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  • Topic

    me vs myself

    Comment
    I'm not really single, I'm dating myself. I take myself out to eat, I buy myself clothes. I love me.

    Warum "I love me" und nicht "I love myself"?

    Danke
    Author Wundertuete72 (299296) 07 Aug 16, 11:02
    Comment
    Poetic licence :)

    grammar rules generally link "I" with "myself"

    I wrote this post myself.
    but
    This post was written by me personally.
    #1Authorlaalaa (238508) 07 Aug 16, 12:16
    Comment
    It's a stylistic choice; "I love myself" would also have been possible. ("I love me" places the emphasis on the "me".)
    #2Author Martin--cal (272273) 07 Aug 16, 17:58
    Comment
    I don't see it so much as a stylistic choice; "me" here (IMO) simply means "the person I am," or as Miss Piggy would say, "moi." And that would be a matter of style. :-)
    #3Author dude (253248) 07 Aug 16, 18:18
    Comment
    I agree with all of #1 and #2. In this case, I prefer the one-syllable "me", as it's right at the end and is more emphasized, as #2 indicates.
    #4AuthorKinkyAfro (587241) 07 Aug 16, 18:41
    Comment
    "I love me" suggests "and not really anyone else".
    "I love myself" (something which should be normal) and probably quite a few others.
    But again, maybe that's just me (how I see it). :-)
    #5Authormikefm (760309) 07 Aug 16, 20:35
    Comment
    The way I see it in that context is that the usage of me in "I love me." in a way suggests the paradox that the person loves an object other than him-/herself.
    #6Author maxxpf (361343) 07 Aug 16, 20:48
    Comment
    For whatever reason I find "me" in the OP does sound a little unnatural.
    #7Authormikefm (760309) 07 Aug 16, 20:51
    Comment
    I don't quite understand maxxpf's point, but whatever. "me" doesn't sound unnatural in the OP to me, but that may be because I'm used to phrases like "I love me some xyz" (could be a person or a thing, like food, etc.), which is basically US (African-American) slang for "I really like xyz."
    #8Author dude (253248) 07 Aug 16, 20:59
    Comment
    I agree with what others have said.
     
    The emphatic (as opposed to complement) use of the reflexive pronoun (as in "I did it myself") is a separate issue, but normally the reflexive pronoun is used as a complement ("object" of a verb or preposition) when the antecedent is the subject of the clause.
    I would call the rule semantic rather than grammatical.
    When the verb does not require a reflexive pronoun, there are occasional (and unusual) exceptions, mainly in non-formal speech, and usually involving particular emphasis (note that, in the sentence in the OP, the word me is stressed and pronounced slightly  differently from the unstressed me). With normal stress, it would sound odd.
     
    The rules may be looser for the first and second person singular, where there is no possibility of ambiguity ("He killed him" would be more ambiguous if him were permitted to refer to the same person as he).
     
    One reason to use a normal pronoun (you, me) as opposed the reflexive pronoun (yourself, myself) might be to stress that the verb is being used in a sense more appropriate for a second or third person.
    So "I love myself" would be "normal" – what a psychologist would probably regard as healthy (as opposed to "I hate myself"). Using me rather than myself might indicate narcissism.
    #9AuthorMikeE (236602) 08 Aug 16, 07:33
     
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