Grammar/spelling pet peeves that you've grudgingly forced yourself to except? I mean accept?

[Orrex]

For me, it's the ol' "everyone ate their lunch" thing. For years, I fought it, but at long last I've realized that it's futile; this is the way the language is evolving, turning "their" in this context into a sort of gender-neutral third-person-singular idiom, but I still don't like it.

FWIW, I'll never use that construction in my own writing, but I'm sure that it slips into my speech, and it no longer inspires berserk fury when I see or read others using it.

Anyone else?

[quip]

1. Rime, theatre, colour, and all other

uncorrect mispellings.... ;-)

[begin_within]

2. "hating on"

As in, "Why do you guys keep hating on her?" I am so sick of that.

[Orrex]

3. That's pretty bad, I agree. But...

Nowhere near as bad as your sigline image. That's horrifying!

[begin_within]

5. I'm sorry. But that's the intention of it, actually. To scare undecideds.

[FloridaJudy]

4. There, they're, their, dear

I sometimes make the mistake myself of writing the wrong one of the three, but I try to avoid it as much as possible.

My own language peeve is people who verb nouns. "Impact" is not a verb, unless you're programming ballistic missiles, or describing a disgusting medical disorder. A recent radio ad announced that some office supply store was "The New Way to Office!" How the hell do you "office"? And when you've finished officing for the day, do you go out restauranting, or just stick with homing?

This is not a promising trend.

[LaydeeBug]

6. I'm even guilty of DOING IT, now. Your for you're

:scared:

[Orrex]

7. It kind of hurts your soul, doesn't it?

I cringe a little every time I commit a big grammar atrocity like that, but it still happens despite my best efforts.


And welcome to DU!
:hi:

[LaydeeBug]

8. I feel wet and soggy deep inside.

and thanks for the welcome. :hi:

[Quantess]

9. As opposed to "everyone ate his or her own respective lunch"?

ROFL, I'm happy to hear you lightened up enough to let that one go...
because we wouldn't want him eating eating her lunch, or, her to be eating his lunch. :rofl:

[Orrex]

10. LOL! Well, when I learned the rule...

The proper phrasing was "everyone ate his lunch," while using "his" as gender-neutral. Decades later I've long since realized, of course, that there's no way to use "his" without a sexist undercurrent in that context, though I balk at substituting "his or her," which is simply too cumbersome.

In formal writing I simply avoid the construction, becuase it's rarely the only way to state something. And in casual discourse I've abandoned that out-dated rule altogether.