Myself Yourself

**LesMTS** · 1st July 2008, 11:02pm

What's the deal with people using "myself" or "yourself", usually when trying to sound professional, when they really mean "me" or "you"?

"Can you e-mail it to myself, please?". Stupid.

Does this get on anyone else's last nerve or is it just me?

**Kenny Everett** · 1st July 2008, 11:04pm

Yep, this grates on me. especially when done on the telephone.

I've had to restrain myself from throttling people before for this.

Semprini · 1st July 2008, 11:07pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by LesMTS

Does this get on anyone else's last nerve or is it just me?

No, it's just yourself.

**LesMTS** · 1st July 2008, 11:07pm

It doesn't make any sense at all but it's difficult to explain why.
I was arguing earlier today with someone who said it was correct, but I couldn't articulate why it's wrong. You can't ask someone else to send an e-mail to yourself.
I was discussing this with a friend the other weekend too.

endless psych · 1st July 2008, 11:10pm

It always makes me think of psychobabble.

MarkMono · 1st July 2008, 11:26pm

I always assumed people did it to sound faux-pompous, rather than erudite.

Addy · 1st July 2008, 11:27pm

When I do it it's because "me" and "you" in certain contexts sound too informal. I often find myself wishing there was a better "you formal" in the English language for that reason.

endless psych · 1st July 2008, 11:28pm

I'm fairly sure its a feature of the dialect up here thinking on it. Well the yourself thing anyway.

**LesMTS** · 1st July 2008, 11:29pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Addy

When I do it it's because "me" and "you" in certain contexts sound too informal. I often find myself wishing there was a better "you formal" in the English language for that reason.

They don't sound informal to me. They just sound correct.

Joe Spinebuster · 1st July 2008, 11:33pm

I think I might do this? Like, if I called up a company twice in one day in work and the voice I heard the second time sounded the same as the voice I heard the first time, I'd say "was it yersel' I was talking to earlier on?". Or if I was telling someone I sent them something through e-mail, I might say "I e-mailed it to yerself earlier on". I'm 100% sure this is no attempt to sound professional, and I'm pretty sure any of my co-workers will gladly tell you at length how far from "professional" my manner in the workplace is.

I think I only use it in sentences with a past tense as well, for some reason.

I don't think I'd ever say "can you e-mail it to myself?", though. If someone was to phone and ask "Could I speak to Joe?" I'd probably say "aye, that's mysel'". To be honest I think it sounds really relaxed and informal.

endless psych · 1st July 2008, 11:35pm

The more I think about it the more I'm convinced its a colloquial thing rather then pretentions or pomposity.

**LesMTS** · 1st July 2008, 11:37pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Spinebuster

I think I might do this? Like, if I called up a company twice in one day in work and the voice I heard the second time sounded the same as the voice I heard the first time, I'd say "was it yersel' I was talking to earlier on?". Or if I was telling someone I sent them something through e-mail, I might say "I e-mailed it to yerself earlier on". I'm 100% sure this is no attempt to sound professional, and I'm pretty sure any of my co-workers will gladly tell you at length how far from "professional" my manner in the workplace is.

I think I only use it in sentences with a past tense as well, for some reason.

I don't think I'd ever say "can you e-mail it to myself", though. If someone was to phone and ask "Could I speak to Joe?" I'd probably say "aye, that's mysel'".

Aye, that kind of use can slide as a colloquialism. It gets used formally an awful lot, though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by endless psych

The more I think about it the more I'm convinced its a colloquial thing rather then pretentions or pomposity.

There's a similar colloquial thing, aye, see Joe's post above. What I'm talking about is used nationwide in formal correspondence. I don't think it's pretentious or pompous, I just think it's a misguided attempt to sound professional. Overcompensating, kind of.

Addy · 1st July 2008, 11:39pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by LesMTS

Aye, that kind of use can slide as a colloquialism. It gets used formally an awful lot, though.

There's a similar colloquial thing, aye, see Joe's post above. What I'm talking about is used nationwide in formal correspondence. I don't think it's pretentious or pompous, I just think it's a misguided attempt to sound professional. Overcompensating, kind of.

Joe's sense of it is exactly how I'd use it, because I feel like I'm sounding too informal to say "you" in such circumstances even if it is more grammatically correct to do so.

**LesMTS** · 1st July 2008, 11:40pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Addy

Joe's sense of it is exactly how I'd use it, because I feel like I'm sounding too informal to say "you" in such circumstances even if it is more grammatically correct to do so.

I don't think you and Joe are talking about the same thing.

endless psych · 1st July 2008, 11:41pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by LesMTS

There's a similar colloquial thing, aye, see Joe's post above. What I'm talking about is used nationwide in formal correspondence. I don't think it's pretentious or pompous, I just think it's a misguided attempt to sound professional. Overcompensating, kind of.

I'm not sure it is you know. Its maybe just that colloquailisms are creeping more into professional life but people aren't using them colloquially (if that makes sense).