Me, myself and I [was Re: Python slang]

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sun, 7 Aug 2016 07:33 am, Michael Torrie wrote:

> On 08/05/2016 07:14 PM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>> In English, we refer to ourselves in the first person as I, me, myself,
>> and sometimes "self", never as "this". One can say "this one has a hat",
>> for example, but it sounds weird, like something the Borg would say about
>> a specific Borg unit.
> 
> Sadly it has become an epidemic of late for folks to misuse the word,
> "myself."  I think it comes from people not wanting to sound
> presumptuous when referring to themselves.

I myself must admit that myself hasn't come across that often.

*wink*


> It drives me crazy to hear 
> so many people say something like, "this research was done by myself and
> my colleague Bob." No, this research was done by my colleague Bob and I.

Heh, Muphry's Law strikes again!

http://grammar.about.com/od/il/g/MuphrysLaw.htm


"This research was done by my colleague Bob and I" is a case of
hyper-correction. It's a very common mistake, but a mistake it is. The test
for whether it is correct or not is to get rid of your colleague Bob:

"This research was done by I" 

is clearly wrong, as you recognise in your next statement:

>  Or this research was just only by me.

Which is correct. Or at least it would be, if you inserted the missing
verb :-)

The technical reason is that "I" is the first-person singular subject case,
and "me" the first-person singular object case. When the subject of the
sentence or clause is the first-person singular, you use "I":

"I did the research."
"I cannot tell a lie, I chopped down the cherry tree."


When the object of the sentence is the first-person singular, you say "me":

"George is a big bully, he punched me."

Passive sentences reverse subject and object:

"I did the research" becomes "The research was done by me".

"George punched me" because "I was punched by George".


But you don't exchange subject and object just because there are two people
involved!

Still unsure which to use? Blame somebody else:

"The research was done by George and I/me" => 
"The research was done by George and she/her".

Clearly it must be *her*, the objective case, therefore the right answer
is "me" not "I".


> However I have no problem with Python programmers using self in their
> code!

"Myself" is an alternative objective case for first-person singular,
typically used for emphasis:

"I did it myself."
"I did the research, myself."

It is also used as the object of a reflexive verb (verbs where the object is
the same as the subject):

"I will defend myself."
"I accidentally kicked myself in the head."


But using it in place of "me"? I don't think so.

"The research was done by myself."
"He punched myself in the head."

I wouldn't say it is *wrong*, just inelegant and rather pretentious.




-- 
Steve
“Cheer up,” they said, “things could be worse.” So I cheered up, and sure
enough, things got worse.