The word "me" exists and it is not impolite or uneducated to use it in its proper context.

[UnaCorda]

AIBU?

I used to work with someone who included 'myself' in every email. Ugh.

The other one that's currently driving me mad is Rylan on Strictly It Takes Two. He's taken to adding an s onto 'you' so yous instead of you. WTAF?

I think if you’re going to ‘make a point’, on a forum like this with people from all kinds of backgrounds it’s going to come across as a dig and not terribly pleasant. So, I think the very least you can do is help those people out by giving examples of when me, myself or I should be used.

Ok, fair enough:

Billy gave me the book.
Billy gave the book to me.
Billy sent me a letter.
Billy had dinner with my husband and me last Friday.

Billy and I went to the shops.
Billy asked whether I had seen the film.
Billy thought my husband and I would enjoy the film.

I washed myself thoroughly.
I bought some chocolate to treat myself.
I sent myself some flowers.

There's a good case to be made for "yous".

Surely you can find something more important to get annoyed about? Not everyone's lucky enough to have had a good education.

Not that it's up to myself me, but I'd far rather hear "Me and Billy went to the park" than "Billy and myself went to the park". At least the former example is natural and unpretentious.

And "It's Billy and I's" is just hideous.

YADNBU!

There's a good case to be made for "yous".

I agree - as in the plural form? Especially with a Scottish or Irish accent.

Oh man I hate the overuse of "myself"! Grammatically wrong and makes you sound like a pretentious arse.

Surely you can find something more important to get annoyed about?

Well yes, probably, but it's Sunday evening and I've had enough of Brexit, climate change and politics in general.

BestOption

A good tip for working out which is correct can be to take the other person out of the sentence. So in the example above - "She has bought presents for my DC and I" - take out the DC - would you say "She has bought presents for I"? That gives you the answer.

"Yourself" is worse.
Got a call the other day:
"We wanted to talk to yourself about-"
No. Fuck off.

Grammatically wrong and makes you sound like a pretentious arse.

Exactly. There are far more interesting ways to sound pretentious if you're determined to. Quote some Proust or something. In French.

Yes, 'yous' as a plural is very helpful. Although, I haven't heard it said any other way.

I hate how it's become faux polite in business to use myself instead of me.

Someone actually said to me the other day "I was hoping to speak to yourself about bla bla bla".

Also if anyone's wondering, the easiest way to know if it's me or I is to remove the 'and X' bit and see if it makes sense.

Dad and I went to the park - I went to the park (not me went to the park)

He has money for Dad and me (or me and dad) - he has money for me (not he has money for I)

Myself is only when it's reflexive or for emphasis like 'I can do it myself' (rather than you doing it)

The easy way to know whether it’s ‘I’ or ‘me’ is to remove the other half of what you’re saying, so

(Billy and) I went to the park.
She came to the park with (Billy and) me.

Myself is reflexive, which means that you use it, broadly, when you are ‘doing’ something to yourself:

I washed myself.
I woke myself up.
I looked at myself in the mirror.

‘Myself’ is not a synonym for ‘me’ though.

‘Me’ and ‘I’ can be a bit complicated by the fact that we now say ‘me’ at times when we used to say ‘I’ but it’s accepted as common usage, eg people used to say ‘it is I’ when they now say ‘it is me’ - think of ‘Allo ‘Allo with ‘it is I, Leclerc’. But mixing those up doesn’t bother very many people nowadays.

Sorry, epic cross post with a dozen other posters.

I have a colleague who insists on using myself instead of me because she thinks it makes her look smarter. I will show her this thread and why we have all tried to correct her for years.

Yes, I think it would be a good idea if yourself shows it to herself.

I don't think it does make people sound pretentious when they use myself wrongly, or any of the other examples given. I think it makes they sound a bit thick.

Also, the other person always comes first: think of it as polite! So you don’t say ‘I and Billy go to the park’ OR ‘me and Billy go to the park’.

*them sound a bit thick, not they.

Yes! I hate "myself" too.

In every sense! ☹️

Ourselves telephoned yourselves ~ quite frequently heard in my office

I know what's correct, but it just sounds wrong to say 'Billy had dinner with my husband and me on Friday' (not just because I don't know anyone called Billy).