence with "So"

@moreofaslummythanyummy Go to the the naughty step!