Aaarrrgg! I just saw it again, and this time in an invitation written by a copywriter!
She said “Please join myself and (name) for a free seminar…”
No, no, no! “Myself”is not a subject word and it’s not an object word. Myself is a reflexive pronoun, which means you ONLY use it when you’re referring back to yourself as the subject of a sentence.
For instance:
- I cooked dinner for myself.
- Speaking for myself,…
- I enjoy spending time by myself.
- I entertained myself with a good book.
- I taught myself how to play the piano.
It is always incorrect to use “myself” as a subject or object, and yet… people do this ALL the time when they add another person to the mix. For instance:
- Please join Joe and myself.
- Please call Sally or myself.
- Harry and myself will be looking forward to hearing from you.
You can see how ridiculous it sounds when you take that other person away…
- Please join myself.
- Please call myself.
- Myself will be looking forward to hearing from you.
Did you catch the other glaring error in that copywriter’s message?
It rates right up there with the one I used to hear in high school: “Me and Sally are going to the movies.”
She put herself ahead of her partner. While proper grammar says pronouns come ahead of nouns in a list, when the pronoun is “I” or “me” the rules of etiquette trump the rules of grammar. You always say “Harry and I” if you’re the subject or “Harry and me” if you’re the object.
