Let’s have a little fun today. The past few days were entirely too serious, so let’s laugh a little.
I was listening to the local news and a county official used a word I hate “irregardless.” Actually it’s a non-word. it doesn’t exist. Irregardless, like “for all intensive purposes” and “where’s it at” are the grammatical equivalent of nails across a black board for me.
Here are a few more I can’t stand:
- 1 AM in the morning. - Um…doesn’t AM indicate morning?
- Using “loose” instead of lose - Two different words meaning too different things. They’re even pronounced differently.
- its/it’s, their/they’re, your/you’re - Admit it. It bothers you too.
- “Home in” instead of “hone in” and vice versa - Update: please see comments for discussion regarding home in/hone in.
- Text messaging type abbreviations in email or blog posts. U no wht I mean?
- Using the word “literally”. It literally makes me cringe when people use this word to illustrate a point.
- “I could care less.” Really? Well I couldn’t care less.
There are also expressions that bother. For instance, if I hear the expression “At the end of the day…” one more time, I’m going to pull my hair out.
So … share. What things to people say or write that make you want to bang your head against the wall?
December 14th, 2007 at 1:32 am
Deb - Your links in the email you’ve sent out in past 2 days have gone to http://www.freelancewritingjobs.com not http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com.
FYI
December 14th, 2007 at 1:33 am
Thanks Kara. I guess I have been distracted.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:34 am
Nails acrossed the blackboard. That’s how my brother in law says across. DRIVE ME BONKERS.
Also, my mother in law who calls every place she stays in on vacation a “motel.” Even if we are renting a room or suite in a 4-star, upscale HOTEL or RESORT.
Or perhaps it’s my husband who says “We need to set down” instead of “sit down.”
Um, am I making my husband and his family sound like rednecks? They really aren’t! (Okay, maybe a little.)
December 14th, 2007 at 1:44 am
My dad says he is “a scared” of things. It’s annoying.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:53 am
Well seeing as how it’s at the end of the day..:o) Sorry, couldn’t resist.
I hate it when people pronounce things incorrectly. I think it has to do with speech therapy classes when I was a little girl, but if you can’t pronounce the word, don’t make up new ways to say it. I was listening to a newscast and every single reported said Afghanistan differently. By the end I couldn’t even remember what the right way was.
It’s not so much a pet peeve but I hate when prospective clients will use the word “kewl” in correspondance. Umm…my brother used to write that when he was 15, not a 45 year old man who is trying to hire me. I almost declined the contract because in an online conversation, he used “kewl” about 10 times in the span of 20 minutes. If you are going to use cool, at least spell it right.
Obviously, I’m not hip, jive or anyone that is “kewl”.
I could probably come up with a few more but I think I’ve made my rant.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:54 am
Mine are more puncutation-related, like quotation marks when you’re not quoting anything (like in the yellow pages: “free delivery”) and apostrophes when pluralizing (I saw a painted plaque once that said, “Grandma’s are special.” Grandma’s what?
These phrases get to me also:
at the end of the day
think outside the box
at this juncture
at this point in time (why not just say now?)
6 a.m. in the morning
10 items or less
enclosed please find
Arrgh!
December 14th, 2007 at 1:55 am
“disrespect” as a verb. Makes me want to scream.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:55 am
The your/you’re, they’re/there/their, and its/it’s mixups definitely drive me up the wall.
Sentences joined with a comma also drive me nuts, it’s just so wrong. (!!! … See, I can hardly even make myself do it as an example!)
Actually, I hate most inappropriate punctuation use. It really irritates me, when people do stuff like this. I think, it’s really annoying.
Okay, I need to stop before I self-destruct!
December 14th, 2007 at 1:57 am
This one really gets to me: “There’s three (or four or five)” … um, if it’s more than one, don’t you mean there ARE?
The “AM in the morning” thing drives me nuts, too.
My mother in law is constantly talking about being “flustrated.” Flustered? Frustrated? Which one is it? Ugh!
December 14th, 2007 at 2:01 am
Funny - there seems to be a trend with in-laws.
I’m annoyed by “the reason is because” and “what it is is.” I’m especially annoyed when my father-in-law says things like “the reason was is because is….”
December 14th, 2007 at 2:12 am
>> “the reason was is because is….”
That would make me so flustrated!
December 14th, 2007 at 2:20 am
Those are all so funny! I have two words: “Even still.” As in: “The windows look pretty clean. Even still, it’s probably about time we give them another wash.” And using -ed instead of -ing. As in: “The leaves need raked, the house needs mopped and the dishes need dried.” All courtesy of my fiance. (We don’t live in a pig-sty. Really.)
Also: fustrated, libary, realator and axed (instead of asked). Fortunately, none of these are courtesy of my fiance.
December 14th, 2007 at 2:28 am
Ah, my long pet peeve list. I’ll try to only open Pandora’s box a little bit here.
