let me hear your voice tonight (
alexseanchai) wrote2016-02-10 11:39 am
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interesting philosophical question
First person reflexive/intensive: 'myself', constructed by adding '-self' to the first person possessive 'my'.
Second person reflexive/intensive: 'yourself', constructed similarly, and 'yourselves', constructed similarly except pluralizing the suffix.
Third person reflexive/intensive: 'himself', constructed by adding '-self' to the third person object 'him'. Also 'themselves' in the plural, constructed similarly except pluralizing the suffix. However, 'herself' may be constructed by adding '-self' to either the third person possessive or the third person object: both are 'her' so it's hard to tell.
So, given the ambiguity of 'her' in 'herself' and the definite possessiveness of 'my' and 'your' in 'myself' and 'yourself', is it perhaps more appropriate, when using 'they' in the singular, to construct the reflexive/intensive pronoun as 'theirself' than 'themself'? I find 'themself' sounds right, but.
(why yes I am procrastinating something important)
Second person reflexive/intensive: 'yourself', constructed similarly, and 'yourselves', constructed similarly except pluralizing the suffix.
Third person reflexive/intensive: 'himself', constructed by adding '-self' to the third person object 'him'. Also 'themselves' in the plural, constructed similarly except pluralizing the suffix. However, 'herself' may be constructed by adding '-self' to either the third person possessive or the third person object: both are 'her' so it's hard to tell.
So, given the ambiguity of 'her' in 'herself' and the definite possessiveness of 'my' and 'your' in 'myself' and 'yourself', is it perhaps more appropriate, when using 'they' in the singular, to construct the reflexive/intensive pronoun as 'theirself' than 'themself'? I find 'themself' sounds right, but.
(why yes I am procrastinating something important)
no subject
Either or, I suppose. ^^
no subject
usage natter before breakfast
For what it's worth (not much, imho) Firefox marks "theirselves" and "theirself" as errors but is happy with "themself."
Re: usage natter before breakfast
Oh, is that Firefox doing that? I thought I'd told its spellcheck 'themself' is okay but hadn't done so for 'theirself'. Interesting datum.