Grammar Cop Time: Grammar Pet Peeves

[The Night Owl]

I hate it when people use the phrase "could care less" when they should be using the phrase "couldn't care less."

[Midlodemocrat]

1. I hate it when people say cop instead of police officer

....just kidding.

[Undercover Owl]

116. cop is an endearing name

Policemen call themselves cops don't they? It's a friendly slang.

[Midlodemocrat]

124. I know. I was just being silly.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

2. or how about "these ones"?

instead of just "these".

[Left Is Write]

18. That's one of my hot buttons.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

29. being a southerner, i notice lots of yankees using "these ones"

however, my yankee girlfriend has pointed out that i am often being redundant when i say "might could", which i believe is a more southern thing.

[Left Is Write]

33. My mother got on me for saying "these ones" when I was a young child.

She didn't scold me, she'd just smile and say "these" whenever I said "these ones."

She also took the time to explain patiently when to use amount or number, less or fewer, and so forth.

[fishwax]

36. I like " might could"

I'm a westerner, but I've been down here in Oklahoma for 11 years now, and I've always liked the feel of "might could," so I've consciously added it to my repertoire. :)

[SheepyMcSheepster]

57. i like "might could" too

but i am told that i am being redundant when i use it....

i tend to see it as more of a noncommittal or less self assured "i could"

:silly:

[Cobalt Violet]

209. I never heard of "might could".

Could you use it in a sentence as an example for me please?

[Ron Green]

225. I might could go, if I get my work done in time.

[Cobalt Violet]

228. That just sounds bizarre too me.

I've never heard that usage.

[lakemonster11]

158. I grew up in the Northwest, but I was born in TN and

raised by parents who were born and bred in TN, so I say "might could" all of the time---and yes, people give me a really hard time about it.

[DelawareValleyDem]

55. 'past history'

is there any other kind of history?

[SheepyMcSheepster]

60. past history has shown there is no other kind of history!

:D

[MissMillie]

3. a.m. in the morning

well, if it's a.m., it can't be the afternoon!

Oh yeah, I hate it when people use adjectives as adverbs. One doesn't do something quick. One does something quickly.

[barackmyworld]

4. apostrophes

IT'S NOT APPLE'S 50 CENTS, ARGH!

[MrModerate]

37. As an editor, this one . . .

Drives me batshit.

I've got to get out more.

[RebelOne]

217. As a copy editor, I cringe when I see nouns turned into possessives.n/t

[SCDem]

5. Using don't instead of doesn't & library is pronounced library not libary!

[The Night Owl]

7. That reminds of another grammar pet peeve... "don't let's"

I hate it when people use the phrase "don't let's" in any sentence. I don't care if it's right. It just sounds wrong.

[SCDem]

24. your post reminds me of another pet peeve.... "might could"

I had never heard that before until I moved to the South. I might be able to do XXXXX not I might could do XXXXX. I don't even know if that is grammatically correct or not but it drives me bonkers.

[mac56]

28. "Might could" is definitely a Southernism.

I've also heard "used to could".

"Can you do fifty push-ups?"
"Used to could..."

[SCDem]

32. Yes I forgot about "used to could"

hearing that is like fingernails on a chalkboard!

[SheepyMcSheepster]

65. hehe, see my post #29

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=2213504&mesg_id=2213672&page=

i am an admitted "might could'er"

:silly:

[lakemonster11]

161. Me, too.

It's just a regionalism, and a charming one at that. Of course, it drives me up the wall when people say "Do you want to come with?" It leaves me hanging. Come with *you*, you mean?

[Sanity Claws]

88. It sounds awful

I agree. I believe the correct phrase is "let's not..."

[bunkerbuster1]

122. "Wake up and smell the cat food in your bank account"

I'm having a They Might Be Giants moment...
y'know, I never actually looked at these lyrics before. Brilliant, really.

++++++

Don't don't don't let's start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you're my precious little girl
But don't don't don't let's start
I've got a weak heart
And I don't get around how you get around

When you are alone you are the cat, you are the phone
You are an animal
The words I'm singing now
Mean nothing more than meow to an animal
Wake up and smell the cat food in your bank account
But don't try to stop the tail that wags the hound

D, world destruction
Over and overture
N, do I need
Apostrophe T, need this torture?

Don't don't don't let's start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you're my precious little girl
But don't don't don't let's start
I've got a weak heart
And I don't get around how you get around

No one in the world ever gets what they want and that is beautiful
Everybody dies frustrated and sad and that is beautiful
They want what they're not and I wish they would stop saying,
Deputy dog dog a ding dang depadepa
Deputy dog dog a ding dang depadepa

D, world destruction
Over and overture
N, do I need
Apostrophe T, need this torture?

Don't don't don't let's start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you're my precious little girl
But don't don't don't let's start
I've got a weak heart
And I don't get around how you get around

I don't want to live in this world anymore
I don't want to live in this world

Don't don't don't let's start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you're my precious little girl
But don't don't don't let's start
I've got a weak heart
And I don't get around how you get around

[Midlodemocrat]

6. I know a woman who routinely says 'theirselves'.

...drives me completely, fricking nuts.

[Z_I_Peevey]

13. Hisself

I hear that a lot.

[LDS Jock]

22. hear it.. I know someone why TYPES it

It is not a word DAMMIT!!!

[Left Is Write]

21. Auuuggggggh!

I *hate* that! I also hate the use of "they", "them" and "themselves" (or worse, "themself") when one is referring to just one person.

Heard on an ad for eHarmony.com: "I was looking for someone sincere, honest, blah blah blah, who is comfortable with themselves."

"Themselves" cannot be used with "someone." What on earth was wrong with saying "himself"?

[skygazer]

8. Normalcy

A non word that has been assimilated into the mainstream. Grates on me every time.

ATM machine (which would translate to be "automatic teller machine machine")

"Basically" - ridiculously overused

"Straight jacket" - the word is "strait" as in "he's in dire straits."

There, their and they're - place, belonging to them and they are

[Midlodemocrat]

11. Or PIN number n/t

[MrModerate]

38. or "ATM Machine?" n/t

[obreaslan]

107. Or SSN Number...

It comes up a lot when working at a university.

[MrModerate]

42. Actually, normalcy is completely legit . . .

as in "the quality or state of being normal."

Popularized by the great bloviator, Warren G. Harding (another terrible president, if you don't mind the sudden swerve).

[Fifth of Five]

201. Popularized? I thought he invented it.

Normality was a perfectly good word, which has nearly been replaced by normalcy - why did we need a new one?;-)

Actually, this is a good example of the dynamic nature of the English (especially American) language. I don't know if this happens in other languages with the same frequency as in American English, but it seems that changes, even mistakes, that become popular are eventually accepted as proper usage.

Americans are constantly and rapidly adding words to the dictionary, with many of the words originating as slang. Is "bling" in the dictionary yet? If not, it will be soon.

I just hope that we never see the Bushism "suiciders" make it.

[mac56]

9. "Orientated".

GAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

"Oriented" is the word. To "orientate" means to turn to the East.

