word pet peeves: post yours here

[Bertha Venation]

Two for starters:

"mute point" -- the word is moot and it's pronounced like "boot"

"biggoted" -- in whatever form, the word contains only one "g"

Who's next?

[Loonman]

1. "intents and purposes"

Not "intensive purposes"

"hopefully"

[pagerbear]

2. "Faget"

I always think graffiti should be spelled correctly, no?

[Whitacre D_WI]

5. Wasn't he in Steely Dan?

:D

[skypilot]

25. Ick, you've got santorum all over your post.

:puke:

[Whitacre D_WI]

28. I tried cleaning it off, but it just smeared.

[geniph]

69. Some stains just cry out for lye

strong lye...

[wryter2000]

3. Try and

It's "try to." If you try something and do it, that's succeeding, not trying.

[CPschem]

32. that one bothers me, too! grrr

[boobooday]

4. interactivity

Interactivity -- stupid word

means nothing new. I study communications, and I'm sick of hearing it! We're just telling stories through computers!

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[Arbustosux]

6. Nuke-U-ler

of course so many things that Bush says make my skin crawl

[wryter2000]

7. And while you asked...

People that. It's people who and things that.

[jean]

10. now that you mention it

the word that is overused. Try it sometime - proofread anything and see how many times you can delete that.

[Ysabel]

60. yeah, i did that last night...

i make so many typos and i already had edited about three times to fix several others - i ended up letting that one go - i knew it was wrong - i'm sorry - don't be mad please...

[BR_Parkway]

8. Bare arms!

Your right to uncloth them is NOT protected by any amendment!

[HEyHEY]

9. Fucktards who think "Ignorant" means "rude"

[afraid_of_the_dark]

11. Bag of worms...

It's "opening a can of worms" people!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. Hi Mr. Benedict. How's the glass eye collection?

Please don't shoot me. I'm not an idiot. You can read your paper in peace.

[StopTheMorans]

12. "that's a whole nother thing"

don't know if it's confined to just the Northeast or not, but I've even heard it on the evening news, and it drives me NUTS! :)

[LuLu550]

49. AAAAAAHHHHH!

yes, that's one too, people who think the word is "nuther"
It's all over the TV now:

"we have a nuther murder in Troy"
"we got a nuther cat"
"may I have a nuther piece of pie"

AHHHHHHHH!

[4morewars]

13. Let me "ax" you something...

"IR"regardless, I should "of" "axed" you about the port "of" authority(port authority)

[aquart]

26. Point about "ax" instead of "ask:"

The "ax" pronunciation is the old anglo-saxon version. It was brought to America by the people, say, from Warwickshire, who showed up in the 1600s and took to the southern hills.

[pagerbear]

45. Interesting

There was a great documentary series on PBS long, long ago call The Story of English. One of the episodes featured a remote island in the Chesapeake Bay where the people spoke with accents very much like that in Cornwall, I think, whence their ancestors had come!

[Richardo]

14. "of" for "have" - been seeing this a lot lately, even on DU...

e.g. "I would of gone to the game if I had a ticket."

[Richardo]

16. ...and the ever-popular (but ignorant) "chomp at the bit"

...it's "champ at the bit".

[LuLu550]

52. yes, everyone knows that should be

"woodah" as in "I woodah gone if I had a ticket." :7

[pagerbear]

15. Apostrophes for plurals make me crazy!

And so do quotation marks for emphasis.

[Stevendsmith]

17. "Definately" (spelling)

As for phrases, the ones I hate:

Happy Camper

Cool Beans

And referring to a place a "digs"--oh god I hate that!

"How do you like the new digs?"

Aarrghhhh

[aquart]

18. "Casted" as a past tense for "cast."

The disappearance of irregular verbs altogether.

The interjection of an unnecessary "of."

The use of "they" and "their" as a sexually indefinite singular even when the sex is not debatable as in "No mother should be forced to testify against their child" which is a verbatim quote from TV.

Wifes, knifes, and hoofs instead of wives, knives, and hooves.

