Timeline for Reflexive pronouns to affect false intellectual tone
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
23 events
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| Apr 13, 2017 at 12:38 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Oct 19, 2016 at 2:31 | history | reopened | tchrist♦ | ||
| Jul 8, 2016 at 10:22 | history | closed |
Edwin Ashworth FumbleFingers NVZ♦ user140086 Mari-Lou A |
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| Jul 8, 2016 at 2:05 | comment | added | Pierce Darragh | @FumbleFingers ah, I dunno about pretentious... I don't associate it with the metaphorical snooty yacht-going crowd, for example. It seems to me to happen more frequently when people are trying to sound more professional. Like in a corporate letter or something. But! You raise a valid point. Thanks for all the comments! :) | |
| Jul 8, 2016 at 1:33 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Pierce: It's apparent from your comment to a woefully inadequate answer posted a few hours ago that you find some reflexive constructions pretentious (rather than simply emphatic). As with foods, I can't tell you what you do or don't like (that's just matter of how you yourself react! :) But whether or not your question gets closed, I think you have a perfectly reasonable answer from @David here. It's much better than the one you commented on earlier. | |
| Jul 8, 2016 at 0:25 | comment | added | Pierce Darragh | @FumbleFingers while the answers may have ended up more or less the same, the intent of the question is different. Seems to me that while my question is predicated on a false premise, it's not really a "duplicate" of the other question linked. | |
| Jul 8, 2016 at 0:23 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Pierce: I don't actually understand why you disagree that this is a dulicate of @Edwin's link, but to a certain extent I can see merit in the argument that if you don't think it is, we're probably not helping you if we closevote by citing that (it's a bit like forcing you to eat something you don't like, just because we like it! :) | |
| Jul 8, 2016 at 0:07 | comment | added | Pierce Darragh | @FumbleFingers yeah, that's fair. Thanks for the comment! | |
| Jul 7, 2016 at 23:53 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's based on a false premise (that the cited usage "isn't correct in standard English"). | |
| Jul 7, 2016 at 23:19 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jul 8, 2016 at 10:22 | |||||
| Jul 7, 2016 at 23:19 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | Your question is predicated on an error; the linked question exposes this error. | |
| Jul 7, 2016 at 23:11 | comment | added | Pierce Darragh | @EdwinAshworth I think not, as I was originally asking about its use in a specific setting. I think that other question would be a good supplemental reference, but I was not originally asking about the correctness of that use. | |
| Jul 7, 2016 at 23:03 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | Possible duplicate of Is it correct to say “I myself”? | |
| Jul 7, 2016 at 22:25 | history | edited | Pierce Darragh | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jul 7, 2016 at 22:23 | vote | accept | Pierce Darragh | ||
| Jul 7, 2016 at 21:30 | comment | added | MetaEd | I myself use this construction for emphasis (not to create the illusion that I'm smart). | |
| Jul 7, 2016 at 21:24 | comment | added | Justin | @Pierce Darragh - Feel free to edit you question to look for answers that address examples like the one I gave in my comment. | |
| Jul 7, 2016 at 21:20 | answer | added | David K | timeline score: 7 | |
| Jul 7, 2016 at 21:11 | comment | added | user99677 | wouldn't it just be being used to add emphasis to e.g. contrast. as with themselves "used to emphasize a particular group of people or things mentioned" | |
| Jul 7, 2016 at 21:10 | comment | added | ColleenV | Interesting - I haven't come across this as a way to sound more intellectual as much as I've seen the imaginary-friends-who-agree-with-me 'We' that some folks use to try to give their opinions more credibility. I don't think it would flag as 'incorrect' to me, but I myself have used it on occasions where I want to emphasize that it was I in fact that did it, so I may be biased ;) | |
| Jul 7, 2016 at 21:05 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | There's nothing incorrect about this emphatic use; it's been around for at least 1100 years, and in fact seems to antedate the reflexive use by three hundred years or so. You may be thinking of object uses, like that instanced by Justin, which are different matter. | |
| Jul 7, 2016 at 20:57 | comment | added | Justin | I work in corporate retail, and there are a lot of people who end emails with "if you have any further questions, please call [or email] myself." Drives me nuts! | |
| Jul 7, 2016 at 20:46 | history | asked | Pierce Darragh | CC BY-SA 3.0 |