My biggest annoyances:
between you and I
I myself
how come
December 14th, 2007 at 2:31 am
Katie, you just reminded me of a spoken one I can’t stand: supposebly
December 14th, 2007 at 2:32 am
Katie, your mention of “realator” reminded me of the Jib Jab video that was floating around during the Bush/Kerry presidential election. To the tune of “This Land is Your Land” the Kerry character sang to Bush:
“You can’t say nuclear.
That really scares me.”
http://www.jibjab.com/originals/this_land
December 14th, 2007 at 2:37 am
Katie –
I usually look at it as the speaker leaving out “to be” — i.e. “The dished need to be dried” — rather than saying “-ed” instead of “-ing”.
It bugs me too, but only if I actually stop and think about it. That one is not one of my auto-alarms.
December 14th, 2007 at 2:40 am
Another of my pet peeves: Anytime a client tries to correct my grammar…to something wrong. I recently had a client insist that something should be “do” instead of “does.” I politely told him that he was wrong. Haven’t heard back from him yet, and it’s been a few days. :::sigh:::
It’s amazing how many clients hire WRITERS and then act like THEY’RE the expert.
December 14th, 2007 at 2:54 am
Katharine -
Oh no. People try to correct my use of me/I in speech all the time. Usually they are wrong.
I work with an undergraduate research journal so I’ve had a few experiences editing undergraduate work. There have been times when I came across something absolutely horrendous, edited it to be sensible, and then had the author quietly undo my work and turn in something un-grammatical. What ensues is a passive-aggressive edit war, until we reach a happy medium.
I noticed that you spell your name somewhat differently from most Americans. I wonder, has anyone here ever been corrected on the spelling of their own name? Now that would be a treat.
Deb-
I was always baffled by the use of “I could care less”! My generic response has always been: “Well, then why don’t you?”
I have a bunch of pet peeves. One of them involves not new writers, but people whose work I read all the time. I’ve found that a lot of young writers (young meaning my age, 21) have favorite words that they’ve latched onto. They use them all the time, sometimes correctly, sometimes incorrectly. It’s really quite deplorable when you can identify authors (who might otherwise remain anonymous) based on repeated use of unconventional words. Of course, one might turn around and say that they are developing their own personality as a writer, but I wonder whether that’s just nonsense in this case.
December 14th, 2007 at 2:57 am
Saad - Actually people love to tell me my last name is missing a vowel. I usually tell them my father in law was too cheap to buy one. Whenever I spell my name for anyone I say, “Ng…that’s it.” The other person will inevitably respond “and what’s the rest?”
In Queens NY Ng is rather popular especially in the areas heavily populated by Asians. Where I live now I get lots of disbelief.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:01 am
I am pretty sure that to “home in” is correct - it means to zero in on, as a homing pigeon would do. To “hone” is to sharpen.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:05 am
Deb –
I’ve always wondered… How do you pronounce your name?
Saad –
Katharine was my paternal grandmother’s middle name. Katharine Hepburn spelled it that way, too. I’m not sure where the slightly different spelling came from, but people misspell it ALL the time. I constantly get emails, credit card offers, even bills and checks addressed to “Katherine.”
What cracks me up the most is how many people seem to think that just because it’s spelled differently, it should be pronounced differently, too. I get a lot of attempts like “Kath-AH-reene” and “Kath-AH-riine”.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:27 am
@Katharine (Which is how my sister in law spells it too…)
It’s pronounced “ing”.
I’d say about 86% of the people I encounter don’t even try to pronounce it, they just say the letters. Deborah “N -G”.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:32 am
Amy–I can’t believe I forgot “supposebly”! That was my high school economics teacher’s favorite word, all stretched out and dramatic, like, “Suppooooooosebly, I’m not saying this word correctly.” Definitely belongs on the list.
Joanne–That video is hilarious. I saw it months ago but just got another good laugh out of it.
Katharine–Exactly. That’s what I told my fiance: “It’s either ‘The dishes need TO BE dried’ or ‘They need dryING.’ Choose one!” It’s a miracle he’s still marrying me, I’m such a grammar nutcase. (That inappropriate comma was for you, Katharine.
)
December 14th, 2007 at 3:32 am
@Courtney - That’s one for looking up then. I was always led to believe it was “hone in” but you know, I’ve been wrong before!
December 14th, 2007 at 3:34 am
Deb –
Thanks! I’m glad to know how to pronounce it correctly.
Embarrassingly enough, I think I was thinking the letters in my head most of the time.
But then again, until I was in high school I thought “fragrance” was pronounced with a short vowel in the beginning, “frAHgrance.” I’ve always had a problem with “thinking” words with the wrong pronunciation.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:37 am
Courtney is right! And here’s the proof. I learned something new today!
Katie… Thanks?
:::twitches:::
December 14th, 2007 at 3:56 am
My biggest pet peeve in this area is when someone writes or says “needless to say” and then goes on to explain something in detail. It’s a particular annoyance of mine because I have a brother who uses it all the time, and when he says it, I know it’s the cue for a long winded explanation.
i always want to scream out “then don’t say it!” when someone says it.