I also hate "as follows" in any form. And "monies".

[MrModerate]

43. Sorry, but "as follows" is very useful . . .

In transitioning your reader to a list or a sequence. Sure, there's a million other ways to do that, but they don't devalue good old "as follows."

[Left Is Write]

66. That reminds me of "business-speak" and the incorrect use of "myself."

"If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the undersigned or myself."

"Call Mr. Poppenhoople or myself."

GRRRR! In an apparent effort to sound more formal and businesslike, all these people are doing is making themselves sound pompous. The word is me. It's a perfectly good word. It should get used.

Along those lines: utilize. Yes, yes, I know that utilize is a legitimate word, but "use" is so much nicer.

[Nay]

127. Arrrgh. I correct that "myself" crap all the time at work. WHY do

people even think to use it?? And don't get me started on "its" and "it's."

People who use apostrophes in simple plurals should be shot. I don't know where this started, but it hasn't been around forever. When I was in my 20's and 30's, no one did that. They made other errors, but not that one.

I also despair over coworkers who have sloppy speech habits that spill over into their spelling because they NEVER READ THE WRITTEN WORD, EVER. Two coworkers spell "guest" as "guess" simply because they never say the "t" at the end of that word. One writes "ideal" when he means "idea." Don't you guys EVER see these simple words written down anywhere??? Even on the effing TV???

"Alot" and "a lot." People who write "alot" should be beaten. A lot.

Mixing up "loose" and "lose." For god's sake, they even SOUND different, so how in heaven can you mistake one for the other?? Do you say, "I have a screw LOOOZ"? No. Do you say, "I need to LOOS ten pounds"? No.

My blood pressure. Must stop typing.

[Left Is Write]

137. Ah, yes. The same folks who say "for all intensive purposes" instead of

"for all intents and purposes." Or "Once and a while" instead of "once in a while."

My favorite? "Far and few between" instead of "Few and far between." Don't they realize the first version makes no sense whatsoever?

[Ediacara]

162. Well....... to defend the lose/loose problem

The words are said lus and luz. You see, it's the SAME word except for the FINAL CONSINENT. There is nothing intuative about the single/double 'o' in the middle that should clue you in to how you say the final consinent... which I should point out is spelled the same in both words!

This is like saying that calf (said kaf) and caalf (said kap) are intuitively differentiated in their spelling.

As for your other examples..... I agree completely!

[Undercover Owl]

204. Can you tell I'm a teacher?

people get confused when they combine 2 subjects or 2 objects in a sentence.

All they have to do is remove the Mr. So&so and mentally decide what sounds correct:

Remove Mr. Poppenhoople or from "call Mr Poppenhoople or myself" and you end up saying "Call myself"

"You spoke to him & I" WRONG!
you wouldn't say "You spoke to I"

"Give it to him & I" WRONG!
you wouldn't say "Give it to I"

"It's for Jenny and he" WRONG!
you wouldn't say "it's for he"

I tell this to high school students, and often, they argue with me and tell me that I am incorrect.! What can you do at that point? Tell them "fine, stay ignorant if you insist".

[Hand]

213. Ha!

Back when I taught writing, I used to go after this as follows:

"IT'S VERY SIMPLE. I CAN TALK TO MYSELF, BUT I CAN'T TALK TO YOURSELF. YOU CAN TALK TO YOURSELF, BUT YOU CAN'T TALK TO MYSELF. OF COURSE, FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW, YOURSELF IS MYSELF, SO YOU COULD NEVER TALK TO YOURSELF, EITHER, SINCE YOU'D BE TALKING TO YOUR MYSELF. SIMILARLY, FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW, IF I TRY TO TALK TO MYSELF, I'M ACTUALLY TALKING TO MY YOURSELF..."

(And yes, I did shout.)

By this time, everyone in the class would be looking rather worried. It got worse...

"NOW OF COURSE, IF YOU'RE SCHIZOID, YOU CAN TALK TO MYSELF WITH IMPUNITY. SIMILARLY, IF I'M SCHIZOID, I CAN TALK TO YOURSELF. HOWEVER, IN REALITY--WHATEVER THAT IS--YOU'RE TALKING TO YOURSELF AND I'M TALKING TO MYSELF."

This was usually followed by an abrupt silence.

"Oh, sorry. Just talking to myself..." That kept them in line for the next ten weeks; they were convinced that I was dangerously insane.

:evilgrin:

[mac56]

72. I must disagree.

"As follows" strikes me as pompous and bombastic. I deliberately edit it out when I see it. Instead of "The steps for balancing your checkbook are as follows", how about: "To balance your checkbook, follow these steps"?

[MrModerate]

76. Yep, that's one of the million ways, alright

[mac56]

77. Yep, one of the million that isn't pompous and bombastic.

;)

[MrModerate]

87. How can two little words . . .

like "as" and "follows" be both pompous AND bombastic?

Best I'd give 'em would be "twee" and "fey" (one syllable less than the words themselves, a rule I just invented).

It's a question of small-calibre ammunition here.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

189. How about

"To balance your checkbook:"?

The mighty colon does the trick neatly, simply, and effectively.

It's not just the misuse of words - it's an absolute blindness to proper punctuation.

Someone wrote here earlier that this is the sad result of people no longer reading, and I agree. The visual compenents of spelling and grammar and punctuation, let alone syntax, are lost to these folks.

[Hand]

214. Thanks!

Just made that very change on a manual I'm writing!

:toast:

[Patiod]

111. But it sound so much more important! nt

[Lex]

125. "Orientated" is how the Brits say the word. n/t

[auntAgonist]

177. born and raised in Scotland never pronounced it orientated.

[Lex]

179. Well, how's this? From the Oxford Dictionary online ---

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutgrammar/oriented

Frequently Asked Questions

Grammar

Which is the correct spelling: 'oriented' or 'orientated'?

It really doesn't matter: it's a matter of personal taste. Orientated is currently preferred use in general British use. Oriented is prevalent in technical use, and in the US.

---------------------------

I hear Brits say "orientated" all the time on BBC, and apparently it is the preferred use according to the Oxford Dictionary Online.

[auntAgonist]

208. Can only speak for myself.

Perhaps in England they say orientated .. I don't know ... I say oriented.

[Jean Louise Finch]

212. Aussies, too

My boy is an Australian and for the first three months I knew him, it totally weirded me out when we'd be having a normal conversation, and all of a sudden he'd say how he was really disorientated. Or that he was trying to get orientated to his work. I would just be bedazzled by how this well-spoken guy could say it wrong so consistently. Then I noticed that all the Aussies I knew said it like this, and then came the dictionary.

It's like aluminium vs aluminum. It's unclear what Brits/Aussies have against deleting extra syllables.

[StopTheMorans]

10. I believe that's "Grammar Nazi Time"

:eyes: :evilgrin:

[Maestro]

12. People using the past participle as a verb

For example: I seen that just the other day. :mad:

[Gothic Sponge]

14. I could care less for this thread

;)

[MrModerate]

44. Perhaps you could . . .

. . . since it mattered enough to you to reply.

