'myself and my family....'

[PrettyLittleBrownEyedMe]

Prepared to be flamed here; I know it's not seen as the done thing to care about SPaG. That's why I've started a new thread rather than pick someone up in another conversation.

However, I would really love to know why this 'myself and my family...' construction is everywhere at the moment. It absolutely sets my teeth on edge, and it's not the same as just a general error because no one would ever say 'myself is going to the shops' - so they do know the right phrase is 'I am going to the shops'. Why does adding an extra person in to the sentence mean that they feel the pronoun needs to change? Is this phrase taught in schools? I would genuinely like to know.

Right, here goes; tin hat ready...

I agree with you OP. Have you got any spare tin hats?

Do you mean ‘hard hat’?

Maybe I'll need both, Finerumpus

Drives me mad. Happy to have a little vent about it! I think people write it or say it because they think it makes them sound more educated... When in fact it has the opposite effect. Same with "I made a cup of tea for Sarah and I"

Yep

Yes as pomegranate says people use it to make them sound clever. A bit like signing off e-mails with 'If you need any further information please contact myself'

Although my Ma is Irish so we have lots of yourself/myself going on anyway.

@Pomegranateseeds - exactly that!

Although you will get told YABU as you posted in AIBU rather than Pendants Corner.

Maybe, but there's just not the traffic in Pedants' Corner, and anyway I'm preaching to the converted there!

PS had a little smile about 'hanging about in Pendants' Corner..'

Why is 'myself' seen as cleverer than 'me' though, @pomegranateseeds? Do people not think " 'contact me'...hmm, perfectly good phrase, I'll just use that"?

'Contact the writer' is almost worse but agree myself is stupid

It annoys the hell of of me. As does "Will it be for yourself?"

It's seen as cleverer because it's a longer word.

Yes, it's wrong.
No, the people who use it don't know it's wrong. They aren't just doing it to annoy the people who know it's wrong.
No, it's not taught in schools.

It’s because people get confused. They’ve been told at school not to say “me and jimmy went to wherever” but “my family and I” doesn’t really roll off the tongue.

It's fucking awful, and yes, it's bloody everywhere!

It drives myself up the fucking wall.

"What about yourself?"or similar variations drives me mad.

YANBU OP, I hate it too. I've had "what would yourself like to do going forward?" which made my skin crawl!

It's not taught in schools. Neither is the use of I or me.

People always think using I as in "my husband and I" is correct, but it isn't always.

You wouldn't say "Thank you for inviting I to your party" - you would use me. So therefore you should use "Thank you for inviting my husband and me".

If you said "My husband and I went to the shops" then that is correct, because you would say "I went to the shops", not "Me went to the shops".

Fuck knows where "myself" started to come into it. I think it's used by people to try and make themselves sound more educated or sophisticated.

YANBU.

People use "myself" because they think it sounds more intelligent than "me" or "I", but the opposite is true.

Really makes me grind my teeth.

you're all overthinking this. It’s a line from a popular film that’s caught on....and that’s all

Makes me really cross, especially when people who should know better do it ( SLT, looking at you!)
I think it 's a fairly recent phenomena- I don't remember hearing it so frequently in the 20th Century!

you're all overthinking this. It’s a line from a popular film that’s caught on....and that’s all

It's a crime against correct grammar, that's what it is.

Snowdown, what film/ line is that???