Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Pet Peeve #5 : "Myself"

"Please don't hesitate to contact Louise or myself* if you have any questions or concerns."

"If you'd like to help, you should come and speak to myself*."

AAAHHHHH! I hate this! Why do people use the word "myself" when they mean "me" or "I". Do they think "me" and "I" are too common for formal use? They are beautiful words! "Myself" is an awkward mouthful when used inappropriately. For the sake of our wonderful language please think about this and repent if you need to.

* Just in case you don't know... Example one should be "Louise or I" and example 2 should be "speak to me."

6 Comments:

At 9:07 am, Blogger Cath said...

I could be wrong but I actually think example one should be "Louise or me". The way it works is that it should make sense without the 'Louise' in the sentance, ie - "Please don't hesitate to contact me" turns into "Please don't hesitate to contact Louise or me". If you wanted to use 'I' you would have to say "Louise or I can be contacted, if you have any concerns". Grammar lesson over! (If my primary school teachers could see me now!!)

 
At 3:30 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm with you Cath.

 
At 10:08 pm, Blogger Simone R. said...

I stand very, very corrected!

Cath, I think you get to do the next grammatical pet peeve.

 
At 2:04 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The use of 'yourself' in prayers ie "Draw us closer to yourself" has driven me nuts for years and years...

 
At 4:59 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I really hate when people say this. I hear it all the time. "Myself" is a reflexive pronoun, and is incorrectly used without a matching pronoun in the subject. Apostrophes used for plurals drives me crazy too. For instance: "Half-price appetizer's during happy hour"

 
At 5:00 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Comma fault above. My mistake.

 

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