[RebelOne]

221. Sight, site and cite

I want to scream when I see someone write Web sight. Arrgh!!! Sight refers to vision. A site is a place. To cite is to state.

[Jessica]

15. I have a ton of these, including:

When people say supposABly & incorrect use of quotations, such as Try our "delicious" Apple Pie ... um is it delicious or not, dammit??!

[LDS Jock]

20. lol

I'd be afraid to eat a "delicious" pie. It sounds like they are trying to cover for something.

[fishwax]

40. That's funny

Supposably is pretty odd ... one of those mispronunciations you expect people to grow out of, but some never do. I know someone who says that occasionally, and also almost always says "post to" instead of "supposed to" ...

But I've always gotten a great deal of amusement out of people using quotes wrong. :evilgrin:

[The Night Owl]

41. OMG! I hate the improper use of quotation marks!

In my opinion, improper use of quotation marks warrants at least a month in Grammar Jail.

[The Night Owl]

45. Good one. EOM

[Jessica]

56. I found some great examples:

On a homemade sign at a flea market:
All swimsuits are clean and "sanitized"

Sign by the deposit drawer outside a bank says:
Please "Do Not" deposit cash.

Along on a freeway in Houston:
ROAD "WORK" AHEAD

Sign above coffee machine at grocery store:
Only "two" packets of sugar per customer, please.

Sign in restaurant listing the vegetables of the day:
Corn, fried potatoes, "peas" and green beans.

Faculty newsletter, captioning a picture of an employee with his blushing bride:
"Wedded Bliss," Nicholas and Rachel

sign nailed to a fence on a country road in Southern Louisiana:
"OAK" FIREWOOD FOR SALE

Hand lettered sign at a local restaurant:
"Sorry" - No Discounts on Specials

[The Night Owl]

64. A lot of people mistakenly think that quotations are for emphasis. EOM

[obreaslan]

109. Those are great!

These are the best:

Sign in restaurant listing the vegetables of the day:
Corn, fried potatoes, "peas" and green beans. --Are they peas or aren't they?

Hand lettered sign at a local restaurant:
"Sorry" - No Discounts on Specials --I don't think you are really sorry

[Nay]

129. Oh, god, my eyes. I hate this abomination, too.

Quote marks sprinkled everywhere! Save me!

[Patiod]

112. That's my #1 pet peeve

My S.O. gets annoyed, because if it's on a chalk board or dry-mark board, I'll erase the quotes

"Fresh" fish tonight!! Yikes!

[OldLeftieLawyer]

190. That reminds me

What on earth are they thinking when you ask, "Is the fish fresh?" and the response is, "It's fresh frozen"?

That would be in lieu of freezing the rotted fish?

[Lavender Brown]

16. I hate "impact" used as a verb

Even if it's correct, it sounds wrong (unless you're talking about impacted teeth).

[mac56]

39. How about "impactful" as an adjective?

Heard that at a seminar once and burst out laughing. Unfortunately, it was in the CEO's keynote address.

[Hand]

215. Death by wonga-wonga to anyone who uses it... nt

[OldLeftieLawyer]

193. Drives me nuts, too, and, because I'm nuts,

I traced back to when - I am almost positive - the use of "impact" as a verb became common.

Alexander Haig. Nixon White House.

I'm serious.

Don't that just figger?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

197. Drives me nuts, too, and, because I'm nuts,

I traced back to when - I am almost positive - the use of "impact" as a verb became common.

Alexander Haig. Nixon White House.

I'm serious.

Don't that just figger?

[LDS Jock]

17. an s as the end of words

Back home in Arkansas, people would do this all the time. Things like Wal-Mart became Wal-Marts. The local boat factory, Ranger, would be referred to as Rangers. My skin tingles just typing it.

[Left Is Write]

23. Oh, another hot button for me!

You are not going to Targets. You are going to Target. Grrrrr!

[Jessica]

27. Yes - and JC Penney should just officially change its name to

Penneys.

[obreaslan]

110. Must be a big problem in R-Kansas.

:)

[Patiod]

114. We do that in Philadelphia, too

strawbridge & clothier = strawbridges
JC Penney = Penney's
John Wanamaker = Wanamaker's

I always assumed it was sort of an abbreviation for "Wanamaker's store" or "Wanamaker's place"

[The Night Owl]

207. The Internets

:crazy:

[Ron Green]

226. I believe that should be written: "The internet's"

[giant_robot]

19. Using "less" when they should be using "fewer"

I've even seen that done on news programs. AAARRGH! :grr:

[Left Is Write]

26. Also, mixing up "amount" and "number"

and "much" and "many."

[KurtNYC]

100. "Fuller" the adjective bugs me

It is used so often that I concede -- it must be a legit word.

Once something is full, how can it be fuller? Why doesn't it overflow?

Full is a condition, like on and off. Can something be "on-er"?

Also saying "sex" instead of "gender", especially on forms that just say: "Sex?"

[gollygee]

128. This is mine too

DRIVES ME NUTS

[shayes51]

199. Yes!

[CornField]

25. I think the net is exempt

Sometimes, when I have important stuff to share, I take time to run spell check and look over my grammar. Most of the time, I just hit post -- maybe I catch a typo later, maybe I don't and it stands the test of net time. (About 36.7 seconds if we're talking the DU Lounge.) It's not a business letter... it's not a love letter... it's not the local newspaper... I'm not submitting anything for a grade...

Frankly, life is way too short for me to get my panties in a wad over grammatical or spelling errors on a bulletin board. I'm here to share ideas, laughs and even a few tears.

[MrModerate]

51. Then clearly you're insufficiently compulsive about this stuff . . .

Some of us go through life in a constant state of fear that we'll type something incorrectly. I call it "qwertyphobia."

[Phentex]

85. My language is very casual online...

in the same way I may use expressions casually in person when I know the correct, more formal usage.

[NashVegas]

30. "Must Of" Means Nothing

Drives me batty.

[The Night Owl]

49. Good one. EOM

[MrModerate]

53. Don't you think that's "must 've"

As in the colloquial contraction of "must have?"

I dunno, but I always thought so.

[Left Is Write]

70. Yes, it is, but it's evident that many people do not know that.

They hear "must've" (or should've or would've, etc.) and think they are hearing "must of." They apparently have no idea it's supposed to be a contraction, so they write it just as they hear it.

[Left Is Write]

31. This one isn't a peeve, but is really common and makes me laugh:

Store signs proclaiming "Cherrios" for sale.

[skygazer]

34. Or "expresso"

I personally don't trust an establishment that doesn't even know how to spell what they're selling.

[Left Is Write]

58. I agree. If they don't know the word is espresso,

are they really making it the right way? ;)

[progmom]

185. Yes yes YES!

I'll order espresso, and they will parrot back to me: "So that's one expresso then?" like they're correcting me.

