Myself

[blueskypink]

What is the obsession with 'myself'? Just heard someone on the news say, "it came as a big shock to myself". Why not say, "it came as a big shock to me"?

My husband does this and it drives me fucking bonkers. It's a real sign of ignorance.

People that say it think it's a correct/polite/formal way to refer to yourself. But it's not obvs.

I think uneducated types think it makes them(selves ) look clever.

It just exposes them as twits.

Me too. I hate it.

Many people don't understand when to use 'I' and 'me', so 'myself' has crept in and gets copied by all and sundry.

The number of times I've seen 'please speak to myself' / 'speak to Flossie and I' on staffroom notice boards and emails does not bode well for future usage.

It's an example of 'estuary posh'

I'm not exactly the fount of all grammar knowledge so probably shouldn't complain but I find it unbearable!

Drives me nuts! Along with 'I' in place of me. It's easy enough to work out. I am going, so X and I are going. Give it to me, give to X and me.

I’ve heard it called ‘estate agent speak’

I truly hate it. My brother (a TEACHER!) does it and I usually ask if he just means you and me. Which he does.

It gives me the rage... but quite a lot does.

Repeated announcement from the guard on the train this morning - "... if you see any suspicious packages please tell myself or a member of the crew"

Myself is a reflexive pronoun

Gives me the rage too. Everyone uses it at my workplace (communications, so that doesn't bode well!)

They do it with yourself as well. Saw this once at work, to a client: "myself and X will meet yourself and Y..."

Yep. Drives me nuts. Renewing car insurance etc over the phone, the guy got so tied up because he couldn't say 'me' or 'you'. "If yourself could have a look at the terms and conditions and let myself know..." etc etc. I made sure to emphasise the me, you, back to him.

These people must think it sounds rude/is a bit too direct to say 'you'. In French & Spanish they have the polite form and the familiar form of 'you', but we don't. I have no doubt that English once had them too (thee/thou?). But no longer. So get over it! Just call people by their name and not 'mate' or whatever and you're not being over-familiar!

Having said all that, there seem to be parts of Scotland and Ireland where it's normal to say yourself instead of you in a sort of third-person way: "How is yourself today?" Which is acceptable. It's as a pp said, the estate agent speak that gives me the rage.

I was sent this in an email from one of my staff last week.

“Please could you inform myself have you either received an email or letter in regards to myself.”

It made me feel queasy.

I wish I'd found this thread sooner. I used to work with a young (well, a lot younger than me) woman who used to sign off emails with "In the event you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to revert back to myself".

It's no wonder my hair turned white.

.

They do it loads on The Apprentice. I just want to shake them.

Estate agent speak

Oh my word, thank you. Almost everyone I work with does this and I am about to bite through my tongue with the effort of suppressing my rage. It makes a person sound so thick.

Couldn’t agree more. So naff.

Ugh. It's horrible.

It’s used by (annoying) people who think it makes them sound intelligent.

It's incredibly annoying and very irritating.
I also hate the use of yourself, as in would yourself be interested in changing electricity supplier?
Would yourself have a contact number?

Oh I had a manager who did this. She was first in family to go to university and golly she thought she was posh. "Was you going to do x" was one of her classics.