accusative cursing

[Wilson Gray]

Sants pruh-zarve us! How soon they forget! When I was a kid in the
'Forties, this use of    "-self" in cartoons, comics, movies, and on
radio shows to indicate that someone was Irish was as common as the
use of "gwine" to show that someone was black. Stereotypical
Irishwomen always referred to their husbands as "himself," for
example.

-Wilson

On 4/8/07, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> Subject:      Re: accusative cursing
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                                      -Sam'l Clemens

"Experience" is the ability to recognize a mistake when you make it, again.

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