December 14th, 2007 at 4:14 am
One more pet peeve:
People who say “you’re kidding” about stuff that isn’t funny. I know this isn’t a grammar thing, but it bugs me when I say something like “My neighbor just passed away” and the response I get is “You’re kidding?”
Katie,
I had a teacher in elementary school who pronounced it the same way your teacher did (with that emphasis). As a result, the one friend I still keep in touch with from grade school still mispronounces the word.
Katharine,
I recently had a client tell me my grammar was wrong. I’m not a grammar guru or anything, but I knew that in this case I wasn’t wrong. I was using “I see HIS editing my grammar” rather than his suggested “I see HIM editing my grammar.” I restrained myself from correcting his correction, even though it irritated me, and even though his correction ruined about ten sentences in the document. I’ve learned never to argue with lawyers. It’s his name going on the document, not mine.
Deb,
I’ve had people tell me my name should be pronounced Darby, because that is the way Derby is pronounced in England and Ireland. I tell them when I move there, I’ll pronounce it their way.
December 14th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Pet peeve: alot instead of a lot (they never mean allot).
December 14th, 2007 at 4:58 am
My name is often misspelled and people ask me if I’m sure. Same with my last name, it is either misspelled or they leave off the van completely.
I have another huge pet peeve but it isn’t a grammar thing. It has to do with nicknames. People wil constantly try to shorten my name and the only thing they can come up with is “Siren” but they pronounce it “Seren”, my name is pronounced Serena and I have had people correct me on that, “Wouldn’t it be Siren-a”
My mother’s husband used to call me “Chicken” as a pet name. That one used to drive me nuts, “So, Chicken, how ya doing?” He also used to dance up to me saying, “Hey there, Ch..Chi…Chick…Chicken,” and no he doesn’t have a stuttering problem. So pet names are a big peeve to the point that my DH will only call me dear once in a blue moon. He knows that I hate sweetheart, pumpkin, sugarplum, and all the rest.
Oh and on the topoic of annoying stepdad’s (or mother’s husband lol), his favourite line is “So, do you have a job yet?” Writing isn’t a job I guess but when I wasn’t working I still had the same question. My reply was always, “Yes, I’ve been working for the same company since I was 18,” or “No, but I am in college full time and I work on my summer holidays.” When he has asked the question for the 8th time in an hour I just want to take the law into my own hands. LOL
December 14th, 2007 at 4:59 am
Pet Peeve: Stupid new keyboard where I punch several keys at once.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:06 am
Um, is this a joke?:
“There are also expressions that bother. For instance, if I hear the expression “At the end of the day…” one more time, I’m going to pull my hair out.”
Seems if you’re going to get on your soapbox, you should make sure not to make the very mistakes that you are criticizing.
“Bang, bang, bang” (head on wall).
Do I have to tell you? It’s the word ‘here’.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:07 am
Katharine and Courtney, I stand corrected, however….
I’m finding arguments for either side. For instance I found one writer who said “hone in” came first and evolved into “home in” after they started using carrier pigeons in the war.
Here’s another interesting argument for hone in:
http://www.businesswritingblog.com/business_writing/2006/08/hone_in_or_home.html
which suggests it can go either way, especially if you’re using the word hone to “focus” in on something.
I think I’ll keep reading up, this is rather interesting.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:12 am
@Justin - Good catch. That one was a typo - I do know the difference though.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:18 am
Oh, Deb, I wasn’t trying to claim credit for knowing about “home in” — I was actually quite surprised to find that Courtney was right, as I’d always thought of it as “hone in.”
Regardless, what you found out sounds very interesting! Makes me want to get my hands on a very old dictionary.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:21 am
@Katharine - It IS interesting isn’t it? I think the bottom line (right now) is that home in on is the accepted use, while my version is the one that makes everyone nuts!
December 14th, 2007 at 5:28 am
Deb — LOL. I hate the “right now” part. It makes me more likely to just rewrite the sentence.
Has anyone other than me done that when working on a project — checked on a phrase and ended up getting so confused about usage that you just give up and rewrite it entirely?
December 14th, 2007 at 5:28 am
Oh boy. Back in high school our principal held a side job as an underwear model. (Not Kidding, Mr. Stevens was known as Burlington’s Magram’s Man.) Anyway, he always started off his morning with a little motivational speech held over the school intercom.
Here comes my pet peeve. It always started “I have an EYE-DEER for today.” People who pronounce idea with the R on the end of it drive me nuts.
Then another lesser known item - I once got into an argument with an author over this. When someone gets their “just deserts,” it really is spelled d-e-s-e-r-t-s, not desserts like the after dinner splurge item. The phrase dates back to an older form of desert (a derivative of deserve) and somewhere along the line, people started spelling the phrase incorrectly. I only happen to know this one because I read a book about grammar once that was packed with little quirky items like that, but when the author decided to tell me that I was brain-dead and needed to read a grammar guide after I mentioned that she should change the spelling of that phrase before it went to press, I decided that informing the world about the phrase “just deserts” would be my new life goal.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:31 am
Ann –
“Warsh” drives me nuts too.
