About Myself

[Alfonso]

Originally Posted by Rusty

When the object is refering back to the subject, in other words, when talking about oneself, always requires mismo/a, just as the words myself, yourself, ourselves, etc. in English are used when the subject and the object are one in the same. (Unfortunately, many people misuse the word myself, but it's proper use is as I have stated.)

No hables de mí. Don't talk about me. (The subject is you (2nd person), the object is me (1st person).)
Quiero hablar de mí mismo. I want to talk about myself. (The subject and object are both in the 1st person.)

I don't agree with this since I can't find any reason to proscribe the usage of hablo de mí. I didn't take the time to check this in a grammar book (the one by the DRAE, Alarcos Llorach or the communicative one by Matte Bon, to mention some of the most prestigious ones), but I'm sure they will consider the difference between hablo de mí / hablo de mí mismo as a matter of emphasis. Actually, mismo/a is over characterising a grammar meaning which is already expressed in mí and in the subject (in the case of the genre), so the criteria that will work here is the Linguistic Economic Principle, that's to say, if the information is already given, you don't have to repeat it. Otherwise, you are giving a new information, as an emphasis. This, for the case of Spanish. For the case of English, it's well known that English language is much more economic than Spanish, so the misuse you point out could be a coherent criteria.

This is also an answer to Elaina's question.