You are right that the same pronoun form is used for emphasis in the way you describe, but what you refer to is not a reflexive pronoun at all, but is rather an intensive pronoun; such words are used to emphasize their immediate antecedent; as you say, apposition is critical in such cases. A sentence such as “You may apply the lotion either to Akiko or myself” does not satisfy the necessary conditions.

I know an abomination when I see one.

You raise an interesting point regarding lending institutions, but one that is beyond the modest scope of this post.

These are the things that fox computers, what Dennett called the form problem or the whole world of common sense and reticulated meaning.

By the way it’s the same here with property. We were lucky to get in under the boom but the effect for society as a whole must be negative as the lending institutions become more densified with accumulated capital and act like black holes.

I’ll admit to being rather a mossback regarding these matters, and confess that when the train conductor says “we hope to be moving momentarily” I silently chide him and his anonymous co-hopers for their wishing merely, and insufficiently, that the train will roll for an instant and then stop again. I suppose that ultimately we must trust our own sense of correctness, and raise an alarm when something is simply too jarringly awful, too grating, too indigestibly wrong to pass by in silence. The rampant misappropriation of the reflexive pronoun bemoaned above rises, I think, to that level.

In the example you cite, however, the house did indeed appreciate gratifyingly: I am gratified in no small measure by the enhancement of its value, which will be the prop of my dotage.

“Tony Blair is well aware of the battle lines in Washington and, hopefully, will keep this at the top of his mind during the crisis.” Both Tony B. and the writer will hope as indeed I will also.

You write yourself – ” certainly our own humble abode has appreciated gratifyingly since we took it over many years ago.” Did you feel the pressure of ” has, gratifyingly, appreciated since”.. urging you to solecism? Am I going mad? These worries if brought to the attention of Johnson might draw from him the comment – ‘Sir, there is no rule here, it is a matter of taste’..