What's worse than using "myself" wrong 1

[tsdragon]

As you may know, one of my pet peeves is people using "myself" instead of "me". Last night on Jeopardy I heard something worse. Speaking to Alex Trebek about a contest he emceed, a Jeopardy contestant said: "It was emceed by yourself." I literally cringed, before I yelled at the idiot on the TV. I halfway expect this nowadays from ignorant people trying to sound educated, but this guy was a previous 5-time winner of Jeopardy and was in the "Challenge of the Champions"!!!


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[Zathras]

Well, speaking(*) for myself, I cringe most often when I hear someone utter "you know." (If I already know, why fill the air with unnecessary sound?)

(*) actually, writing (or more accurately, typing)

 

[SantaMufasa]

Tracy,

There are two even more prolific abuses:

1) the constant misuse of the pronoun "I" in conjunction with either another pronoun or proper noun:

He invited Nancy and I to dinner.

He attended the conference with she and I.

The easy test here is, of course, to drop the conjunctive noun and then test: "He invited I to dinner?", "He attended the conference with I?", "He attended the conference with she?" What idiocy.


2) the universal misuse of objective pronouns with forms of the verb "to be", instead of correctly using nominative pronouns: In answer to the question, "Who is it?"...

"It's me."

"Who was first in line?"...

It was us.

"Who broke the window."

It was them.


It couldn't have been him...He was with Sam and I.

Ouch !!! It makes me ill to even type this rubbish.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

http://www.dasages.com

Do you use Oracle and live or work in Utah, USA?
Then click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips.

 

[UniqueFD]

Dave,

I have to agree with your first example and admit that, until recently, I was one of those idiots!!! I was mistakenly taught that any time you talk about another person and yourself you should use the pronoun "I". It was my wife, teaching our 10-year-old son, who showed me the test you describe (a humbling experience). It is said that the ex-smoker is hyper-sensitive to smoke - I am becoming hyper-sensitive to this example of pronoun abuse!


Tony
___________________________________________________
Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing (Solomon)

 

[tsdragon]

I can still remember my mother teaching me that same I/me rule when I was little. It's stood me in good stead for many years. But, while that error may be (debatably) more egregious than improper use of "myself" I don't hear (or at least notice) it as often these days. Of late instead of improperly saying, "He invited Nancy and I to dinner," people are saying, "He invited Nancy and myself to dinner." They've just replaced one improper usage with another which I find even more annoying, probably because I believe they are doing it to try to sound more "edumacated".

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[BJCooperIT]

I know a man who refers to himself as "me". As in:

Me went to the store.

I am told he has spoken that way his entire life. Makes me want to run and hide.

^{Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~George Bernard Shaw}
Sr. App. Developer Analyst/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle/Windows
Author and Sole Proprietor of: Emu Products Plus

 

[SkipVought]

"Mmmmmmmm, Kemosabe"

Skip,

_{[red]Be advised:[/red]When Viscounts were guillotined just as they were disclosing where their jewels were hidden, it shows to go that you should...
Never hatchet your Counts before they chicken!}

 

[SilentAiche]

Speaking to Alex Trebek about a contest he emceed, a Jeopardy contestant said: "It was emceed by yourself."

Clearly the contestant meant "It was emceed by your own self."

Tim

[blue]_____________________________________________________
If you need immediate assistance, please raise your hand.
If you are outside of Raleigh, raise your hand and say[/blue] [red]Ooh! Ooh![/red]

 

[Zathras]

As opposed to "your other self"?

 

[Stella740pl]

SantaMufasa,

I am not an idiot, I am the not-enough-trained, English-as-second-language speaker. I didn't get from your No.2 what's the correct response is supposed to be, and I am interested very much in learning. When someone calls on the phone and asks "May I speak to Stella?", I would answer "It's me", or "That's me". Am I wrong? I also heard other people say "That would be me", "It's she", "It's her" (speaking about herself, not another person), "It's I". So where is the truth?

Stella

 

[UniqueFD]

Stella740pl,
found this excellent article, trying to find my way around this one:

http://www.grammargoddess.com/pronouns.htm

hope you find it helpful.

Tony
___________________________________________________
Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing (Solomon)

 

[SilentAiche]

Stella,

I think the most common responses would be "This is she" or "This is Stella." However, there is nothing wrong with two of your suggestions, "That's me" and "That would be me."

If the caller is a telemarketer, I'd go with "This is Jane. Stella moved."

Tim

[blue]_____________________________________________________
If you need immediate assistance, please raise your hand.
If you are outside of Raleigh, raise your hand and say[/blue] [red]Ooh! Ooh![/red]

 

[Sheco]

One word: irregardless

 

[SantaMufasa]

...there is nothing wrong with two of your suggestions, "That's me" and "That would be me."

Although common usage has made these usages "sound" okay, they are incorrect. When using any form of the verb "to be", nominative pronouns are the only correct usages. Therefore, "That's I" and "That would be I" are the only truly correct responses...they just sound bogus because the overwhelming majority of English speakers formulate their "to be" constructions incorrectly.


Stella, in direct response to your question, here are the correct constructions:
"Who is it?"...

It's I.

"Who were first in line?"...

They were we. (Or simply, "We were.")

"Who broke the window."

It was they.

It couldn't have been he...He was with Sam and me.

I hope this helps.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

http://www.dasages.com

Do you use Oracle and live or work in Utah, USA?
Then click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips.

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> They were we.

Regardless of whether you agree with the use of the nominative or objective case, I think this would be wrong because of the change from third person to first person.

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[SilentAiche]

"That's I" and "That would be I" are the only truly correct responses...

I did not know the rule you stated- thanks for the lesson!

However, I intend to break it at every opportunity- the quoted phrases scratch my eardrums like Brillo pads.

Tim

[blue]_____________________________________________________
If you need immediate assistance, please raise your hand.
If you are outside of Raleigh, raise your hand and say[/blue] [red]Ooh! Ooh![/red]

 

[AnotherHiggins]

It couldn't have been he...He was with Sam and me.

Shouldn't that be him? Me brain is hurting I.

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue]
[/tt][red]"If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit."[/red]
-Mitch Hedberg

Help us help you. Please read FAQ181-2886 before posting.

 

[sleipnir214]

anotherhiggens:

In the sentence, "It couldn't have been he", the third-person masculine pronoun is a predicate nominative, not a direct object or indirect object. As such, "he" is grammatically correct.

Common usage, however, is something else entirely.


Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[Sheco]

Since this forum is titled Making an Impression I'd like to ask if it is possible to make a negative impression by using proper grammar? And should you care?

It certainly can be the case with pronunciations. In the Texas courts, for example, there is a proper way to mispronounce almost every Latin or French phrase. Any pronunciation except the accepted mispronunciation is a faux pas.

 

[CajunCenturion]

That would make for a great discussion Sheco. May I suggest that you start a thread for that.

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein