Me, Myself and I

[niadainud]

For the love of Lindley Murray, please can people stop using "myself" and "I" when they actually mean "me"?

"Myself and DP..." is never correct (at least I can't think of an example when it would be correct to begin a sentence in this way) and just sounds pretentious. "Myself" is a reflexive pronoun, or used for emphasis: "I hurt myself" or "I wouldn't do it like that myself".

"I" is for when you are the subject of the sentence (i.e. you are the one doing it): for example, "DP and I like to go dogging at the weekend."

"He came dogging with my DP and I" is wrong as "I" is being erroneously used as an object pronoun in that example.

In short, "me" is not a dirty word, even if "dogging" is.

Sorry, I know some people hate grammar threads that stray outside Pedants' Corner and I fully expect to be jumped on for any minor solecism I may have inadvertently committed, but I'm running out of patience with this one.

Oh, and while I'm at it, you're most probably "lying", not "laying", unless you are some sort of bird.

in my last job I used to have to speak to a lot of people on the phone and I’d inevitably get the “I phoned yourself” or “I sent yourself an email” and it used to raise my rage level something chronic so I would turn it back on them and say something like “well myself did leave a message for yourself to call myself back” or “myself has not seen the email yet”, purely just to make them hear themselves back and hear just how ridiculous they sounded.

I think it sounds much, much worse with a thick West Country accent!

@FlappyThing he must be extremely good in bed to keep you married to him! 😀

Merseyside.

Newsreaders mispronounce words & some of the online news articles don't even make sense so it's inevitable really.

Looking over my glasses sternly and maybe taking you to task over a stray comma? Like I say, watching football, not taking this as seriously as you!

So this is unironic?

I sell houses for a living. I don't use "myself". Neither do any of my colleagues. You don't have to be illiterate to sell houses. You don't have to be rude to post on Mumsnet.

I questioned my use of bear with me recently. I have seen bare so often that I had genuine doubt!

I had to stop watching The Apprentice because of all the myselfing.

Of course; that's how we learn to speak. But I would have expected someone who did a language degree at Cambridge (and who had presumably been successful in language A-levels prior to that) to be fairly proficient at grammar and not make a fairly basic mistake.

That wouldn't shock me tbh 🤷🏻‍♀️

I blame The Apprentice entirely for people using the speaker when talking on their phones when out and about

Uurgh

God, yes. And holding the phone horizontally. What's that all about?

I clicked on this thread hoping that it would actually be about the lovely song, sung by Billie Holiday with Lester Young:

Me, myself and I
Are all in love with you
We all think you’re wonderful, we do
Me myself and I
Have just one point of view
We all think there’s no one else like you
It can’t be denied dear
You’ve brought the sun to us
We’d be satisfied dear
If you belonged to one of us
So if you pass me by
Three hearts will break in two
For me, myself and I
Are all in love with you

Sorry to disappoint, but thanks for sharing the lyrics. I'll go and listen to it.

Wasn’t a criticism, sorry if it came across like that. It is a great song though

Someone clever told me you should use me / I if the sentence would still make sense without the other person.

DH and I went ... because you would not say Me went or myself went

He came with DH and me ... because you would not say with I. Or with myself.

I realise this rule is only any use if you have a natural aversion to using myself. Otherwise you would just shoehorn it in anyway.

No, not at all!

Were they Irish (heritage)?

Even in standard English I can think of sentences that would start "Myself and my husband", but admittedly only for fun. "Myself and my husband I can see retiring at 60, but not our children's generation".

Anyway, perhaps because I'm Irish and the usage is more widespread (and reflects usage in the Irish language), I don't mind this one at all.

My English teacher colleague always says things like "Me and Jack went on holiday". 🤢

Always makes me think of Maureen O'Hara (and my grandparents of the same generation)

I have had to stop watching the BBC series ‘Traitors’ which was my guilty pleasure for this very reason.
Drives ‘myself’ fucking potty!!!!

No, the person wasn't Irish, and in fact they used "I" erroneously, not "myself".

I think your example just about works, although it would seem more natural (to me) to start the sentence with, "I can see myself and my husband..." as we tend to put the pronoun(s) at the beginning in English..

I told a junior colleague it was incorrect to say: “please see attached Brenda and I’s paper”

She has ignored me and now her peers seem to use “I’s” in the same way.

It doesn’t even sound right - you would never say that aloud. maddening.