Worse than that not being a keyword, `self` isn't special at all, it's a naming convention that can be freely broken. Python codebases using `this` instead of `self` exist. Codebases that mix the two depending on who wrote which method in a class exist. I believe I saw `it` used once somewhere as the name for that parameter. I'm sure there are codebases with even crazier horrors for first argument names in class methods out there in the depths of corporate machines.