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cosmolinguistSome people who seem confused about when and how to use "I" and "me" think they've cleverly gotten around this by replacing both words with "myself." Thus sentences like Bob and myself went to that show or Jane went to the show with myself and Bob. The first sentence would otherwise have "I" in it, because that's what you use for the subjects of sentences, and the second would have "me" because that's used when you're the object of your sentence.
While this may not be technically wrong, I think it's an overused affectation that makes people who use it sound like they're either confused, pretentious, or both, and neither of which really appeals to me. It's not as if I can't be friends with someone who says "myself" a lot, it's not even something that bothers me very much (there are far worse grammatical atrocities commited every day!). It's just there.
The other problem with "myself" is that it lets people think it sounds okay to say "myself and Bob," when convention dictates that if your list of people includes yourself, the pronoun referring to you is last.
While this may not be technically wrong, I think it's an overused affectation that makes people who use it sound like they're either confused, pretentious, or both, and neither of which really appeals to me. It's not as if I can't be friends with someone who says "myself" a lot, it's not even something that bothers me very much (there are far worse grammatical atrocities commited every day!). It's just there.
The other problem with "myself" is that it lets people think it sounds okay to say "myself and Bob," when convention dictates that if your list of people includes yourself, the pronoun referring to you is last.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-26 04:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-26 06:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-27 11:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-26 09:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-26 04:03 pm (UTC)sorry, couln't resist.
I think it's just part of my scholastic upbringing, but things like it's/its, me/I, their/they're/there, etc. were drilled into us repeatedly and they seem like such basic parts of grammar that I'm astounded people don't understand them more...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-26 04:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-26 09:47 pm (UTC)The monster-in-law used to have the following on her answering machine, "Hello. Ed or I can't get to the phone right now..." It's all I can do to spend a day with this woman and her butchering of the language.
Because she has heard me talking to the TV whenever someone misuses 'I' and 'me,' she, too, has begun using 'myself' in an effort to sound less stupid.
It doesn't work.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-27 06:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-27 08:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-27 08:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-27 09:19 am (UTC)You don't say, "This is I on my wedding day," you say, "This is me on my wedding day," so it's incorrect.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-26 10:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-27 10:58 am (UTC):)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-29 12:55 pm (UTC)"Gahd I'm I'm hot" Big Mama might say.
"Mahself."
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-30 03:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-30 09:16 am (UTC)