Why is it, then, that so many educated people use myself in these ways? Experts offer a number of explanations, none of which are flattering. Perhaps the educated speaker or writer, fearful of getting I or me wrong, opts for myself. As Patricia O’Conner puts it, “In the contest between I and me, the booby prize often goes to myself ” (13). Barbara Wallraff writes that the error is “a genteelism—and that’s not a compliment” (227). Richard Lederer and Richard Dowis agree with Wallraff that writers who break the rule may be doing so “to give their discourse a touch of what they imagine to be elegance” (48). Bryan Garner is somewhat kinder. He suggests that those who misuse myself may mistakenly believe that the word is somehow more modest than I or me (442).
Myself does have a few defenders. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, using myself in place of I or me has been “common in the writing of reputable authors for several centuries.” The editors admit, however, that such usage can sound “overwrought,” and fully 88 percent of the dictionary’s most recent usage panel objected to the sentence The boss asked John and myself to give a brief presentation.
An earlier usage panel also objected to such sentences, and many of the panelists’ comments revealed strong feelings. For example, one remarked, “Sounds grotesquely formal,” and another wrote, “Surely only the ignorant indulge in so crass an example of bad grammar” (Morris 390–91).
Conclusion: Avoid using myself in place of I or me. Although not everyone thinks it’s wrong to use the word this way, those who disapprove do so vehemently. And they find the myself error not only wrong but pompous.