YYYEEAAUUUGH.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

35. Anyone here read Eats, Shoots, and Leaves?

Speaking as a stickler who has been known to infuriate close friends and relatives when I correct their e-mails or speech, it's a great book for those obsessed with punctuation and grammar.

My biggest peeve currently is the use of adjectives as adverbs.

[Left Is Write]

71. I have it on my bookshelf even as we speak.

[Nay]

130. Great book. I loved it.

[RebelOne]

218. Yes, everyone should read it. n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

46. My top ten list:

10. Misuse of apostrophes

9. Quotation marks used for emphasis. Writing "Our store offers 'great' deals" does not mean "Our store offers GREAT deals" but "Our store offers lousy deals that we're choosing to call great."

8. Using adjectives instead of adverbs: "I learned how to write good." No, not if you don't know that it's supposed to be "I learned how to write well."

7. Dangling modifiers: "Coughing all night, my temperature rose to 102." This makes it sound as if your temperature was coughing.

6. Use of participles for the past tense: "I seen it several times." "They come here yesterday."

5. Use of the past tense for the participle: "He should have ran." "I could have ate the whole thing." "I ain't did nothing."

4. Using Internet and text messaging abbreviations in non-electronic environments.

3. Writing "could of," "would of" and "must of" instead of "could've, " "would've," and "must've": The "uv" sound is an abbreviation of "have."

2. The nearly lost cause of "lie" versus "lay": When you take a nap, you lie down. When you relax in your recliner, you lie back. You can lay something or someone else down, and you can even lay yourself down, but you can't just "lay down" or tell people to "lay back." I know that the fact that "lay" can be either the past tense of "lie" or the present tense of a transitive (requires an object) verb, but good grief, people, including some very uneducated ones, were able to keep it straight for centuries until about 1970.
Boos and hisses to Bob Dylan ("Lay, Lady, Lay"), Melanie ("Lay Down, Lay Down"), and Tanya Tucker ("Won't You Lay with Me in a Field of Stone") for pounding the wrong form into everyone's heads, and cheers to Roberta Flack for getting it right ("..the first time I ever lay with you" is correct, because it's past tense).

And my least favorite error: (drum roll)

1. Using the wrong pronoun case: "for you and I," "with my wife and they," "him and me were watching TV."

The subject of the verb is I, he, she, they.

The object of a verb or a preposition is me, him, her, them.

Would you say "with they"? Nope, so in the sentence above, the correct form is "with my wife and them."

The late Jim Morrison perpetrated "for you and I," but if he'd thought about it, he would have realized that you don't say "for I," so he should have written "for you and me."

People don't always speak perfectly--I certainly don't--but when they're writing, they should take the time to think these things over.

[Left Is Write]

74. I agree with your whole post, except the Jim Morrison part.

Even if he had thought about it, he would have come to the conclusion that "me" doesn't rhyme with "sky", so he would have written "for you and I" anyway. :)

[Laughing Mirror]

176. Yes, and Bob Dylan could correct his grammar by using the reflexive form

of the verb lay, if he still wants to use the verb lay, that is, giving us the incrediby clumsy mouthful, "Lay yourself, Lady, Lay Yourself across my big brass bed." Lady would run like the dickens if he sang that to her.

Likewise, Melanie could mend her corrupt grammar. "Lie Down, Lie Down, Let it all Down," she could have sung, insipidly. But would anybody have bought the record? Would anybody have listened?

These are songs, poems people are singing. They are not writing prose. They take license. If they are elliptical and leave out words or use the wrong ones, they are speaking the idiom of the people they want to hear them. They want to be expressive.

Robert Flack on the other hand has to speak correctly. That's the way she writes her lyrics. Sophisticated. She has to. She was a music teacher in public school in DC. She can't put out records with incorrect, informal English.

[Marnieworld]

191. Jim did not write Touch me-Robbie did.- So there!

Ta-da! :P

[Marnieworld]

192. Jim did not write Touch me-Robbie did.- So there!

Ta-da! :P

[Marnieworld]

194. Jim did not write Touch me-Robbie did.- So there!

Ta-da! :P

[Marnieworld]

195. Jim did not write Touch me-Robbie did.- So there!

Ta-da! :P

[Marnieworld]

196. Jim did not write Touch me-Robbie did.- So there!

Ta-da! :P

[NashVegas]

86. I Don't Mind #7

With someone who knew the rules otherwise, I'd forgive that one on poetic license terms.

[obreaslan]

113. I don't thin'k I mis'use a'pstrophe's at all.

:evilgrin:

[BurtWorm]

47. "Different than"

:grr:

(It should be different from.)

[KitchenWitch]

48. B.C. instead of B.C.E.

and A.D. instead of C.E.

Also

Flustrated - is it flustered or frustrated?
Preventative - it should be Preventive - Preventative became a word only because people could not properly pronounce preventive!

[MrModerate]

61. BCE vs BC . . . ain't wrong, just different traditions

And yes, I recognise that bad latin is different from a chauvinist <and temporally inaccurate> religious reference, but the pairing of BC/AD is not wrong, per se.

BCE/CE are fairly new to the vernacular, and frankly, a little on the snooty (1) side.

(1) I used "snooty" the other day here -- I'm wondering whether I'll get the same outraged reactions.

PS: "Flustrated" -- never heard that one. Might be a neologism. Or someone's idea of wordplay.

[KitchenWitch]

67. Different traditions yes

But makes the assumption that we are all of the same tradtion, of which I am not...

I think the flustrated thing is kind of a Minnesota thing, as I have never heard it anywhere else, but it is RAMPANT here!

[Nay]

131. "Flustrated" has been used for many years in the South, mostly by

black people. It is a combination of "flustered" and "frustrated," I guess, but it seems to mean "flustered." I don't have too much of a problem with such made-up words; abuse of grammar is what puts me into orbit.

[Runcible Spoon]

50. hey now linguistic elitists...

Think about adopting a more progressive (and generally more widely accepted in academic circles) view of language as fluid, ever-evolving. I am a reformed grammar nazi, having taken many classes in phonology, syntax, cognitive, historical, and social linguistics. Colloquialisms, slang, BEV/Ebonics, "creoles", etc. each has its own innate grammatical logic, reflecting interesting dynamics of the flow and echange of cultural elements across time and space. so here's MY pet peeve, addressed specifically to the Grammar Nazi crowd: linguists distinguish between "prescriptive grammar" (this is what you guys are advocating) which is the rigid adherence to "traditional" or "formal" rules of a language, and generative grammar, which if you buy Chomskyite structuralism, is the production of syntactically valid sentences. Prescriptive grammar has been historically used to oppress various social classes and ethnic minorities. That it all
edited for clarity

[BurtWorm]

52. "That it all"???!!!

:eyes:





;)

[Runcible Spoon]

69. it's called a typo beeyatch!

I've been up 35 hours straight, with only one meal, writing a dismal paper about post-mortem construction of identity in Late Modernity. Bleh. I'd hazard a wager that the entire corpus of my posts on DU have less spelling errors and just as strict adherence to Nazi-(prescriptive)grammar as anyone else. Mutual intelligibility is the key people!
edited to put in some vernacular nasty! :evilgrin:

[MrModerate]

78. I am profoundly sorry for you.

I had to give up dismal papers for a life of fun and sun years ago. I couldn't take the strain.

