25
Sep
I’m not a grammar snob. I’m really not. We all slip up now and then. Hey, I admit to having to grab my copy of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style from time to time. But I am on the verge of losing my mind when it comes to the recent upsurge in the misuse of reflexive pronouns! When did Americans suddenly decide it was perfectly acceptable to use myself instead of I or me?
I know this technically isn’t a new phenomenon, but lately I’m hearing it everywhere–at my office, in the grocery story (courtesy of loud-talking, self-important cell phone addicts), on TV shows…I even heard it happen on a news program the other day during an interview with a public official.
I completely understand why it’s happening–the grammar police have scared the masses into self-conscious hyper-correcting. I get it. But I’d so much rather hear, “The headless ghost scared the hell out of Joe and I” than “The headless ghost scared the hell out of Joe and myself.” At least the confusion between subject and object makes sense to me. This whole reflexive pronoun thing? Not so much.
Nails on the chalkboard, people. Nails on the chalkboard.
