Reflexive pronouns.
I know it's a common usage and a common loathing, but people who say 'yourself' or 'myself' when the correct word is 'you' or 'me' results in my quite disproportionate ire. 'Oneself' doesn't seem to crop up quite so often.
(ThomsonsPier consumes, Thu 31 Mar 2011, 16:57, 9 replies)

^This^
There seems to be a school or uni somewhere that teaches idiots that reflexive pronouns sound more professional. It's almost always sales people that do it, in my experience.
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Thu 31 Mar 2011, 16:59, closed)

^yes!!!
sales people in particular.

"Could I just have a signature from yourself"
No, it's "May I have a signature from you" or actually "May I have your signature"
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 31 Mar 2011, 17:24, closed)

Mike
Who used to work with me did this all the time, along with peppering every sentence with "actual" and "actually".

Once he uttered the immortal sentence, while talking on the phone to a customer about the build specs from their customer that we needed to fulfil a contract job:

"If we could get from yourselves the actual physical actual pacifications for the actual goods sent from your customer themselves to ourselves, then the actual build from ourselves can actually ship to yourselves in accordance with the actual wishes of themselves."

*blink*

When what he meant to say was "can you ask your customer to send us the specs please?".
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Thu 31 Mar 2011, 17:38, closed)

I think you should get that printed up and framed.
Bloody wonderful.
( number5 has been fighting tramps and losing., Thu 31 Mar 2011, 17:45, closed)

Fantastic!

( Ugi , it's a game of give and cake, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 10:40, closed)

This reflexive pronoun misuse is definitely at the foundations of a new language that I call "Callcentrese" (whilst I've never heard anyone else use that term, I wouldn't be arrogant enough to claim that I coined it).

"I spoke to yourself yesterday," someone once said to me. I felt like replying: "Which one? My social self? My work self?"
(Dinting Arches, Thu 31 Mar 2011, 20:53, closed)

What if said people are Irish?

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Thu 31 Mar 2011, 17:50, closed)

I came here to say just that
It's a Hiberno-English trait that comes from the way the Irish language uses verbs. How we use English with habits from Irish really interests me and it's kind of a heritage. Things like "could of", "would of", I agree with but I like the quirks a bit of the aul gaeilge brings on the language.

Ooh, I've only just found out from the wiki page on Hiberno-English that I can explain "giving out" to someone as telling off.. Give out seems to be a direct translation from Irish but I could never think of another way to say it in English other than shouting at him.

In fairness there's a bunch of loanwords like smithereens and craic, brogues, banshee, hooligan and slapper - the last two I hear more of from UK tv than I do here, actually.
(AshTeamRacing, Thu 31 Mar 2011, 18:27, closed)

Absolutely Fucking This ^
With knobs on.
( Ugi , it's a game of give and cake, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 10:40, closed)