[Runcible Spoon]

92. wha??? got any stock tips, ala Kerik?

c'mon. I'm drowning in debt and I won't even start my PhD phase until next fall!

[MrModerate]

96. Actually, fun and sun don't pay real well. The theory is . . .

that they're their own reward.

[Runcible Spoon]

149. Are you really from Transylvania?

Bet you never get sick of that one

[MrModerate]

169. Not from, so much as . . .

"In." -- Working on a little motorway project.

[giant_robot]

89. FEWER errors, dammit! FEWER!

Ugh! That's my peeve! Why must you torture me? whywhyhwhywhywhywhywhy????????


Edited to go all "grammar nazi" on my own grammar. :)

[Runcible Spoon]

93. WOW I was wondering if someone was going to catch that!! You get the prize

just keeping you on your toes! ;) My first error was a typo. This one I put in bc. I didn't see anyone mention the "less vs fewer" peeve! on edit: that's what I meant by vernacular nasty! damn i need sleep

[Cadence]

62. I agree.

eom

[MrModerate]

73. If this argument is used to defend Ebonics --

-- the cruelest joke ever played on Black Americans -- then give me prescriptive grammar any old day.

I acknowledge that language is ever-evolving, but beware language that's so fluid it's mush. If a preponderance of educated people think you're a dolt because of the way you speak (or worse, write, since writing is inherently more formal), then you should consider adhering to some recognized rules.

Casual conversation or speech-as-art can be as colorful and idiosyncratic as you like (up to and past the point where people begin to scratch their heads and say "wtf is s/he talking about?") but casual is not the whole of existence, and being able to communicated consistently -- prescriptively -- is a requirement for success in most (I'd risk 'all') cultures.

[Runcible Spoon]

79. ummmm you're not understanding the difference between

"recognized rules" and generative rules of grammar. It's pure historical randomness that the prescriptive grammar the "educated" speak sounds/is constructed the way it is. Just the consequence of the way the dominant Anglos spoke. There is nothing innately more logical about the way "we" speak. As a matter of fact, I've heard some theories that English is a relatively ineffecient language, especially written, since it is purely phonetic with no ideographic elements. And I could give a fuck if "educated" people think I sound like an ass. I have different modes of representation for all sorts of social contexts. As far as Ebonics being a "joke" played on Blacks, I think it is incredibly biased thing to assert that people have no agency over their own language. So what is it? Are they too stupid to learn "proper" English so they "bastardized" it? Or were they so stupid that the Man "played a joke on them" and forced them to speak BEV? Which is it, eh? Keep digging your hole...you don't seem to have any background i linguistics at all, if you did I wouldn't have to explain that "prescriptive grammar" is not found in all cultures. Some languages allow quite a bit of syntactic freedom in sentence construction, and rely on phonologically inflected markers or tonal variance to indicate tense, person, etc.

[The Night Owl]

91. I agree that there is no right or wrong in language, but...

Right or wrong, some ways of speaking, like some ways of dress, are more accepted than others. For instance, you can wear your underwear outside your clothes in most places, but dressing in such a manner for a job interview will eliminate whatever chance you had of getting the job you're interviewing for. Could you really fault an employer for not wanting to hire somebody who shows up to the job interview wearing underwear outside their clothes?

[Runcible Spoon]

94. selecting clothing is an activity that is performed with

self-awareness. Speaking is a complex cognitive function that operates at multiple levels of consciousness. Speaking "without thinking about it" is fluid and automatic, unless you are intentionally trying to modify your speech patttern. Just try speaking with a Czech accent for an hour long job interview. So I guess everyone thinks that Bi lingual education should be banned huh?

[The Night Owl]

101. Selecting clothing is generally a conscious decision, but...

Selecting clothing is generally a conscious decision, but some people make inappropriate clothing choices because they don't know better. For instance, I have been to more than enough weddings to know that some guys think that formal means wearing a gold chain outside a turtle neck. Would a person who wears a gold chain outside a turtle neck make it through an interview at a conservative corporation? Of course not.

[Runcible Spoon]

103. who would want to work at a conservative corporation anyway?

:crazy: Anyway, it still bugs me: "they don't know any better". Post a pic of yourself and I'm sure I can find stuff to pick apart. Perhaps they do. Perhaps they are "reframing" the clothes horse. I don't know, without contextual information. I'm thankfully in a liberal program where I can wear sweats to class if I wanted to. I drink beers with some of the undergrads I TA. It ain't no thang. All I can say is, if you're older than me (24) by 10 years or so, you had to go through 70's fashion. 'Nuff said. :evilgrin:

[The Night Owl]

132. I don't mean "conservative" in the political sense.

Corporations that handle a lot of money, for instance, need to project seriousness and professionalism. A corporation cannot project seriousness and professionalism if its employees who meet with clients wear clothing that does not conform to what is widely considered acceptable business attire.

If you had to invest thousands of dollars, would you feel comfortable working with a broker who dresses like, for instance, Don Johnson's character in the TV show Miami Vice?

[Runcible Spoon]

146. maybe not..but I'd be just fine

with someone who dresses ecentrically..I'm trained to analyze identity as a whole picture, clothing is but one facet of who a person is...but alas in my field I will prolly never amass fabulous sums.... :(

[MrModerate]

95. Quite right -- very limited experience in linguistics . . .

But quite a lot of experience with language (English, anyway).

A few points:

1) You seem to think that historical randomness equals meaninglessness. Hardly. And that my argument had anything to do with the logicality of the dominant language. Not so. Just that speaking/writing it "correctly" has a substantial effect on real people's lives.

2) If by ideographic elements you mean calligraphic elements (as in Chinese or Arabic), lord preserve me from that kind of efficiency, given the incredible price speakers of those language pay in teaching their tongue to their children. And again, my argument had nothing to do with efficiency, although what I read suggests that English is especially suited to the creation and assimilation of new words, which might account for its success over the last couple of centuries.

3) You show all the signs of giving a fuck if educated people think you're an ass; in fact, in a later post, you implied you were an academic. I don't know ANY academics who genuinely don't care what educated people think.

I'm happy for your different modes of representation for different contexts. Me too.

4) Ebonics was more than a joke. It was a plot by wacko and callous educators to marginalize people by pretending that an intensely casual dialect could take the place of the dominant speech. The sole benefit was to those educators who would thus distinguish themselves; anyone who bought into Ebonics as a substitute for standard English was seriously disadvantaged.

And of course people have every right to whatever they please with their speech. But to pretend there are no consequences is unrealistic.

5) Didn't realize we were talking about "all cultures." From the context (multiple layers of context, in fact), I thought we were talking about English (or variants thereof). I'll be sure to address "all cultures" next time I get into a discussion about language.

