accusative cursing

[Jonathan Lighter]

Of course I was aware of the controversy surrounding this usage even as I wrote it.  Could I care less?

  But seriously: the pedantic ones remind me of when I was laboring through Cicero and Vergil in the original tongue: I sort of understood, but the diabolus was in the details.  If they haven't simply committed to memory another of those easy to remember negative rules, the objectors have mastered syntax but not translation.

  "Myself," in the present context, is less assertive-sounding than the monosyllabic "me."  Describing myself as a "well-read chap" is enough conceit for one clause.

  Like objections to ending a sentence with a "preposition," the attempted ban upon "myself" is one which I will not put up with.

  JL



James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: James Harbeck
Subject: Re: accusative cursing
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Seems like yet another Latin-derived model being applied
inappropriately -- interpreting "self" as strictly a reflexive. A
more appropriate parallel would evidently be the Gaelic one; in
Irish, "fein", which is translated as "-self," is used as often as an
intensifier as as a reflexive. For instance, the political sibling of
the IRA is Sinn Fein, which is from the rallying cry "Sinn fein
amhain," where "sinn" = "we", "fein" = "-self", and "amhain" =
"alone." It's often translated as "We ourselves alone," but could as
easily be rendered as "No one but _us_!"

This has carried over into Irish dialects of English, too. Anyone who
has read the plays of John Millington Synge will remember that
someone who is important is often referred to as "herself" or
"himself" -- so "Herself will be coming soon," for instance. We don't
take it quite that far in NA English, but the model is clearly
appropriate. We do, after all, say "I myself think..." (something
that once earned me a reproach from a former journalist who was quite
sure whe was an expert on English usage -- her reproach was of course
met with rebuttal).

Often, of course, "myself" is used not so much for emphasis as for
something like verbal armour -- something a little less naked than
"me": "After signing the cheque, you can give it to myself" sounds
more businesslike than "...give it to me." And I think it's
reasonable to keep a leash on that habit to the extent possible,
because it's a sort of etiolation of a perfectly viable usage. But
the common deploration of non-reflexive "-self" is clearly just
another one of those shibboleths dear to those who would turn English
usage into a little status-bricking gotcha game.

Ciao,
James Harbeck.

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