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1. orangespyderman - Member 

   Is it just where I work (I don't live in the UK, so don't have much other contact with the latest and greatest abuse of the English language)?

   When on earth did it become a thing to (over)use the reflexive pronoun. A couple of examples just from one day:

   - Can you send it to myself and David? (WTAF - David and myself would be at least the correct order)
   - If any of you could let myself know...

   This annoys the heck out of me. I think it's considered by those who do it as a more formal version of the correct English, but it makes my blood boil whenever I hear it (it's up there with "would of" - the people clearly don't understand that what they're saying makes no sense).

   Gah!

   Posted 9 hours ago #
2. Poopscoop - Member 

   Just off to Google.....

   Posted 9 hours ago #
3. seosamh77 - Member 

   kinda maniac knows what a reflexive pronoun is?

   Posted 9 hours ago #
4. Rob Hilton - Member 

   This bugs me too. Also: "I have ran it"

   Posted 9 hours ago #
5. Poopscoop - Member 

   Nope.

   None the wiser.

   Posted 9 hours ago #
6. JoeG - Member 

   2/10. Too many correct sentences with too much proper punctuation and capitalization...

   Posted 9 hours ago #
7. jamesgarbett - Member 

   Nope - it happens where I work to - people seem to think they sound more business-like/well-educated - far from it!

   Posted 9 hours ago #
8. wordnumb - Member 

   Might just as well go ahead and start referring to yerself in the 3rd person.

   Posted 9 hours ago #
9. eulach - Member 

   It's not "would of" it's "would uv", which is a perfectly acceptable truncation of have.

   Posted 8 hours ago #
10. RAGGATIP - Member 

    Look, everyone needs to use correct grammar in a thread like this.
    urhmmm...
    

    where I work to

    Posted 8 hours ago #
11. orangespyderman - Member 

    It's not "would of" it's "would uv"

    Alas, no. I've seen it written. "They" really believe that it's "would of", quite possibly because they've heard it elided into "woulduv" when spoken and assumed it's short for "would of".

    EDIT : Oh and it's not a truncation, it's an elision. Having just written that, I'm perhaps a little bit too uptight about all of this after all

    Posted 8 hours ago #
12. wiggles - Member 

    reflexive pronoun

    truncation

    anyone have a dictionary?

    Posted 8 hours ago #
13. smell_it - Member 

    I just want to punch Dave.

    Posted 8 hours ago #
14. maccruiskeen - Member 

    Nope.

    None the wiser.

    I was thinking about this the other day. You can speak a language without having any idea how it works - even implement elements of language that are very nuanced like 'Order Force' - everyone can do it without having to understand the mechanics of it or even know that there [i]are[i] any mechanics to it at all- and yet the mechanics of it are so complex and convoluted that you can also make a lifetimes study of them.

    Posted 2 hours ago #
15. slackalice - Member 

    You can speak a language without having any idea how it works

    As a product of English language education during the 1970's, this was very much the way. We were taught very little grammar. Which I found very confusing when the foreign languages department chose to start our French and German education with nothing but grammar.

    The 'would of' is disturbingly common, I only correct Slack jr now as otherwise I'd bore myself. Although it could be written as 'would've' perhaps...?

    Posted 2 hours ago #

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16. timba - Member 

    I find the use of "off of" annoying myself (as is the unnecessary use of reflexive pronouns)

    Posted 2 hours ago #
17. Mister P - Member 

    I can't stand off of either. It's so clunky, it doesn't sound right at all.

    Posted 2 hours ago #
18. munrobiker - Member 

    My wife is a linguist, and generally prescriptivist stances on language change like this are annoying and ignorant.

    Except in this case. The incorrect use of myself really, really boils my piss. It's usually used by thick people trying to sound more intelligent than they are, with the effect that it actually makes them sound stupider.

    Posted 1 hour ago #
19. howsyourdad1 - Member 

    disappointing thread. a language changes or dies. A real damp squid squib

    Posted 1 hour ago #
20. funkmasterp - Member 

    I would of joined this thread earlier but myself had to get some sleep. I’m off of the bed now though.

    Posted 1 hour ago #
21. boblo - Member 

    Oh dear...

    "punctuation and capitalization..."

    "it happens where I work to..."

    Cue the 'language is constantly evolving and common standards dunt matter/dense lazy barstewards" brigade

    Posted 55 minutes ago #
22. vickypea - Member 

    “If you have any questions, please contact ourselves”

    “Myself and Andy put together these slides”

    

    Posted 53 minutes ago #
23. BillMC - Member 

    Dave and me

    Posted 35 minutes ago #
24. hodgynd - Member 

    It all started going wrong in pre-/ infant school when teachers allowed children to sound out words and write down what they thought was the correct spelling ..deeming this to be acceptable !
    I was horrified to see this going on in a class visit when my son was 4/ 5 years old (10 years ago)..its just wrong !
    Admittedly I'm a bit of a dinosaur..but learning to spell by repetition is surely the only way ..like wot I wos teached when I was a lad.

    Posted 33 minutes ago #
25. Drac - Moderator 

    My kids were never taught that way, I was.

    Posted 29 minutes ago #
26. atlaz - Member 

    Nope - it happens where I work to - people seem to think they sound more business-like/well-educated - far from it!

    

    

    Posted 22 minutes ago #
27. molgrips - Member 

    It all started going wrong in pre-/ infant school when teachers allowed children to sound out words and write down what they thought was the correct spelling ..deeming this to be acceptable !

    I think this was a fad a while ago and was not universal even then.

    I constantly have to correct my kids when they say things like 'Iook what I done'. FFS. My own flesh and blood!

    My wife on the other hand thinks 'off of' is an acceptable alternative. She is highly educated, but American. She thinks eating with your fork in your right hand is ok too.

    Posted 19 minutes ago #
28. gonefishin - Member 

    it's up there with "would of" - the people clearly don't understand that what they're saying makes no sense

    In the written form yes, although when spoken "would of" and "would've" don't actually sound that different.

    Posted 15 minutes ago #
29. atlaz - Member 

    A bugbear of mine is "I did this at 3am in the morning"

    

    Posted 13 minutes ago #

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