Yes, friends and neighbors, today we launch a new feature. Every Monday let’s have a brief chat about something that is – or certainly should be – enthusiastically hated. The prediction is that we’ll be talking about things both serious and trivial, everything from cancer (seriously, who does not hate cancer?) to the petty annoyances of life in 2012. Let’s be clear: this isn’t “I Hate Mondays.” No. We don’t hate Mondays. They’re ok. We just picked Mondays at random. Got a suggestion? Do tell, do tell. Please. Spread the hate. Even if you don’t submit a suggestion, please stop by every Monday and enjoy the hate.
giving hate-worthy things the fist since September of 2012
The inaugural topic for I Hate Monday was quite a difficult choice. There is so much to hate, after all. Heart attacks. The process of naming Georgia Regents University. Tailgaters (in traffic, not at football games). Haters.
Let’s go with this to get the ball rolling: I HATE MYSELF.
Meaning what, exactly? Self-loathing? Heck no. We’re going with the very very common misuse of the word “myself” in speech and in writing, as in, “The President met with the delegation and myself to address this issue;” “Barbara and myself have been to Cleveland twice;” or “It’s an issue of concern to the whole company and to myself personally.”
It’s almost as though people think it’s egotistical or self-centered to utter the words me or I. It is not. It is, however, grammatically incorrect to utter or write the sentences above. A simple test: take out the other party in the sentence and see how it sounds. Would you say, “The President met with myself” or “Myself has been to Cleveland”? You might. But you shouldn’t. Correctly you would say, “I have been [and therefore ‘Barbara and I have been’] to Cleveland twice. “It’s a concern to the whole company and to me personally.” Et cetera.
For the record, any of the SELF words (myself, herself, himself, itself, themselves, etc.) have a total of only two proper uses, period:
1. To emphasize: I made the cake myself. Life itself is a riddle. (The emphasizing “self” can be deleted and the sentence will still make sense.)
2. To refer back to the subject: And he calls himself a doctor! The problem solved itself. I consider myself an idiot.