[Runcible Spoon]

102. ok...responding....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...no mom i dont WANNA go to school!

what were we talking about? Ah ok.
1) just because something is accepted as "correct" behavior by the mainstream means we should just suck it up and ignore intolerance? So "flaming" gays should just stop being so damn flamboyant, right? Maybe train that lisp away? I guess addressing intolerance is harder then just blending in with the crowd.
2)I don't exactly know what you mean by "price speakers of those language pay in teaching their tongue to their children" :shrug: I would like to know what you were reading RE: English and lexical assimilation. I don't have a horse in that race, primarily because I'm not perfectly fluent, (just fuctional in Spanish and German) in a foreign language to do a compatative study; besides it would be innately flawed because of my own cultural conditioning in English.
3)I did not imply, I stated a fact. The comment about people thinking I'm an ass was referring to my use of multiple registers, especially my very drunk, informal register.Obviously I care what my profs think of me when I speak. I meant the general DU population, if people thought I was an ass bc. of my use of slang. However, I push the envelope in classes, liberally mixing profanity with 50 centers. As far as "educated", takes a lot to impress me. I know high schoo dropouts who are brilliant poets, and Ivy Leaguers who are complete idiots.
4)I assume you're referring to the Oakland school board's decision to make Ebonics the official language of AA students. This situation is more complex than I want to get into, but suffice it to say that both the school board, as well as the main stream media, nurtured a culture/race war. The formal opinions of the linguists who convened at the annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America was ignored by the main stream media. I suggest you read up a bit before you jump to conclusions. The LSA recognized the language as independently rule governed. However, there are also social facets to distinguishing language from dialect, and I really dont have the energy to get into it. However, just because one school board made a bad call, (they did not consult the linguists either) does not mean you should debase something outside of your cultural experience that you don't understand.
5) you brought up "all cultures" in post #73: "being able to communicated consistently -- prescriptively -- is a requirement for success in most (I'd risk 'all') cultures"

[Runcible Spoon]

147. hey now...I put all this effort into a nice long post..

addressing your points...ya there?? ***crickets****

[MrModerate]

170. Sorry I missed you earlier . . .

But I'm in a different time zone (GMT +2) and I had to go to bed. They don't let me stay up for 35 hours straight anymore.

However, there is a late-arriving reply for you to pick apart if you're so inclined.

As it turns out (noting one of your later posts), I'm roughly twice your age, so I also claim a right to despise 70s fashion (and music, for that matter), since my heydey was a tad earlier.

[Runcible Spoon]

148. dupe

delete

[MrModerate]

168. I'm pretty sure you're asleep by now, so . . .

I'll take this opportunity to sneak in a response.

Several of the points in your post are right on target, but 1) isn't one of them. The behavior you assume is objectionable ("flamboyance") doesn't have much to do with grammar, syntax, or intelligibility. As for the lisp, I lived in San Francisco for years, and I can't say I heard anyone lisping very often, even though I suspect many of the people I knew <might> have been gay. I think we're dealing with a red herring here. I have to agree, however, that addressing intolerance IS harder than just blending in with the crowd. I wasn't really talking about blending in, so much as being an effective person within your culture. That's where my original comment about "language so fluid it's mush" comes from.

2) My reference to the educational weight of Chinese and Arabic comes from conversations with Chinese and Arab parents, as well as years spent in Hong Kong. Achieving functional reading/writing skill with those languages (let's forget fluency) takes much greater study than similar skill with English, Spanish, German, etc., precisely because of what I call their "calligraphic" nature -- they're simply much more difficult to learn and use, and in the case of Chinese, if you happen to be tone deaf, you're screwed.

3) If you go out of your way to use multiple registers, then that's even more evidence that you care intensely about what people think of you as you present yourself in speech. I'm not saying that you quiver at the notion of some pimple of a teaching assistant opining that you've made a grammatical gaffe, just that language clearly MATTERS to you. Basically, I don't buy your "don't give a fuck" comment. Am I wrong?

4) Yep, Oakland's the one. I lived there when the whole Ebonics thing blew up in their faces. I didn't read the LSA opinions, but I did observe what the media -- and the community -- were saying at the time. It was an unmitigated disaster for Oakland schools and their students. This is an example of the dire consequences I was alluding to when you let your language get mushy. And while I'm not a linguist (as you have noted), I've heard plenty of the speech that people were calling "Ebonics," and rule-wise it was all over the map. I suppose it's possible that, with the application of scholarship, training, standards, and some penetration of the larger culture, Ebonics could have grown into a language rather than a dialect, but it didn't happen, ain't gonna happen, and did those who drank the Kool-Aid no good.

5) Mea Culpa. I DID bring up "all cultures." I still believe (but don't have the facts to hand) that communicating consistently is a requirement for success -- but I'll defer to you on that one.

[The Night Owl]

75. Lighten up!

That fact that we call ourselves "grammar cops" or "grammar Nazis" shows that we are primarily trying to poke fun at ourselves for being bothered by irrelvant grammar errors.

[Runcible Spoon]

81. I ain't buggin'!

except at that vicious bigotry in another response about BEV....

[Lydia Leftcoast]

80. I actually have a graduate degree in linguistics, and I

recognize the concept of registers. That is, speaking with your friends and neighbors is different from writing in a formal situation.

Non-standard writing can be powerful as the expression of a suppressed group of people, but what I saw more often among my college-level students was writing that showed no evidence of training in usage or even in logical means of presenting an argument. These students were mostly affluent white suburbanites, and their writing looked like our stereotypes of freepers' posts. Indeed, differences in writing ability cut across racial and class lines and seemed to have more to do with the quality of the students' high school than with the family's income.

Every industrialized country in the world has a standard language for formal writing, and even in Japan, Germany, France, and Italy, to name four countries that have strong local dialect traditions, you don't see anyone questioning the need for a common standard.

The idea of prescriptive grammar being bad was a revolt against the nineteenth century habit of trying to fit every language into the mold of Latin, not against the idea of a standard language.

[Runcible Spoon]

90. No I recognize the utility of an "academic register"

and that's exactly the way I frame it. It is necessary to have a universally acepted and understood mode of communication within certain academic and professional circles. Hell, I can't get through legalese! What bothers me is all the presumptions that those who don't speak the Queen's English are dumb. If you don't grow up in a a household that speaks "proper" English, you have ten times as much trouble in school, and primarily because a good number of teachers believe children wilfully speak that way, not realizing that is the language they spoke from birth. It's elitism. And the BEV comment from another poster was nasty and uninformed. I think we primarily agree on everything. Honestly, I drifted away from traditional linguistics; I found the depth in which cultural processes were factored into models of change and adaptation was inadequate. I found that if you spent enough time reconfiguring syntax trees and phonological rule sequences correctly, you could make any nasty little anomaly fit in. But then it just seems like an arbitrary judgment and not reflective of the real structure of the language. sigh. Now I mostly do critical discouse analysis and practice theory. All that said, I DO laugh at the "get a brain morans" pic. Snarf.

[KitchenWitch]

54. Oh and

Using the word "Meantime" as a full sentence, like the talking heads do.

