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

[UnaCorda]

AIBU?

Love this thread and for some reason attach a great importance to correct grammar. I don't want to road rail, but would love peoples thoughts on my daughter (she's 2)

'I can do it by my own self'

I cannot work out if this is incorrect or an acceptable alternative. Either way it's cute as hell.

limited I love it when they say things like that. It's very cute.

I assume she's muddling two different phrases:

' I can do it on my own' and 'I can do it myself.'

It's fascinating how children assimilate language and naturally work out grammar rules (apart from the myself brigade obviously!)

@UnaCorda - yes, I butted into the conversation to explain. I've bitten my tongue long enough and I'm sure that I'm not the only one.

My DD used to say ‘I do it by my own’.

limitedscreentime Your DD has a more advanced grasp of grammar than many native English speakers.
She evidently has a leaning towards Shakespeare by the sound of it

One of my colleagues wasn't having it, saying that it's a West Country thing.

No, it ain't. You might say "I be going to town, he be the one wearing red." But not "myself will send it, give it to myself." (You have to read that in your best Dorset accent.)

The use of 'myself' and 'yourself' is spreading far and wide and it's pretentious and stilted. And wrong.
But even worse is the positively oleaginous 'your good self', often by estate agents and the like, eg 'I will email all the details to your good self.'
Don't get me started on EAs who don't know the meaning or correct usage of the verb 'to comprise.'
As for the increasing use of 'myself' etc, a poster upthread put it down to the loss of what they said were the formal thee, thou, thy, thine pronouns -- but these were actually the familiar, singular forms ( like tu/ toi in French). They were lost and it was the formal 'you' / 'yours' that were kept as both singular and plural personal pronouns. Derail over.

We discussed this at work a month ago. It started with a discussion about whether it should be "please let Billy and myself know..." or "please let myself and Billy know..."

I’d have had to kill them all. Drives me nuts.

I’m pretty sure the rule is that “me” goes first and “I” goes last. “Tell me and Billy the truth” and “Billy and I want to know”.

Btw, having a large number of qualifications but being unable to pick up basic grammar may well prove many things. It doesn’t follow that grammar is unimportant

Other way round doob
I is the subject in a sentence
Me is the object.

You would use I when you also say he/she/they.
Eg. I went to the shop. Tim and I went to the shop. She went to the shop.

You would use me when you also say him/her/them.
Sarah have a book to me. Sarah gave a book to him. Etc

The issue is some people think they're more sophisticated by not using me and/or misusing myself (regional dialects aside where people should be able to use standard English in the appropriate contexts)

I’m pretty sure the rule is that “me” goes first and “I” goes last. “Tell me and Billy the truth” and “Billy and I want to know”.

Nope. In formal written English, the other party always comes first. In spoken or informal written English, me can go in either place but I is always last, as while ‘me and Billy’ sounds OK, ‘I and Billy’ never does.

I have no idea when you would use ' myself' and it sounds really clumsy so I never use it myself

My understanding is that it's used reflexively: "I dress myself in my best gown on a Sunday," or when there's some sort of emphasis or contradiction implied: "Fine, I'll do it myself then."

I think that's correct, although I may have omitted some other possible usages.

There was a teacher on here who used 'myself' in a post last week.

I had to sit on my hands.

I’m pretty sure the rule is that “me” goes first and “I” goes last. “Tell me and Billy the truth” and “Billy and I want to know”.

That isn't how I was taught many, many years ago. The other person was almost always first, so it would have been 'Billy and me.'

'I can do it by my own self'

Not correct, but obviously conflating "by myself" and "on my own". I think that's a fairly typical example of language development in a young child who's a native speaker.

The other person was almost always first, so it would have been 'Billy and me.'

Yes, it's an etiquette thing more than grammar. Always put yourself last.

YANBU

I don't say "myself" in the way you mean, and hate it, but sometimes make mistakes in speech such as using I when I should have said me. I know what the word should be - if I write the sentence down, but in speech sometimes I change what I'm going to say mid thought and mouth goes ahead of brain.

Don't you ever make grammatical errors when speaking, OP?

People weirdly use myself instead of me or yourself instead of you because they think it's sounds posher and more polite. I think it makes me sound like an idiot.

Same for I rather than me. They think it's the posh way to say it rather than a clear and simple grammatical rule.
'

Not that I use it but is 'for myself' ever correct? Eg.For myself I prefer coffee.
It sounds wrong to me. Surely it's just 'I prefer coffee.'
It doesn't help that I'm learning french so am forming sentences very differently.

Also could people please stop writing ect instead of etc, that really irritates me.

As for the increasing use of 'myself' etc, a poster upthread put it down to the loss of what they said were the formal thee, thou, thy, thine pronouns -- but these were actually the familiar, singular forms ( like tu/ toi in French). They were lost and it was the formal 'you' / 'yours' that were kept as both singular and plural personal pronouns. Derail over.
@Tartyflette

I didn't say that - read my post.

(well, we do, but the old informal 'thou' is obsolete).

I said we no longer have a distinction between formal and informal. I know full well that 'thou'' is the informal form, as I said in my post.

Derail over

Going back to the Billy examples would

I had dinner with Billy and my husband last Friday

Be correct or not?

YANBU. That and glottal stops. I heard a politician talking yesterday and the lack of Ts made my teeth ache. Don't know who she was or what she was talking about, had to switch her off. If you're going to take a job that requires communicating with an audience, get some bloody training so we know what you're talking about.

I love this thread. That is all.

Don't you ever make grammatical errors when speaking, OP?

I myself never make grammatical errors.