Mumsnet Logo
My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Pedants' corner

Yourself/myself etc - question

5 replies

tobee · 09/03/2023 03:09

Do you think this will evolve to be acceptable for English language in time?

It's so widespread and is used more and more. And language does evolve.

Drives me mad. I think sometimes people use it because they are insecure with language and think it sounds more "proper"

Any thoughts?

OP posts:
Report

AgentProvocateur · 09/03/2023 03:39

God, I hope not. It really irritates me because it’s usually done by pompous colleagues that think it makes them sound more important/formal, when really it just makes them sound a bit thick. I used to sit beside someone that would say, “Just give myself a call”!

interestingly, I now work overseas where English is most people’s second or third language, and no one gets is wrong.

Report

JenniferBarkley · 09/03/2023 09:48

Yes I imagine it will.

It's the hated usage du jour on here - for a while it was should of, then lesser/fewer. Myself instead of me is having its moment in the sun.

Report

tobee · 09/03/2023 15:11

AgentProvocateur · 09/03/2023 03:39

God, I hope not. It really irritates me because it’s usually done by pompous colleagues that think it makes them sound more important/formal, when really it just makes them sound a bit thick. I used to sit beside someone that would say, “Just give myself a call”!

interestingly, I now work overseas where English is most people’s second or third language, and no one gets is wrong.

Yes I did a course in tefl and the non native students' standards of grammar put the native English speakers to shame.

OP posts:
Report

Arapawa · 09/03/2023 15:32

No, it's awful. I silently correct it all the time. I think it's some people thinking they are talking "properly"

Report

ScentOfAMemory · 09/03/2023 15:35

I don't think it will pass into being accepted usage because there is no sound grammatical reason for it to do so. Likewise, "should of"

We'll lose the first D in Wednesday and the first R in February though!

Report
Similar threads
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Sign up to continue reading

Mumsnet's better when you're logged in. You can customise your experience and access way more features like messaging, watch and hide threads, voting and much more.

Already signed up?