It is "In the meantime: blah blah blah."

[The Night Owl]

59. Here is a good one that is often overlooked...

Improper use of the word "only" always bothers me.

Incorrect:

After having worked for many hours, he only had two tasks remaining.

Correct:

After having worked for many hours, he had only two tasks remaining.

[yellowdogintexas]

63. "One of the only"....used instead of "One of the few"

don't those idiots know if it is the only ...it is the only one!!!!!

And I hear this used by supposedly educated people all the time.
Newscasters say it, teachers, and it just grates on my last nerve


Of course I have other pet grammar peeves but most have already been addressed here.

[Endangered Specie]

68. Grammar Nazis piss me off.

;)

[Don Claybrook]

82. woman instead of women (or vice versa) on the written page

That one bothers me.

[Don Claybrook]

83. Improper use of quotation marks

This can usually be seen on small business signs or church signs. A word or words are enclosed in quotation marks, for no apparent freaking reason, e.g.,

Big "Sale" This Weekend

[Dover]

84. Spelling pet peeve.................it's No one.......NOT " NOONE."

Plenty of well educated adults that still spell it noone.

[efhmc]

97. Your for you're.

[ernstbass]

183. This has to be the most common grammatical error

in America and it drives me crazy!!!!

[Droolian]

98. Droolian reckons language is an ever-mutating form.

What seems like a mistake today may be proper tomorrow.

[Runcible Spoon]

105. mad props to Droolian

:hi:

[Droolian]

106. Thank you - although as RD Laing said -

'insanity is a sane reaction to an insane world'.

[DelawareValleyDem]

99. Sign in a supermarket

Special wild they last.

Hopefully, dictionaries

[sleepyhead]

108. Another sign in a supermarket

We only except the cream of the crop.

By using "except" instead of "accept", the sign writer said the opposite of what was intended!

[Left Is Write]

139. It would be wickedly fun

to get into an argument with a store that says "We do not except checks":

"So, you'll take my check, right?"

[IHeart1993]

104. all lower case writing eom

[Undercover Owl]

115. got instead of have

Someone should slap a fine on the milk industry for their slogan "got milk?" Then people started aping that slogan to put witty sayings on t-shirts such as "got beer?", "got boys?" "got a brain?" "got Jesus?"

My town just opened an Indian restaurant called "Got Curry?"

What happened to pardon me but do you have any grey poupon?

it's do you have, not, do you got

[Dora]

210. I'm with you on "got"

I confess to having developed a discomfiting reliance on it myself. The more I hear other people use it, the more appalled I am. Just listen to Bush - he's a prime example.

What bothers me the most is how it's replacing "must" in our vocabulary. Now, we have, "I've got to go to the store," instead of "I must go to the store."

It's everywhere. It's ubiquitous.

The Evil Got.

[neweurope]

117. I understand what Force of Nature said, agreed with much but

as an editor "wrong" use of my language - which I love - bothers me, also. Then I thought about my posts on DU...

*runs* The Grammar Police is going to get me!

:scared:

[Left Is Write]

140. I know what you mean.

I freely admit to being a bit of a Nazi in areas of grammar, but I also know that my own posts are often riddled with errors. That's the nature of message boards. I'm more careful about avoiding errors in formal writing. I have to admit having my tail handed to me a few times when caught in a grammatical error on a message board.

I've also been known to break the rules in fiction writing, but only when necessary either to make a point or to create natural-sounding dialogue. At least I know the rule I'm breaking and why I'm breaking it.

[arwalden]

118. But What If They Actually COULD Care Less? If They Had Not Reached...

... the depths of how little they could care... and it was indeed possible for them to care even LESS than they currently care, then the phrase "I could care less" would be accurate.

[personman]

119. could care less = sarcasm

Just yesterday I used "I give a shit" as a sarcastic way of saying "I dont give a shit", adds a little more verbal sting I think.

[The Night Owl]

142. Good point.

If sarcasm is the intent, then one saying that he/she "could care less" should be interpreted as meaning the opposite of caring.

[blondeatlast]

120. "Alot." As a former HS English teacher, I warned my students up front

that I couldn't be objective about using "alot" for the phrase "a lot."

Those that ignored the warning did so at their own peril and nearly all learned not to the first time.

[ceile]

121. ya'll (incorrect) vs y'all (correct) n/t

[hickman1937]

123. substituting een for ing

Not like when someone says I'm thinkin' or I'm goin', but when they lean on the E till it squeals. " I'm thinkeen of geteen sometheen to go with this painteen." Drives me nuts.

[KitchenWitch]

187. YES!

That is another rampant upper midwest phenomenon. Makes me want to sandblast my ears!

[qanda]

126. Then and than

Lose and loose.

[Shrek]

133. "I feel nauseous"

Actually, you feel nauseated.

[The Night Owl]

135. According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary...

Main Entry: nau·seous
Pronunciation: 'no-sh&s, 'no-zE-&s
Function: adjective
1 : causing nausea or disgust : NAUSEATING
2 : affected with nausea or disgust
- nau·seous·ly adverb
- nau·seous·ness noun
usage Those who insist that nauseous can properly be used only in sense 1 and that in sense 2 it is an error for nauseated are mistaken. Current evidence shows these facts: nauseous is most frequently used to mean physically affected with nausea, usually after a linking verb such as feel or become; figurative use is quite a bit less frequent. Use of nauseous in sense 1 is much more often figurative than literal, and this use appears to be losing ground to nauseating. Nauseated is used more widely than nauseous in sense 2.

:shrug:

[Shrek]

143. I'll see your Merriam-Webster

and raise you a Webster's Online Dictionary :-).

Nauseous

Adjective

1. Causing or able to cause nausea; "a nauseating smell"; "nauseous offal"; "a sickening stench".


Nauseated

Adjective

1. Feeling nausea; feeling about to vomit.

[Zenlitened]

134. I still cringe when people use "that" instead of "who"

As in "George is the first person that ever posted on DU."

This one seems like a lost cause, though. Chalk it up to the way languages morph over time, I guess.

[Nay]

202. Yes, this is a lost cause. "Who" to refer to people and "that" for

everything else -- seems so simple, doesn't it? I correct this all the time at work and have just about given up.

[lizzieforkerry]

136. irregardless

I hear this all of the time and it drives me nuts!

[The Night Owl]

138. Merriam-Webster Dictionary says that "irregardless" is a word...

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=irregardless

[Left Is Write]

141. It also points out that the word is nonstandard.

[deadparrot]

144. "A whole nother" and the blundering of "effect"/"affect". nt

[donheld]

145. Mine is when i hear

Deja vu all over again :spank::spank:

[Left Is Write]

186. Many people who say "deja vu all over again" are saying it that way to be

funny. The know what "deja vu" means and are making a joke.

[traco]

150. Could of, would of, should of

It is could have, would have, should have!

[Ellen Forradalom]

151. "Analyzation" and "donator"

instead of "analysis" and "donor."

[Ellen Forradalom]

152. I once heard "the male penis"

As opposed to.....?