That sounds like an interesting book. Don’t suppose you remember the title?
December 14th, 2007 at 5:33 am
Hmmm… you learn something new everyday. I never would have guessed that “home in” is correct. Wow!
I have a friend who always uses the word “initially” when she means to say “essentially”. It drives me up the wall!
My other big annoyance is people who use “you and I” every single time, even when the correct usage is “you and me”. I’ve even noticed this in a few songs. Makes me what to scream!
December 14th, 2007 at 5:41 am
Ann (again) –
I am so the type of person who needs to see it to believe it.
Anyway, my dictionary backs up your grammar book’s claim:
de • sert2 n. 1. Something that is deserved or merited, esp. a punishment. Often used in the plural.
Word History: When Shakespeare says in Sonnet 72, “Unless you would devise some virtuous lie/To do more for me than mine own desert,” he is using the word desert in the sense of “worthiness; deserving,” a word that is most familiar to us in the phrase “just deserts.” This word goes back to the Latn word deservire, “to devote oneself to the service of,” which in Vulgar Latin came to mean “to merit by service.”
There’s more about the Latin roots of the word, but I don’t feel like typing all of it.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:42 am
Sorry, the “2″ in desert should be a superscript, but it didn’t work out that way. It’s the second listing of the word.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:44 am
Oh, it drives me NUTS when songwriters use incorrect grammar, especially when the correct usage would work with the rhythm, rhyming, etc. just fine!
December 14th, 2007 at 5:46 am
Hey Deb, this really has been a fun discussion. Good choice!
December 14th, 2007 at 5:47 am
Who can forget Paul McCartney in “Live and Let Die”
“…but in this ever changing world in which we live in…”
December 14th, 2007 at 5:47 am
@Katharine - I needed something light today. The problem is, I need to go back and read what I wrote about distractions because this has been so distracting.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:52 am
See I had to read the Paul McCartney lyric twice to find what was wrong. LOL. My mind omitted the second “in” for me on the first go through so I read it, “world in which we live.” Have to love how the brain works. I often read sentences the way I feel they should be read and never how they truly are.
December 14th, 2007 at 6:05 am
Ha!
Deb, you’re not the only one — this has proved quite distracting for me too.
Oh well. I think sometimes we get distracted because we really NEED a distraction.
December 14th, 2007 at 6:12 am
Wow. Many interesting comments. There aren’t too many grammar issues that really bug me because people make mistakes.
Although, I can’t stand when people say things like, “I always go there some of the time.” Is it always? Sometimes? What?
I don’t know if it’s grammar per say but I don’t like LOL, TVMFL, TFF, BFF and all that other junk. I don’t mind MIL and that’s it. I especially dislike when people shorten my name in that way such as, “Hey J what’s up?” That makes my head want to explode.
December 14th, 2007 at 6:16 am
Oooh, what about that song “Hungry Eyes” from “Dirty Dancing”– “I feel the magic between you and I…” I used to love that movie, but that line makes me cringe!
December 14th, 2007 at 6:21 am
My big one is misusing “good” and “well”. If you’re “doing good”, you better be donating to charity.
And from an editor’s standpoint, I can’t STAND when people type with two spaces after a period. It makes me want to scream. We don’t use typewriters anymore!
December 14th, 2007 at 6:37 am
“I can’t STAND when people type with two spaces after a period.”
When I write for newspapers and magazines, most of them still want two spaces. When I write for the web, then just one.
I don’t have many pet peeves. However, its/it’s bothers me a little bit.
December 14th, 2007 at 6:51 am
“I can’t STAND when people type with two spaces after a period.”
When I write for newspapers and magazines, most of them still want two spaces. When I write for the web, then just one.
Interestingly, HTML only recognizes one space — even if you type two, you only get one. So theoretically, you could type two spaces after a period when writing for the web, and unless the client is using a program that recognizes both spaces, it’ll only show up as one.
In any case, I’m definitely guilty of this one.
December 14th, 2007 at 7:24 am
The two spaces gets me because about 1/2 of my clients want it and 1/2 don’t. It’s hard to keep track. When I went to college (early 2000s) they had just eliminated the rule for college level writing, so when I have to put it back in, it drives me nuts!
December 14th, 2007 at 7:53 am
On the two spaces item, my sports editor in college (back when football players wore leather helmets) had me change from two spaces to one, even on typed copy.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:18 am
Deb,
Great minds must think alike, as I was considering doing the same type of post next week. Instead, I’ll just add my $2.02 (’cause I have way more than two cents’ worth to say on this topic)!
“There’s a couple of things . . .” Please, please stop saying this, people.
The loose/lose thing also really gets me. I used to work at a place where most of our clients came to lose weight, and it didn’t seem unrealistic to me that the employees at such an establishment would be aware of the difference.
I have to be forgiving of the its/it’s thing because even though I 100% know the difference, I somehow manage to add in the apostrophe when it’s not appropriate. (It drives me crazy when I do it, too.)
