Cookie Monster Grammar

"Me go to store, get cookie." -- The Cookie Monster

   In an effort to sound folksy and avoid sounding too formal, many TV news presenters reject the perpendicular pronoun "I" and use "me" or "myself" instead.
  For example, consider the phrase, "Join (name) and myself for our next show."
   Join myself? Sorry, can't happen. And just because the word is separated by two or three others does not make it OK to use. Or, in an effort to be what he hopes will be correct, the announcer will resort to the hypercorrect "Join (name) and I ... "
   Join I? That's even worse. A split second worth of thought will tell you it should be "Join me."
   Or we often hear sentences beginning with "Him and me ... " rather than "He and I ..."

   One problem, of course, is overcorrecting, in a misguided effort to sound "better." Along with that is a corollary effort to sound less formal, since some time in the educational system that got the idea that using the perpendicular pronoun "I" makes one seem egotistical or even arrogant.
   Such is not the case. Each pronoun is proper in its own way.

   A grammarian will gladly drown you with technical terms such as nominative, objective, possessive and other ramifications of the so-called case system, notwithstanding the reality that except for a small set of pronouns, the case system no longer exists in the English language.
  For the record, the case system is one in which a noun changes its form according to its function. It's still in use in German, Russian and other languages, but was dropped from English as the language evolved from a blending of Anglo-Saxon, Norman French and Celtic, with borrowings from many other languages.

   In any case, there are standards of usage in contemporary American usage that call for word forms suitable for each situation. Print is one, broadcasting is another, and street corner repartee is yet another.
   The mark of a competent speaker or writer is knowing when to use which. Or is it which to use when?
   Whatever.