And my number one pet peeve? Often pronouced as the uncomfortable nouveau-educated off-ten instead of the easy off'n. I've heard the Prince of Wales pronouce it that way which only proves everything I've ever believed about that German family. The glory of genuine English is that it strives to make pronunciation easy, not difficult. Only those who don't trust the language overcomplicate it.

[Westegg]

20. Written only, or spoken, too?

I've heard two people say, "We've got to nip that in the butt."

Pretty damn funny, actually.

[Bertha Venation]

21. both

go for it

I think I found a secret to a successful thread: Tap into what pisses people off.

[Rabrrrrrr]

27. ending sentences with prepositions

It should be "tap into that off which pisses people"

:spank:

Heh heh - yeah, pissing threads seem to do pretty well, don't they?

Let out your (or should I say you're?) anger! Let it floe threw you!"

[aquart]

33. Piffle on that.

Latin won't let you end with a preposition. English is actually just fine with it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

40. it was a joke

sorry for any confusion

[trackfan]

54. Certe licet dicere "vade mecum" n/t

[Bertha Venation]

41. Churchill -- in satire:

Ending sentences with prepositions is something up with which I will not put.

;)

[Nevernose]

74. It's almost impossible to end a sentence with a preposition(n/t)

n/t

[pagerbear]

24. I've seen some butts I'd like to nip

And some butts I actually have!

[LuLu550]

50. and are you

"buck naked" or "butt naked," I'd like to know, too!

[PVnRT]

22. Loose

does not mean lose. The next person that does that gets flamed, no exceptions.

No, I'm not kidding.

[fob]

31. I'm with you on that one Jack!

Loose = not tight
Lose = didn't win

Also flameworthy;

your instead of you're

there instead of their

[Westegg]

23. "I could care less."

Oh you could? You could care LESS? Then I guess you actually DO care, at least somewhat , about this thing you are trying to indicate that you don't care about.

[supernova]

37. Good one!

That irritates the crap out of me! :argh:

It's "I

couldn't

care less!"

[GAspnes]

29. less vs. fewer

Less is for unquanitifiable amounts; fewer for enumerable amounts.

"I bought less gasoline than I did yesterday."

"I bought fewer gallons of gas than I did yesterday."

Fewer is dying out -- less is used almost all the time, mostly incorrectly.

[pagerbear]

56. "Fewer" is used less and less

[skypilot]

30. "Synergy"

I'm convinced that anyone who uses that word is an asshole. Especially if they use it when talking about personal relationships.

[CPschem]

34. "ON accident" ..instead of "BY accident"

that one really gets to me.

[Blue-Jay]

35. From message boards:

"Rediculous" - ironic spelling, no?

"ppl" - Sorry, Kamika, but it makes me cringe.

[pagerbear]

36. "kewl"

Not cool by me.

[Az]

38. Loose <> Lose

I have seen this one show up in published books. What is up with this one. Loose means not tight. Lose means you are the Detroit Tigers.

[supernova]

39. Affect/Effect

This makes me tear my hair out. :argh:

If you wish to have an influence on events, you affect events.

The end results of your affect are your effects. Simple.

[LuLu550]

42. "warsh" instead of "wash"

and a very local but really annoying one - when someone agrees with you, but they use the negative, as in:

"I really liked that movie."

"Yeah, so didn't I."


"I love to eat pizza."

"Yeah, so don't I."

It makes me crazy and I've never heard it anywhere but around the Albany/Troy NY area.

[curlyred]

43. supposebly

instead of supposedly. AARGH.

[Lizz612]

57. My sister does that!

Drives me up the wall! I correct her every time I hear it, but it hasn't sunk in yet.

[blackcat77]

44. People who use "breath" for "breathe"

People who use apostrophes for plurals
People who don't know the difference between "your" and "you're"

Gawd, I could go on and on...

[Jackhammer Jesus]

46. "Pet Peeve."

Ironic, ain't it?

Also: When people pronounce "soda" as "soder."

[King Coal]

47. Then for than

rember for remember

Or the one I hate the most: wordsmithing

[Eumenides]

48. Seen

I seen it on tv.

I swear, I seen it just yesterday!