Speaking of apostrophes . . . I see red when someone uses them to pluralize. To me, that just means that you weren’t paying attention in school.
This one is sort of hard to explain, but I’ll try. A lot of kids will say, “me and my friends,” and then get corrected and told it should be “my friends and I.” Somehow, this bit of information gets all distorted so that when someone is correctly saying, “she went with my friends and me,” people jump in with “my friends and I.” (Usually in a condescending tone of voice.) Um . . . no. In fact, I actually worry that when I’m writing this correctly, people will assume it’s wrong and will judge me based on their false ideas of what is correct.
Instead of saying “granted,” so many people say “granite.”
Also, I enjoy using the word “literally.” Of course, I enjoy using it correctly!
Oh, my. I need to stop this.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:25 am
Haha…all this discussion reminds me of a bit in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” where Schroeder is writing a book report:
“The name of the book about which this book report is about is “Peter Rabbit” which is about this rabbit.”
I know it’s for comic effect, but GAAAHHHH.
My personal pet peeve? When people use the word “myself” as anything other than a reflexive noun, i.e., “Please see John, Mike, and myself if you need a copy of the program.” It makes me absolutely crazy.
I also hate when people use apostrophes to indicate plurals. My local SaladWorks proudly advertises that they have “Panini’s.” Ack…panini’s WHAT???
December 14th, 2007 at 8:38 am
I live in Southern Ohio, not too far from West Virginia and the dialect here drives me nuts! (Even though I’ve lived here all my life.)
Warsh= wash
crick= creek
agin= against
mind= remember
ideer= idea
flustrated= frustrated
drawl= draw
The sad thing is not only do they speack this way, they write this way, too!
I also hate it when people interchange wonder and wander, as well as affect and effect.
T have to admit, I always thought the expression, “all intensive purposes” was actually, “all intents and purposes.” I’m not sure that version is much better!
December 14th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
This isn’t a grammatical point, but my current peeve is people who say:
“No offence, but …”
or
“Not being funny, but …”
and follow it with some offensive or just plain rude statement, and expect you not to be upset because they’ve prefaced it with this nonsense.
Grr.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
I’m glad ‘could care less’ was brought up. I hear it used more than the correct term these days, and people look at you as if you’re crazy if you try to correct them.
“I can’t STAND when people type with two spaces after a period. It makes me want to scream.”
I write with two spaces. I don’t think I can stop now, it’s too much of a habit. If only one space is required I can always do a search and replace.
My current pet peeve is people using made up txt speak to try and sound modern. One of the newspapers I work for has a section on their site called YorNews. It makes me want to cry just looking at it.
Also, people who say ‘ignorant’ when they mean ‘arrogant’.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
I’m guilty of most of these. However, when I’m really paying attention while reading or listening to speeches (I’m a bad skimmer), these annoy me at times:
- A pleasant good morning to each and every one of you.
- Oh, common! (When it’s supposed to be “Oh, come on!)
- Irregardless.
December 14th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
I don’t know if anyone’s listed these; i haven’t read the postings, but here goes:
Using “that” when you should use “who,” as in, “the person THAT arrived late,” or, “the teacher that attended,” or, “the girl that won the race.” People are not things!
“Real-a-ty” instead of “realty” Now this one is really bad! Or, “real-a-tor” instead of “realtor.”
Constantly saying “um” as you speak. Or, beginning every other sentence with, “You know what?”
But the biggest act of stupidity of all is continuously saying, “Know what I’m sayin’?” or, “See what I’m sayin’?” or, “You know what I mean?” Shoot these idiots!
December 14th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
MORE:
Beginning every other sentence with: “It’s like this…”
I hate, “you bet.”
“you know, you know, you know…”
December 14th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
“WITH ALL DUE RESPECT…”
December 14th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
AND STOP PUTTING QUESTION MARKS AFTER STATEMENTS:
I wonder why he didn’t go to the party?
And then there was the agnostic dyslexic insomniac who stayed up all night looking into the heavens and asked, “I wonder if there really is a dog?”
To say “I wonder blah blah blah” is a STATEMENT, not a question! It should conclude with a period. Still don’t believe me? Insert a synonym for “wonder” and then see how weird the question mark looks:
I reflect why he didn’t go to the party?
I ponder why he didn’t go to the party?
Sadly, many journalists commit all of these blunders. Anyone need a master proofreader for their material? I’m available!
December 14th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Wow. You guys are even pickier than me…or is it I?
Ditto on the two spaces and LOL. I can see lots of stuff that I’m guilty of doing…anyone else?
December 14th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
A doctor once corrected the way I spelled my last name. I watched in fascinated horror, then told him to correct it back to what it was. He did, and it felt great.
Believe it or not, I once had someone correct me for using ‘me’ instead of ‘I’ — correctly. The sentence I used was, “Would you like to go with Bernice and me?” The offender smiled apologetically and murmured, “That’s Bernice and I.” At first I thought she was joking, but she was dead serious. To this day, she probably thinks I don’t know how to use the subjective and objective properly. I know she doesn’t.
