Back in the day (about seven to eight years ago), I distinctly remember taking pictures of myself with my digital camera in my dorm room so I could have a semi-flattering profile picture for my fairly new Facebook page. I thought to myself, "Thank God for digital cameras." Because, you see, I could take dozens of pictures of myself—without wasting any film—in order to get that perfect pose.
One of my favorite inventions is the front-facing camera option on smartphones. It makes taking those flattering pictures of oneself so much easier. These cameras have a purpose beyond vanity—you can make sure you and your friend are both in the frame without one of you having half of your face cut off. You can preserve a memory of yourself in front of the Eiffel Tower without asking a friend (or stranger) a million times to try it again because your eyes looked manic or your third chin was showing. (OK, I admit that's a little vain.) You can even use it to take a picture of your cat if she's facing away from you.
OK...it may not be the best picture ever of your cat (probably because it was also taken at dusk). But you get the point.
(P.S. This cat is Eppie, and I will talk more about her later. She is no longer on this Earth, but she was a very special kitty.)
There's another way that the self-facing camera—and, therefore, the selfie!—is helpful.
We employ proofreaders at the company I work for (that's actually how I got my start there), and sometimes I come up with grammar tips and reminders for them. One month I was asked to teach them the correct way to use "myself." Customers were submitting articles with sentences such as "If you have any questions, please come see myself or another team member." Don't you just cringe when you read that sentence?
"Myself" is a reflexive pronoun. Other reflexive pronouns include: yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, themselves, etc. A reflexive pronoun reflects the subject of the sentence. (Hence, reflexive.)
Examples:
I made myself a peanut butter sandwich.
The reflexive pronoun "myself" is correct in this case because it refers to the subject "I." I didn't make that peanut butter sandwich for anyone else. It is MINE, BITCHES.
It's a little easier to understand when using "himself" or "herself."
After the birthday party last weekend, James doesn't trust himself around cake anymore.
Using "himself" instead of "him" makes it clear that James doesn't trust James (himself!). Maybe Tony also gorged himself on cake, and so James doesn't trust Tony either. In that case, we'd say "James doesn't trust him anymore." Hopefully we would have made it clear in a previous sentence or introductory phrase that the "him" refers to Tony. But we at least know it doesn't refer to James. Because if it did, we would use "himself." Get it?
So what does this have to do with selfies?
What do you use to take a selfie? A mirror. Your front-facing camera is a mirror. (Another brilliant use of the front-facing camera, by the way!) Or you may go the old-fashioned route and actually stand in front of a mirror to take your selfie. What does a mirror do? It reflects.
A pronoun using the word "self" (or "selves," if plural) is a reflexive pronoun. This is easy to remember because a selfie is easier to take when you can see your reflection in a mirror.
The mirror also helps you remember to check to make sure you're using a reflexive pronoun correctly. The reflexive pronoun (the "self" word) should reflect the subject.
I looked at myself is correct. You have both "I" and "myself." They are reflecting each other. The incorrect example above of Please come see myself is wrong, wrong, wrong. Remember that in a sentence like this that is asking something—"please come see"—the "you" is implied. ("Hey, you! Come here!") "You" is the subject of the sentence. Does "myself" reflect "You"? Absolutely not! So this is wrong.
I'm not saying that people should post daily selfies on Facebook, Instagram, and the like. I mean, if you're trying to measure some milestone—pregnancy, weight loss, whatever—by all means, take your selfies, but think twice before posting every one. And I don't think that Kim Kardashian's selfie book is great art, but then again, I haven't looked at it, so I guess I can't say that with 100% certainty.
But selfies DO serve a purpose. And not just to help us avoid the dreaded double/triple chin. (Tip: To eliminate chin issues, dip your head down and forward just slightly.) Maybe selfies are helping us be a little more vain, but they can also help us improve our grammar, and that's never a bad thing.
For more selfies (but mostly cat pictures), check out my Instagram!
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