[Laughing Mirror]

184. The Female Penis, a novel, by Jacqueline Susann

:headbang:

[proud2BlibKansan]

153. Actually

could care less is okay. It means you really could care even less about this bullshit.

I looked this one up about a year ago. Both 'could' and 'couldn't' are considered gramatically correct.

[tilsammans]

154. "Anyways" and . . .

. . . "alls," as in "that's alls I know."

Corporatespeak: Incent, incentivize, informate.

All right as "alright."

:puke: :puke: :puke:

[nytemare]

155. "Medium" instead of "Median"

and "for all intensive purposes" in place of "for all intents and purposes."

Oh, and "irregardless".

[Ellen Forradalom]

156. "Try and do something" rather than "try to do something"

aaaagh

[proud2BlibKansan]

157. it's and its

very few people get these right

Also my son says 'alls' and 'mines'. Those really drive me crazy.

[Zomby Woof]

159. Apostrophes, goddammit!

People do not know shit about them anymore.

And for the lazy folks who think grammar 'formalism' is too strict and rigid, it sure as hell beats the 'anything goes' school of thought, which would lead to no one understandeeng wun anuthur an stufff, bekaus gramur is belong to all us! Dowwn wif opreshunn and stuf!!!!*(!

[LDS Jock]

160. I think you meant to type "apostrophe's"

didn't you?

[hatrack]

163. Item One: "very unique" - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It something is unique, there's only one of it. How for the love of Mike could it be "more unique" than that?!?!? :eyes:

Item Two: "He wants to have his cake and eat it, too." No, no, NO. There is no logical reason that you couldn't have your cake and eat it too.

The problem comes when you want to first EAT your cake and then HAVE it, too, which is the actual proverb/cliche/saying - NOT the other way around!!!!

[Ellen Forradalom]

164. Au Jus Sauce and Imperial Le Baron

were just two of the malapropisms that drove my late father nuts. Au jus, said of meat, means with its natural juices, as opposed to a sauce. My father used to yell at the TV when a commercial for Chrysler's Imperial Le Baron was broadcast, "If he's a baron, he's not imperial!"

[Left Is Write]

188. Salsa sauce -

Salsa literally means sauce. It's redundant to say salsa sauce (your au jus rant reminded me).

[HEyHEY]

165. It ain't "Full Proof" it's "Fool Proof"

[Undercover Owl]

203. or 100 proof

if you're talking booze

[steely]

166. "Mute" instead of "moot" point

eom

[steely]

167. Full "gambit" instead of "gamut"

but then, I've been guilty of using a malaprop "onced in a while"

[Spider Jerusalem]

171. Drives me bloody fucking nuts when people omit verbs from their sentences.

Example: people who say "the cat needs fed". Um, you mean "to be fed", yes? This seems to be fairly common, I've noticed, but it still bothers me.

[Patiod]

172. Good thing you didn't go to Penn State or Pitt

or grow up in Western PA, where's that's appallingly common usage.

I picked it up at PSU, and it didn't take long for Phila-area relatives and friends to make me stop (it's an extremely annoying construction for those who didn't grow up hearing it)

[The Night Owl]

174. Omission of verbs is a regional thing, is it not? EOM

[Spider Jerusalem]

175. Not necessarily.

I've met people from the South, Midwest and mid-Atlantic regions who do it, so if it's regional it's a fairly large region.

[gtp1976]

173. learned him/her

instead of taught him/her

and no Im not going to bother to use quotes or punctuation :-)

[auntAgonist]

178. I work with a woman who says ....

"I have a great ideal" instead of " I have a great idea"

[Hand]

224. Shoot her. Many times. nt

[NamVetsWeeLass]

180. A few of mine from WV.....

Instead of saying a patient has fallen on the floor, I get *Insert twang* "So and So fell IN the Floor"... Well, jesus, how in the hell hard did they fall?
Another classic: Instead of reaching into their pockets or what have you, I have been told: "So and so started to fall and so I retched over and snatched him up by the belt".... Umm ok what does almost throwing up have to do with the person falling?
Another still: In reference to an amount someone ate for lunch "He ET real good" **cringe**
Another good one: Instead of asking someone to hand you something I get "Hey reach me that..."
Another still, I have only ever heard of one type of pen, I mean when it boils down to it, I know there are quill pens and feather pens, but how often in today's world are these things used? I have been asked to "Reach me that INK PEN"..... Ummm did you think I had a crayon pen near by?

[barb162]

181. where do you live AT

[bleedingheart]

182. yinz guys are so funny

hee hee..

[shayes51]

198. These three..........

Pronouncing the "l" in salmon (common in the south), saying "I have got" rather than simply "I have," and "anxious to" rather than "eager to."

[paula777]

200. When the news reports a 'near miss' when referring to a plane that almost

crashed. If it was a 'near miss' wouldn't that mean it was a hit? They don't call it a near hit, but they should.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

205. "a>TM" and "&rsquo;"...

... as substitutes for ' and " are intensely annoying. An example of what I'm talking about is any article at www.msnbc.com The TM in "a>TM" means "trademarked" I'm sure. The trademarking of that piece of stupidity makes it even more annoying.

[davis_islander]

206. Yes "ideal" when they mean "idea" and....

Don't you cringe when someone says "the point is mute"? Or, "acrosst" instead of "across".

Here in the South, we get to hear:
Chimley instead of chimney
Libary instead of library
"Let me acks you a question"
Fridgidaire instead of refrigerator
Co-cola or co-coler instead of Coca Cola
Kazurt instead of berserk
Tarco instead of taco
Hassick instead of hassock
Conscience instead of conscious and vice versa
The list goes on.... :)

Edit - Oh yeah, almost forgot, "to all intensive purposes" and "rebel rousers"...

Also, I love how the Pennsylvania Dutch switch things around as in "Throw the horse over the fence some hay."

[MessiahRp]

211. Does this count?

Chatting I always get people that reply with "Heh". I HATE that reply. I don't know why but the people that use it use it to reply to EVERYTHING and it gets really annoying. Heh is like the most colorless, emotionless reply ever. It doesn't convey what you think of the previous comment at all. I hate it.

I also hate "hella". My friends in Iowa started using that term first and all of a sudden it spread here. It's stupid. I can't stand it.

Rp

[Hand]

216. "Comprised of..."

It's approaching lost-cause status, but not as long as I'm drawing breath. The worst aspect of this misuse is that it leads to worse atrocities such as "comprising of..." (Got that from an engineer once. He sleeps with the fishes.)

[RebelOne]

220. As a copy editor, I see that all the time.

It is a frequent mistake. Comprise means include, so comprised of makes no more sense than included of.

[doubleplusgood]

219. "my bad"

n/t

[RebelOne]

222. Advise and advice

Advise is what you do. Advice is what you get.

[outraged2]

223. marshall law instead of martial law (nt)

[Ron Green]

227. I'm surprised no one has mentioned the use of the plural pronoun instead

of the singular: "Each student will put their book on the table" rather than "...will put his (or his or her) book..."