‘I could care less’ drove my mother wild, and she despaired of ever finding like-minded people who spotted the contradiction. The fact that several people have listed it here would have made her weep tears of gratitude.
December 14th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
@Katherine Swan - the book is called GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT by Anne Stilman.
I bought it from Writer’s Digest’s book club about five years ago, but there should be plenty of used copies out there or revisions over the years.
I had to look for it and now find myself starting to re-read it. Meanwhile, I found the book I’d bought at the same time (CAREERS FOR YOUR CHARACTERS) and as I’m currently doing career articles, I figure it might come in handy. So thanks for making me search!
December 14th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Just heard one on the news this morning - “one yearS old”
IT”S JUST ONE YEAR!
December 14th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Oooh. Here’s another one that drives me nuts and I see it frequently. Whoever does the school newsletter cannot spell. Kindergarden and congradulations have shown up more times than I can count. The newsletter is always signed by the middle school principal, so I’ve been known to leave him messages that if he is going to sign his name to something he should verify the content is edited properly. He’s given up calling me back. I stick firm to my feelings that if they are going to insist that the middle schoolers have 30 to 50 spelling words per week, the school staff should be required to spell correctly as well.
December 14th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
For Your Entertainment, Two Rants in One:
Irregardless of what some people think, here I sit, literally, at 7 a.m. in the morning feeling ready to loose my mind. Yet another person has proclaimed that as a writer I surely ‘do nothing’ all day. It’s like your a lazy bum if you write for a living, in the minds of others. Well, I could care less, because at the end of the day, I know I work my tail off and inspite of that, I truly do love what I do.
LOL
December 14th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
People who don’t use commas!
Oh, and this is just one that has come up recently, but the manager at my day job insists on reviewing and “correcting” all of my work, when she is actually making a grammatically correct progress report into a comma-free, garbled mess. It really irritates me that just because she is my manager, she thinks she is magically given super copy-editing skills. When I try to explain to her that I actually edit things as my other job and so know what I am doing, she informs me that she is the manager, and always correct. It’s absolutely maddening!
December 14th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
The Minnesota dialect has a number of strange and annoying things that are common. One is the apostrophe confusion, e.g. the sign for “Kat Key’s”. The key’s what? But one bothers me more than most.
It is the construction, “You want to come with?” or “You can come with.” This may seem foreign to most of you, and it is. This comes from the odd “seperable prefix” German verb “mitkommen”, which means … well, to come with. It was transliterated into English by the Germanic people who settled here, and became standard.
Knowing the interesting origin of it should alleviate the pain. But hearing my own children use this construction is nearly unbearable to me.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
You guys should try living where I do.
Gibraltar - a place where Spanish and English are spoken within the same sentence, constantly.
Arrrggghhhh!!!
I’ll give an example:
Si, no?
As in “yes, no?”
Which obviously makes no damn sense to anyone except a Gibraltarian!
It’s spose to mean ‘yeah?’ as in agreeing with something that’s said or empathising.
Whatever.
Here’s a sentence that you often hear in Gibraltar using many places, not just a Post Office:
‘Me voy pa’ el Post Office’
Speak bloody English or bloody Spanish!
And in these types of sentences, they totally change the pronunciation of the words!
EG: ‘Post Office becomes Post ‘Office (emphasis on ‘)
That’s just a quick insight into the speech of a Gibraltarian.
It really is painful to hear.
Never mind nails across blackboard, more like sand scraped on every bone in my spine!
Yak!
My brother used to say congratulations as: congradulations.
Argh!
Glad you brought this up Deb cos these types of errors are my number one irritant of all time.
Another one is ‘oftentimes’.
What the hell is that??
And I don’t mean any disrespect but differences in words depending on audience: Organisation/Organization
Why the hell can’t we all spell words the bloody same?
One way or the other?
Gah!
It’s kinda related but Copywriter and Copyrighter (even though the latter isn’t really a word) are NOT the same thing!
I’m a copywriter, which has diddley-squat to do with copyright or that little c in the circle.
The their/there/they’re thing annoys the crap outta me too. Like its/it’s and all the rest.
Interesting origin or not, these things are wrong ok? WRONG.
And painful goddamnit!
Argh!
Like ‘Thanks for writing me’
Wow, a letter consisting of the word ‘me’ must have been fantastically riveting to read.
I have to stop now, I’m losing the will to live.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Irregardless.
People who ever utter this ‘non-word’ should be shot instantly.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Actually irregardless is a word–you’ll find it in Mirriam-Webster–the Dictionary of choice. It’s just that it’s not a widely accepted word, and honestly makes the person who uses it sound dumb.
My crusade is correct usage of quotation marks (which you used incorrectly). Periods and commas always always go inside quotation marks–please refer to AP Style, or the bible of grammar–Strunk & White’s Elements of Style.
