About the use of “myself”

[crispysausagerolls]

Yes it’s petty, yes it’s stupid, yes there have been multiple threads on it but ffs i have just opened 3 threads in a row where people say “myself and DH” or “DS and myself”!

STOP ITTTTTT!!!!!!! 😬😬😬😭😭😭🙈🙈🙈

It’s almost as annoying as the use of caps lock and emojis 😄

How do you feel about the way the Irish use it. ‘Tis yourself and that sort of thing.

Yes, it really fucking annoys myself!!!

Op - it's very worrying, a teacher not knowing the difference between bought and brought! My friend's daughter wrote "I done" several times in a piece of schoolwork, and the teacher didn't correct it - she just wrote "well done" 🙈

I only needed to read the thread title to know that myself agrees with you, OP.

Wow! Horrible comment about people working in call centers there

I find it perfectly acceptable in the vernacular (I quite like it, actually)

But in normal, run-of-the-mill English - Pack. It. In.

Sadly the teaching of English grammar in England is shockingly awful (or was in the recent past).

When I was at secondary school our French teacher tried to teach us French verbs but had to explain what a verb was first! A teacher friend was experiencing similar issues around 10 years ago.

I had an English teacher that used to say "we was" it used to torment me everytime.

When my parents showed my school report to a grammar school educated relative he counted over 20 SPAG errors in the report and had to be prevented from sending it back marked in red pen.

This was a fairly standard 90s comp, not the best in town but far from the worst.

Centres ffs!

It bloody annoys myself too. I think people say it in an effort to sound polite/deferential, but it’s just plain wrong.

Then again, the other day I saw a colleague describe an aspect of their role as ‘templatising’. As in, creating templates. Give. Me. Strength.

The 'myself, yourself' business drives me absolutely crackers. I'm FAR too polite to correct people so I just seethe silently.

I work with kids and teens and I've never heard any of them say it, though.

I am with you OP. If you would like a satirical take on this plague then I recommend you listen to Cabin Pressure, in which John Finnemore plays a slightly dim air steward who employs “myself” and “yourself” liberally in an attempt to sound official “the Captain has asked me to inform yourselves that the seatbelts are now in operation and should yourself need to stand up for any reason please do make yourself known to myself via the button above yourself’s head and myself will attend to yourself forthwith”.

I think it could be multiple causes:

1. People not understanding that the reflexive has to refer back to the same subject (as in Laniakea's post) - I can send a letter to myself, but you'll have to send one to me.

1. Compound subjects are confusing. I used to mod a travel site and constantly got posts saying "me and my friends are going to (e.g.) Paris..." No one says "me is going to Paris", except maybe the Cookie Monster.

1. I suspect part of it is people erroneously thinking "me" or "you" is somehow rude - too direct/personal? - and "myself" or "yourself" (or worse, "your good self") seems more polite. That one would have been a job for Nancy Mitford/John Betjeman.

@Laniakea - or Joan armatrading - i can think of 3 songs of hers with myself in the title.

@suchclearwater

I missed the call centres comment?

@NatashaAlianovaRomanova

Pllleeaaassseee say something when you go!

Urgh, my boss does this in emails.
"Dear Dancing, as I discussed with yourself last week...."
It doesn't even make sense!

YANBU at all!! The misuse/complete overuse of "yourself" is equally annoying!

Just don't get me started on people using "of" instead of "have"!

Ohhhh, I have found my people and you're all making me very happy 😊

Yes OP I agree this is excruciatingly annoying, as are those people who insist on saying, "could of/would of/should of."

I once worked for a Head teacher, who consistently wrote in emails and briefing sheets, "Please send such and such to myself by Friday." Grr!

And don't get me started on the teacher who always said to the class, "I've wrote it on the board for you."

NO, NO, NO!

Thank you for this thread OP.

@crispysausagerolls I have said something on many occasions about the shockingly poor level of grammar in communications (both internal & external).

I've had clients comment on the atrocious spelling & grammar in letters we've sent them but unfortunately as much as I feedback & offer to correct proofread they insist on sending out their own first draft.

Oh it’s absolutely maddening. My theory is that reflexive pronouns have infested workplaces because people seem to think they’re more formal and less direct. As though people are afraid to speak plainly (and correctly) these days.

Ffs what happened to my paragraphs? I double spaced it 😭

Where has it come from??

From the Land of Would Of/Could Of/Should Of, Gifting As A Verb, Reaching Out Instead of Contacting and Other Wank.

I'm thrilled you were able to reach out to Mumsnet crispysausagerolls.

So many things annoy me. Yours Sincerely is one of them.

Hi was bad enough at the start of an email but for those under 30 it seems to have morphed into Hey.

You was. Could of. Aks.

Where has it come from? I genuinely don't understand.

I think it's definitely to do with a sense that "you" is too blunt and a bit rude. There's an old-fashioned rule of etiquette that you never address your social superiors as "you". So you call a judge "your honour", a duke "your grace", a queen "your majesty". The closest that illiterate people can find for addressing ordinary folk is "yourself"!