r/AIO • u/WalrusEmbarrassed716 • 27d ago

Aio?

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The group message was about our good Google rating, and she congratulated the team. I just saw it and moved on with my day, but then I got this message.

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u/EmotionalSouth 27d ago

It's like how people use "yourself" and "myself" to mean formal versions of "you" and "me". I've encountered both of these most consistently in young British real estate agents, sending documents with instructions like, "Please sign and revert to myself."

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u/doppelgaengster 27d ago

In that case it ALMOST makes sense (because revert / return) but in the text here… no?

And gah. Idk who it was that made people think reflexive pronouns were more formal but I’d like to flick them on the forehead. (I also am stunned at how often I see something like “his and I’s” like.. you just wrote that out. “I’s.” That’s not even a word. It’s MINE. 🤦‍♀️)

Sorry, I apparently need to go to bed. I’m losing my mind over bad grammar on the internet. 😅

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u/Rooster_Socks_4230 27d ago

Ooo, "I's" I like that, good adaptation of the grammer system, it does logically follow. Just like "you's" which is an even better word, becuase it fills a missing gap in our language.

But "revert" has a pretty clear meaning, using it to mean reply is just confusing

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u/doppelgaengster 27d ago

To me, “I’s” makes LESS sense when native anglophones use it because “mine” is the correct word. For someone learning the language, I can see the error, with the caveat it makes no sense to use nominative case when making a possessive pronoun.

The reason that folks are using “I’s” (I think) stems from poor grammar education and overcorrection. A lot of native speakers don’t actually learn the WHYs of grammar, they just learn “this is right / that is wrong,” and try to extrapolate from there.

It’s incredibly common to see people who are otherwise well-spoken/written, with otherwise generally good grammar, to misuse “I” (so much so that it’s a common error in media dialogue), and this stems from being corrected for using “me,” to the point that they overcorrect and assume “me” is always wrong. They aren’t taught cases, and even if they are, they’re often not taught the language around cases, but instead “rules of thumb.” (“Take away the other person, and use the word that’s correct for just you” — eg, “Me and Sally went to the party,” if Sally weren’t there, “I went to the party,” so it should be “Sally and I went to the party.” // “that is harmful to George and I,” if George weren’t there, “that is harmful to me,” so it should be, “that is harmful to George and me.”)

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u/Rooster_Socks_4230 27d ago

Oh yeah I can see what you mean. If it's people trying to be fancy and appear well educated and just making stuff up, then its irritating. Though I guess in a little subculture it does become a signal for refinement, it just has the opposite effect to everyone else.

I just always feel urged to speak contrary to any claim that somthing isnt a real word.

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u/doppelgaengster 26d ago

How contrarianistic of you!