Please Take This Advice From Myself

Okay, let the Grammar Police commence the citations.

I work in a professional setting. You would think that in a professional setting people would be savvy enough to send out a grammatically correct email or memo. If you'd think that, you'd be wrong.

I see the misuse of many words and phrases, but the one that really gets under my skin is the misuse of the word myself. I see sentences being punished by the misuse of this word daily. I usually make fun of the perpetrator as if they were an uneducated dolt and then move on. However, last week someone very high up in our corporation sent a memo that contained a glaring mistake to all employees. Well, it was a glaring mistake to me. It went something like this (as part of the salutation):

"If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact Ms. Persons Name or myself."

Oh, how rich! Oddly enough, no one else (to my knowledge) noticed it. That's because the majority of people think this is proper grammar!

I didn't know the exact name of the offense that had been committed, but common sense - and having the rudimentary knowledge required to break down a sentence - told me that this is not right! So, I was on a mission to put a name to the horrible ignorance that accosted me daily.

After a google search that took me all of, oh, 1 minute, I found this intriguing article: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/myself-grammar.aspx

An enlightening explanation offered up by the Grammar Girl site is this:

"Digging into the topic a little deeper, myself is what's called a reflexive pronoun. That can be hard to remember, but just think about looking into a mirror and seeing your reflection. You'd say, “I see myself in the mirror.” You see your reflection, and myself is a reflexive pronoun.

Other reflexive pronouns include himself, herself, yourself, itself, and themselves. A reflexive pronoun is always the object of a sentence; it can never be the subject. Grammar Girl has talked about it before, but a subject is the one doing something in a sentence, and the object is the one having something done to it. If I step on Squiggly, I am the subject and Squiggly is the object."

So, now I had the answer. Quit misusing the REFLEXIVE PRONOUN!! When I run across this mistake in the future, and I will, I can incorporate the words 'reflexive pronoun' into my annoyed rant.

I also believe I know why so many people are want to misuse this poor little word. Of course, the answer to this one can't be found by googling. Mere speculation on my part. For some reason, people are afraid of the word 'me'. Like, they think it sounds stupid or improper to use 'me' in a sentence. Well, get it through your craniums, people, me is a WORD and it is one because sometimes it's correct to use it. Let's all say it together: "Me. Me me me. ME!" There, feel better? It sounds just fine to say it. Get used to it friends.

I feel better now. Hope you all enjoyed my mini-rant and please take it with a grain of salt. My overall mood is one of cajoling.

If you have a similar story to share and aren't offended at all, please feel free to contact me. Any one else better contact myself.