keep (himself) to himself

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

A couple of months ago my daughter and I discussed what the idiomatic
English expression is:

He keeps himself to himself.

or

He keeps to himself.

Google's count said that the short version is more common, but every
time since that I heard it used (on tv), it was the long version.

What do you think?

--
Bertel

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

They're both equally idiomatic.


--
Athel -- French and British, living mainly in England until 1987.

[bert]

They're quite different in meaning.

"He keeps to himself" describes someone who doesn't meet up
much with other people - also described as "a loner".

"He keeps himself to himself" describe someone who doesn't
reveal his inner thoughts and feelings, even if he meets a lot
of people lots of the time.

[lar3ryca]

On 2022-08-27 08:16, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> On 2022-08-27 14:08:55 +0000, Bertel Lund Hansen said:
>
>> A couple of months ago my daughter and I discussed what the idiomatic
>> English expression is:
>>
>>        He keeps himself to himself.
>>
>> or
>>
>>        He keeps to himself.
>>
>> Google's count said that the short version is more common, but every
>> time since that I heard it used (on tv), it was the long version.
>>
>> What do you think?
>
> They're both equally idiomatic.

"He keeps himself to himself" is not, in my experience, idiomatic in
Canada. I have _never_ heard anyone use it. I have heard "He keeps to
himself" often.

--
Department of Redundacy Department.
How may I help and assist you?

[GordonD]

On 27/08/2022 15:08, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
> A couple of months ago my daughter and I discussed what the idiomatic
> English expression is:
>
> He keeps himself to himself.

Usually said to reporters by neighbours of serial killers after they've
been arrested.

--
Gordon Davie
Edinburgh, Scotland

[Ken Blake]

On Sat, 27 Aug 2022 11:09:19 -0600, lar3ryca <la...@invalid.ca> wrote:

>On 2022-08-27 08:16, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
>> On 2022-08-27 14:08:55 +0000, Bertel Lund Hansen said:
>>
>>> A couple of months ago my daughter and I discussed what the idiomatic
>>> English expression is:
>>>
>>>        He keeps himself to himself.
>>>
>>> or
>>>
>>>        He keeps to himself.
>>>
>>> Google's count said that the short version is more common, but every
>>> time since that I heard it used (on tv), it was the long version.
>>>
>>> What do you think?
>>
>> They're both equally idiomatic.
>
>"He keeps himself to himself" is not, in my experience, idiomatic in
>Canada. I have _never_ heard anyone use it.

Same for me in the US.

>I have heard "He keeps to
>himself" often.

Same for me in the US.

[Peter Moylan]

On 28/08/22 04:16, GordonD wrote:
> On 27/08/2022 15:08, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:

>> A couple of months ago my daughter and I discussed what the idiomatic
>> English expression is:
>>
>> He keeps himself to himself.
>
> Usually said to reporters by neighbours of serial killers after they've
> been arrested.

He was a most peculiar man.

--
Peter Moylan Newcastle, NSW http://www.pmoylan.org

[Hibou]

I think the count may be misleading in this case. Searching for "he
keeps to himself" finds constructions such as "The things /he keeps to
himself/", as well as cases where your two expressions are synonymous.

Google Web Search's counts are estimates and often misleading. Google
Books Ngram Viewer is better, but must still be used with care.

To me (BrE), "He keeps to himself" with the meaning "He keeps himself to
himself" is a shortened version of the latter, which I'd say is a
particular case of the base expression "He keeps it to himself".

[Peter T. Daniels]

It looks Pondian. "He keeps himself to himself" seems quite alien.
Someone could redo the search with BrE vs. AmE turned on.