[DS1]

51. People complaining when I post peeve threads

:grr:

[MiddleRiverRefugee]

53. "4" for "for" and "U" for "you"

I don't CARE if it takes too much time to type your Text Messages.

DO IT!

CUL8R

[pagerbear]

55. Interesting digression

Nowadays the study of language, including grammar, is more descriptive than prescriptive. In other words, the study is of language as it is actually used, not about grammar rules. (At the same time, due respect is given various styles of communication, from the boardroom to the barroom.)

What I'm trying to say is that some of these horrible linguistic sins we so deplore are becoming part of the language simply because they're used regularly. In some cases it sounds more awkward nowadays to say something correctly--what we learned was correct--than to say it as it might be said by others.

Comments?

[trackfan]

81. You're absolutely right...

Though we all might have our pet peeves, language is ultimately the posession of the people, not the grammarians. The rules of grammar originate to describe the language, then are turned around to dictate a proper usage. Someone's pet peeve was "a whole 'nother". I have - pretty much successfully - purged this locution from my own usage. YET, when you really think about it, "That's a whole nother thing" actually does sound better, and flows more easily than, "That's a whole other thing", or "That's another thing entirely", etc. So, we bind ourselves with rules, but, in the end, the language, as the people speak it, will evolve as it will.

[greeneyedpookie]

58. I have two

"Exactly" and "But", they just drive me up the wall. Way too overused.

GEP

:bounce:

[Bertha Venation]

59. Exactly.

:bounce:

[greeneyedpookie]

61. LOL

Precisely!

GEP

:bounce:

[Ysabel]

62. then than...

same thing - who cares...? LOL...

[BlackVelvetElvis]

63. "Bling, bling"

and it's variant "Bling". What really started it is when an anchor on MSNBC used it in a story-several times!

[mac56]

64. "Orientate"

Drives me up a wall. "I'm off to orientate our new co-worker." The word is orient. To orientate means to turn to the East.

Hi Bertha! :hi:

[bubblesby2002]

76. Absolutely

yeah that one pisses me off no end. "We need to orientate ouselves".

[scarlet_owl]

65. "alot"

Two words people!

[fudge stripe cookays]

66. "Conversate" as a verb

sounds completely and utterly MORONIC! The word is "converse!"

[fudge stripe cookays]

67. Basically

I freaking HATE this word!

At the company I work for, every engineer uses it every 5 minutes to begin a description of soemthing! It ranks right up there with "like" here.

I started a great game for boring meetings with R & Ders-- keeping a tally of the number of times it was used in a single meeting. The most I came up with so far is 70.

[geniph]

68. Viola!

If one is expressing "there it is!" the term is "voila." If one is referring to a stringed instrument, THAT is a viola. The two are not spelled the same, or pronounced the same!

I really dislike people misusing foreign terms. If you don't know how to use it, or how to spell it, avoid foreign-language terms.

[TheMightyFavog]

70. ex-scape.

:grr:It's pronounced es-scape, you gimboids! es-scape!:grr:

[geniph]

71. "Administrate"

What the hell is wrong with "administer"? Why the deep-seated need to add extraneous syllables?

[camero]

72. Whatnot

That one really irks me.

[pagerbear]

73. Vis a vis

I hate this! What's wrong with "with regard to"?

[Lindsey]

75. There are certain things people have been saying lately that I"m

getting sick of - such as when people end a statement with "Does that make sense?" Just once I want someone to say NO! What you just said make no sense at all!!!

[trackfan]

77. "Myself", when "Me" is correct...

My boss always says, "Send a copy to Joe and myself"..NO --- Only YOU can send a copy to yourself. It's reflexive, dumbass.

[MurikanDemocrat]

78. irregardless ... is not a word

[Endangered Specie]

79. like, when used repeadly as a space filler, more than once in a sentence

[populistmom]

80. Wedgie

[Az]

82. So there is this teacher

Explaining to the class that in language a double negative results in a positive statement. A double positive however does not make a negative statement.

A kid in the back of the class mutters out loud "Yeah, right".

[BlueJazz]

83. People who say... I want chew (to do something)

damnit!..It's I want YOU !..