Stop saying 'myself and...'

[Ridiculous24]

I'm sorry, I'm grumpy.
It's everywhere.
The top level at work are now using it. They have English degrees.

I've found my people. I fear that if I were to raise it where I work, I would be banished to the naughty corner.
P.s - if I was or were? Never quite sure. Yes. I'm a hypocrite.

Totally with you.

I'm at the point where I cringe when I use the word 'myself' correctly.

I always call it estate agent language. It’s the sort of thing that’s rife in that profession- incorrect, over-flowery language by people who are trying to make themselves sound clever. I judge anyone who uses it enormously.

This set my teeth on edge this morning too. How on earth did that get posted? Very poor.

Well it annoys me greatly but I wouldn't pick on someone's grammar on an unrelated thread, that's a dick move.

I quite enjoyed watching the latest series of The Traitors, well, until the round table where each player had to vote for someone else to be dismissed. Nearly every person would say, “…so I voted for yourself, [insert name]…”

I could have chucked something at the tv. Ugh.

I have no problem with it at all when said by someone Irish, I think it sounds lovely, and in fact I read it in an Irish accent. But when it's said by someone with an English accent, for some reason I think of estate agents. Why?!

This!

Although you were brave putting this on here without at least a paragraph explaining that you know the difference 😆

I think it comes from people being told as children not to say Jimmy and me are going out, and applying it to every sentence, whatever the subject.

😬I've not gone that far but come very close. Cringe.

Has anyone mentioned the traitors yet?
It was awash with, yourself, myself, herself, hisself. I think people think it sounds more polite than saying “You.”

The correct usage of pronouns is covered in grade school, which was a while ago for most of us, so some people are apparently forgetting the parts of speech and their rules of usage.
“Myself” is the 1st person singular REFLEXIVE pronoun. It is used as the object of a verb or preposition. Reflexive pronouns are required when the subject and object of the verb are the same.

“He hates me” as opposed to “I hate myself”

I use the reflexive pronoun in the second sentence because I am both the actor and the receiver of the action (that’s what reflexive means).

People using “myself” as a subject pronoun and in cases where it has no reflexive function just don’t understand (or remember) basic grammar.

Honestly, nobody seems to know or care anymore. I’m an English teacher and you would be shocked at what other teachers say (including some English ones). My personal pet hate is dotting the perfect tense everywhere but I think it’s gone too far now to actually go back.

Because standards at the BBC are slipping, sadly.

Well if you ask myself it depends, for example:

OP: I think my dh is having an affair, we have 2 under 2 and I’m pregnant, he’s always finding fault with myself and we argue all the time, should I LTB?

Reply: I’m afraid your use of myself is grammatically incorrect there

A family member refers to her live in partner as himself

"I was waiting to leave for the dog walk when himself decided to organise the sock drawer"

Is that a weird regional thing?

Why stop there, why not "I am"? Language changes naturally over the years. What would the Brontes say about Orwell's prose? Likewise what would Orwell think of J.K. Rowling?

Good point
I was thinking more general points rather than people in very difficult circumstances. No i wouldn't point this one out.
But MN is littered with myself and yourself in lots of posts.

I follow someone on Instagram whose name is (something like) “Me, My Goals and I” and it makes me wince every time she posts something.

It's becoming an epidemic.

Loads of 'yourself' in The Traitors this year.

'I'm voting for yourself, Paul'

Please tell me you didn't actually and this is just a fantasy? Because actually correcting someone's grammar in the course of normal conversation is breathtakingly rude.

I agree it's probably going to be construed as rude, and I wouldn't do it (unless it's a close family member when it's my civic duty to remind them so they don't offend others), but on the other hand, if no one ever tells people it's wrong, how will they know?

Misuse of reflexive pronouns shows lack of knowledge, not formality, although the user might think it's the latter.

As to 'me or I?' you simply remove all the other people, whether it's one or fifty, and say exactly the same thing: 'Do you want to come to the pub with Sam, Jo, Esme, Bill ....and me/I?' - get rid of all those people and decide if you'd say 'Do you want to come to the pub with I?' or 'Do you want .... with me?' That's it. Simple.

As for 'myself and my colleagues' etc - what happened to the polite convention of putting others first? I suspect use of the reflexive pronoun in such cases is so the user can circumvent that, they think it's better than say 'I and my colleagues...' which sounds regal.

I mean it winds me up but I can't imagine that most people really care. It's incredibly rude to correct someone's grammar when they haven't asked you to, IMO.

Perhaps it's a nickname and should have a capital letter. Would it then be 'Himself and I.....'?