I agree it isn't currently common in American English. There was a time when you heard variations of it a lot in Irish immigrant communities. I was told once it had something to do with Gaelic.
( A bigshot, for example, wasl often referred to as "hisself" or "himself" )
>Sounds like a Brit problem. Can't recall this in American English and my hackles are always raised :-)
>
>>Use of these is getting worse. Some examples, not from real life, but typical of what I've experienced/heard a lot lately:
>>
>>"Hi Mr McDonnell. I was wondering if our offer has reached yourself yet."
>>"Could you manage to make payment to ourselves by the end of the week."
>>"We're sending the order to yourselves direct."
>>"There's just myself and yourself here."
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
