20 thoughts on ““Myself””

1. I think it’s better than the alternative when referring to myself. But maybe that’s just me. 🙂

2. It’s a reflexive pronoun, used when the subject and object are the same – “He fed himself every morning” for example. That’s the only time it’s appropriate.

3. “Who did you expect to benefit from the investment of time?”

   “Myself”

   or

   “Lots of people like the movie Gravity – myself included”

4. “Myself” is the direct object of a verb used reflexively.

   I helped myself, I strengthened myself, I hurt myself, etc. “Me” doesn’t fit in any of those.

5. You’re absolutely correct that “He gave it to her and myself” is incorrect usage. However, it does have use as a reflexive pronoun — essentially when you’re both the subject and object of the sentence. “I’m going to treat myself.” “Sometimes I talk to myself.” “I gave myself the benefit of the doubt.”

6. I sat there covered in mustard and the mushy mess of hot dog buns that had been soaked in water clung to my chin and wondered what had become of myself? Surely there were more dignified ways to win $20.

   1. Is that a quote from somewhere? Because I think that “…what had become of me?” would be a better usage.

      1. You should punctuate it differently to make it work for yourself: …wondered, “What has become of me?”

      2. I was just trying to come up with an introspective example but I think using myself that way can be cliche.

   2. Yeah, that does have an air of a Bulwer-Lytton contest submission

7. Me is what you are. Self is what you have.

   Also, if you have a god complex you have to go with “I swear by myself” which sounds ‘oftly’ lonely.

8. He cleaned himself. She defenestrated herself. I fed myself.

   “I fed me” sounds silly. but if we were to switch, there are other “-selfs” to deself.

   If we’re fixing things, I have a list.

   Add “andor”. It means “and or or” in the Boolean logic sense. Simple, to the point, and people grok it without issue. Except the purists, and they act like we speak a dead language.

   Add xe or ze as the gender-indeterminate ‘he or she’. Short, unused, no close-overlap, and we need more easy high scoring Scrabble words anyway. No, not with a glottal-stop for the x, sheesh. The variants can all come along for the ride, including zeself. 😉

   Use strict quotations only. That is, change English-standard usage for quoting things to require inclusion of the terminating punctuation. The programmatic usage isn’t going away and standardizing on one is preferable – so standardize on strict inclusion.

   Resume the Germanic approach of winging it on compound words. Particularly on constructs with specific ‘jargonesque’ usage. That is, allow heatcapacity instead of heat capacity. (Mile long list of terms here.) Specifically because -non- jargon speakers are always editing out crucial words as if they’re mere details, when they’re actually the crucial bit. “No, we’re -not- talking about heat, we’re talking about “heat capacity”, something completely different!” It’s as if the introduction of the standard English dictionary outlaws properties of the language itself.

   1. “Add xe or ze as the gender-indeterminate ‘he or she’.”

      English has a perfectly servicable neuter pronoun! It happens to be spelled the same way the male pronoun is.

      If you insist on “he or she” or any variation, or silly made-up pronouns like xe, or even made-up words for made-up genders, then you’re a crybaby.

      1. Funny anecdote: in college, my wife had an English class where the professor was a semi-rabid feminist who insisted on counting pronouns to ensure matched genders. My wife got sick of it and refused. The professor took off two letter grades for that, turning an A into a C. Wife went to the dean and threatened to call the local tv stations and newspapers[1] and the teacher was overruled.

         [1] I don’t know what that would’ve done, but slimy people don’t like to be exposed to light.

9. I want to give myself a present.
   I did it by myself.

10. If you want to understand a word like this, it is always helpful to break it down into its components. In this case, we have “mys” and “elf.” Okay, an elf is a mythical creature who, among other things, helps Santa Claus make toys for children. “Mys” is, uh, not a word as far as I know, but I have to think it adds something. I mean, who would be opposed to Santa Claus other than a heartless right-winger?

    I hope that clarifies things.

    1. “Mys” is not a word…

       But think of it as coming from the Greek word for hate– “misos”, as used in such words like “misanthrope” and “misandry”.

       So “mys-elf” is a person who hates elves.

       1. It goes deeper… Santa himself is an elf… leading inexorably to…

          dunt, dunt, daaaahhhh…the antichrist?

          1. It should be noted that “Santa” is an anagram of “Satan.”

11. “Please allow myself to introduce……..myself”. – Austin Powers

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