Lesson the Third: You did it all by myself!!

So I have this annoying habit of correcting improper grammar usage during conversation. It is something that, when I started doing it, I thought it would be kind of funny and just another quirk that I have. However, now that I have spent some time with this I realize that it is obnoxious and flat rude (don't get me wrong, I still correct you in my head, I just don't say it out loud). That being said, the one misused word that gets me riled up every time is the word myself (though technically I speak to every word in that family: myself, yourself, himself, herself and themselves). I absolutely, positively, unequivocally hate when people use that word incorrectly. And it seems to be happening more and more!! It is almost like people want to sound more sophisticated, so they trumpet out the word myself in the following way:

"Burr won't be in the office today, so just email Michelle or myself."

Now if you have just read the above sentence and thought to yourself "yeah, that is the correct way to say that" please press the back button at the top of your web browser and go watch You Tube clips of Santa Barbara because no. It should be me...just email Michelle or me. If you are unsure how to use it, or think that you may possibly use it incorrectly, just don't use it. If you absolutely must use it, please say the sentence in your head first and just use "myself." The above sentence sounds even more stupid when you say:

"Burr won't be in the office today, so just email myself."

For those curious about the rule, the "self" family of words are used only to describe the subject (i.e. I did it myself.; You did it yourself.; She did it herself.; He did it himself.; They did it themselves. - Notice a pattern?).

I certainly don't want to come off as a pompous Grammar Nazi, but this is just one of those things that I need yourselves to take care of.

Here endeth the lesson.