Also, people often misuse and don’t understand the differences between convince and persuade, further and farther, persons and people. (If you’re curious, when there are more than two beings, use people. Many think that a small group should be persons. Nope. Quantify small group to me–again, it’s just as bad as irregardless.)
All this useful info can be yours with a grad degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism!
December 14th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
I’d say about 86% of the people I encounter don’t even try to pronounce it, they just say the letters. Deborah “N -G”.
That’s me!!
But now it will be Debbing. You are now a verb.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
“flush it out” instead of “flesh it out”. How exactly does one “flush out” an idea? Dump some water on it?
And my best friend (a very intelligent and literate woman) used to say “gorceries” instead of “groceries”. It drove me so crazy that I taunted her relentlessly until she started saying “groceries”.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
I think it’s okay for songwriters to tweak the language. We allow it in poetry, right?
Supposably - makes me want to scream.
Between you and I - I think people think that it sounds proper. I think it sounds awful.
I also hate “people that” so much so that I looked it up and apparently it is acceptable usage.
December 14th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
ur so groovy Deb. rock on. Yeah, for the poster above, sometimes the redneckisms (yes, I invent words like Shakespeare) drive me nuts, like “git.” Please don’t say “git” in my presence unless you are trying to get your pig in the barn. But what really gets me is 24/7. Just can’t stand it. Oh, and the word “awesome.” Hate this stupid word, way overused and it is not awesome anymore. Beginning to sound like a valley girl saying.
December 14th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
I don’t like when people say “Valentime’s Day.”
December 14th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I hate it when text speak is used in articles - but as writers it’s something I believe we should learn, as it’s the future of grammar, especially in advertising. w00t was announced as word of year recently and I think text speak is a genuine evolution of language, although very ‘1984′ though.
December 14th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
I say “punkin” for “pumpkin”; drives my husband nuts. But he says “git,” so….
December 14th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
@Sarah,
I live in San Diego and it’s the same here. In fact, the little bit of spanish I know is used on my sons who are learning spanish from one of their pre-school teachers. So I’m guilty as charged.
You should have seen his teacher’s face the first time I (affectionately) called my son using the term guerro… (I’m a long-haired red-neck
)
December 14th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
I hate the quotes thing, too. So many people don’t understand the difference between MLA and AP, and it shows. I sometimes see these weird mixtures of the two, and the writer instantly loses any credibility in my eyes. Sometimes it’s just the use of a style that doesn’t seem appropriate for the format and subject matter. Do we really need a serious financial article written in MLA? That drives me batty!
December 14th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
OH. I almost forgot.
I HATE… hatehatehate this: ASAP. Either pronounced A-S-A-P or ay-sap.
Why do I hate it? Because it’s used way too much where I work. I’ll ask, “When do you need this by?”
The response: “ASAP.”
ASAP is NOT a time, a date or and excuse. If I’m asking for a time, a date or an excuse, please give me one that I can carefully calculate into my day….
… so, when people tell me “ASAP,” I tell them “Okay then… how’s two months from now for you?”
December 14th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
No shyness about pet peeves around here.
Lose/loose is one of my big ones. So is the misplaced apostrophe.
Where I grew up, there are so many speech idioms that I tend to ignore those mistakes. People just don’t know that they are wrong. But the one that does drive me up a wall is people who say crick when they mean creek.
Excessive use of adverbs.
But my biggest pet peeve is people who insist on calling me Susan because they see my name is Sue — it’s not my name. Call people the name they ask to be called, not one you think they should be called.
December 14th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
“All of the sudden.” Drives me bonkers.
December 14th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
“Nu-cu-lar” instead of “nu-cle-ar.” (Even our President does this!)
My husband grits his teeth every Sunday when the cantor at church says, “Please stand,” instead of, “Please rise.”
Sign recently seen at Ft. Meade, encouraging safe holiday driving: “Better late then never.”
Ack.
December 14th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
I think my pet peeve today is that I’m having far more fun reading these posts than doing my work. And here I promised my kids that I would be done work by 3:30pm so that we can go to the movies tonight.
Sarah had me laughing with the British/Spanish post. My mom’s a Brit and I grew up listening to the Yorkshire dialect. In high school, I used to get laughed at by classmates and teachers for saying “ExACTly”. There is a T in that word, but for whatever reason around here it becomes “ExACKly.” I could go on with more-
Milton becomes MIL’in
Essex becomes EX-ecks
Local dialects are another pet peeve. With that, I’m really going away and am going to resist all temptation to keep reading…
December 14th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
- then instead of than
- “Leave him alone” instead of “Let him alone.”
- pitcher instead of picture
- “I see what you’re saying” (Really? Last time I checked we were not in a comic strip.)
- your instead of you’re
December 14th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Many years ago, I worked at an ad agency. One of the VPs (the owner’s son) was a constant source of amusement. Some of his pet expressions:
“This is so-and-so, which is our copy director.”
“…go through it with a fine tooth-and-comb”
“Come hell or hot water…”
And (our favorite): by combining “get your ducks in a row” and “all your eggs in one basket,” he’d say “line up your eggs.”
