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myself yourself

(15 Posts)
PECS Thu 27-Aug-20 09:46:50

Sorry if this has been discussed previously. I have been aware of an increase in the use of ' myself' & ' yourself' in place of me/I or you. e.g. It was lovely seeing yourself & Bill or Myself & Sarah .....

Is it just me who finds this hugely irritating?hmm

geekesse Thu 27-Aug-20 09:55:15

You are not alone. I think it’s another instance of the dumb idea that longer words sound cleverer than shorter ones.

MaizieD Thu 27-Aug-20 11:20:52

Nope, I'm with you, too.

Or, should that be: 'I, myself, am with you, too' grin

geekesse Thu 27-Aug-20 11:27:45

MaizieD, I think it should probably be ‘I myself am with yourself’. But even that is too simple a construction. How about ‘Myself, I am in a supportive position with reference to yourself’? grin

sodapop Thu 27-Aug-20 12:52:19

gringrin Geekesse

I find it irritating as well, usually people trying to sound impotent important.

Teetime Thu 27-Aug-20 13:24:39

Yes I see. Oneself would be worse I suppose or as Hyacinth Bucket once said ' I myself do personally think'.

cannotbelieveiamaskingthis208 Thu 27-Aug-20 13:29:04

It makes me INSANE! At what point was it decided that we could just stick the word "myself in a sentence wherever we wanted to. It is infuriating.

Thank you for helping me know I am not the only one! smile

sodapop Thu 27-Aug-20 16:31:49

I loved Hyacinth Bucket Teetime and her poor long suffering husband. smile

Calendargirl Thu 27-Aug-20 18:37:01

Agree. You hear politicians, celebrities, the Royal Family, talking about ‘myself’. Sounds awful and just wrong.

grandMattie Thu 27-Aug-20 18:47:41

Surely the Royal family talks about “oneself “.

grandtanteJE65 Fri 28-Aug-20 12:09:04

I, myself, don't object to the empathic pronoun in its rightful place, but yes, overuse is annoying.

It does seem to be a case of the longer the sentence the more impressive it becomes.

Many moons ago, my English teacher objected to what she called "a phrase beloved of politicians" by which she meant, "at this moment in time".

I can still hear her saying, "What you mean, girls, is now."

travelsafar Fri 28-Aug-20 12:12:59

I have a really good friend who is Irish. I love the way she refers to her other half as 'himself' Always brings a smie to my face. Apparently many Irish people use that expession when talking about another man.

PECS Fri 28-Aug-20 19:30:57

I think dialect use is different. I have seen it in school letters! shock as in "you can speak to myself or to Miss X"

GrannyLaine Fri 28-Aug-20 20:19:31

Yep. This was my teatime rant. angry

grannyticktock Fri 28-Aug-20 21:07:30

I think sometimes the speaker feels (wrongly) that the obvious pronouns such as "me" and "you" are a bit too direct or perhaps even childish - it’s interesting that this rarely happens with the third-person ones such as "him" . It's a bit like saying "Your Highness" "Your Lordship", etc, which avoids the over-personal "you". Using them as emphatic pronouns (e.g. "I haven't seen him myself") is correct, but using these forms as stand-alone substitutes for regular pronouns ("Please hand the forms back to myself or my colleague") just sounds silly. If you can say "me" instead, then do so.