And yes, he did have a lot of client contact,
December 14th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
@Freddie: LOL!!!!
This is a fun thread. Thanks, Deb.
December 14th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
My mother says “egg-zachary” instead of “exactly.” One of her cousins said that once as a joke and years later, she is still doing it.
December 14th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
This is not a pet peeve as much as an example of what can happen when you are distracted. Back when I actually went to work in an office, a co-worker asked me how to spell the word “niceties.” I was distracted doing a rush job and started spelling it out loud off the top of my head. I inadvertently added a few too many “t’s” to the word, so instead of “niceties” my coworker was told how to spell “nice titties”! (Mucho Embarrassment….)
And of course, she told her boss, my boss, and everyone else she ran into about my “open mouth, insert foot” incident. So I guess I have a pet peeve about people asking me to spell niceties when I’m busy!
So
December 14th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
Ignore that last so…I guess I can’t type today….
December 14th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
“‘Leave him alone’ instead of ‘Let him alone.’”
Actually, “Leave him alone” is correct, as is “Let him be.” People tend to mix them up, though, which is how we end up with “Leave him be” and “Let him alone,” both of which are gibberish.
Like Bill Walsh says in “Lapsing Into a Comma”…”Let me alone” makes about as much sense as “Allow me to purple!”
December 14th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Oh, this is fun. I have so many…
Here’s what you get when you grow up in PA Dutch country:
You’s (how are you’s today? what would you’s like to eat?)
I’ll second Erik’s “Do you want to come with?” and someone else’s (can’t find it now)”My hair needs cut/the grass needs mowed,” etc). Very PA Dutch.
And the strange use of “yet” instead of using “now.” As in, “Are you at home yet?” “Are you going to the store yet?”
Other peeves: “really unique.” It’s either unique or it’s not unique, it can’t get any more (or less) unique than it already is. It’s just unique. That’s all.
And those business-speak words and phrases, like: “get into bed with,” “let’s network,” “there’s a disconnect.”
Argh.
December 14th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Oh, I just thought of another one that I hear daily at work:
“Do you have any bandwidth?”
?!????!!
December 14th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
I agree with the views on irregardless. It’s one of those constantly used, completely irritating words.
Other pet peeves of mine are double negatives, incorrect subject/verb agreement, statements like “more better,” and seeing that written every fifth word. I know that is a common word, but it isn’t needed anywhere near as often as it’s used.
Unfortunately, my husband knows all about my pet peeves and believes it’s funny to go around saying sentences incorporating irregardless, at least one set of double negatives, and top it off with something along the lines of “more better” or “more betterest” if he’s really trying to make me cringe.
December 14th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Great post “Irregardless” is one of the words I also find funny when I hear it. It used to make me cringe, but now it’s almost like a joke to me. The one mistake that still gets on my nerves is when people misuse “your” and “you’re”, come on people it’s not that hard.
December 15th, 2007 at 12:04 am
Sarah,
Actually, “no” is Spanish for “no.” Seriously, the word is the same in both languages, so they aren’t necessarily mixing Spanish and English.
As for the sentence with “Post Office” in it, I think that would actually be correct, because “Post Office” is a proper name. Translating it to Spanish would be like calling you the Spanish version of your name, instead of your real name.
December 15th, 2007 at 12:16 am
“then” and “than”
“per say” rather than the correct “per se”
“grammer” and “grammar”
I try to keep my list of pet peeves to a minimum. We all make mistakes at one time or another, after all. And honestly, I’m not a nit-picker. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to edit another article in Wikipedia. I just saw a period typed after the quotation mark. Que horror!
December 15th, 2007 at 1:07 am
Mine is something I did as a kid, although I’m careful to avoid it now…picking up new words from print and then mispronouncing them. For a long time in my preteen years, I thought “adolescent” was pronounced (ah DOLE sent) even though I heard people using the word in speech…
So when I hear people doing the same thing, I understand how it happens, but I want to tell them that they need to look up pronunciations for new words…knowing the meaning isn’t enough if you’re going to use them in speech!
Also, one of my grandmothers used to say she needed to “get shed” of something. Even as a kid, this drove me nuts.
December 15th, 2007 at 3:09 am
The expression that makes me froth at the mouth is: “different than”.
I keep asking myself, how could something be “different than” something else? How can “different” be used comparatively when it means one is different FROM the other?
Excuse me, I am frothing at the mouth…
December 15th, 2007 at 6:09 am
I worked with someone that said “supposebly” — the first few times I thought I must have heard incorrectly, but sure enough she was saying it “supposebly.”
“Unthaw” — isn’t it just “thaw”?
All the business-speak: “take it offline,” “bandwith”… used to work for a VP that would constantly pepper his speeches with “at the end of the day.”
Fun topic. Thanks Deb!
December 15th, 2007 at 7:01 am
SO WE’RE ON THE SAME PAGE
I refuse to jump on the bandwagon with this one. Someone started it and it caught on like wildfire: “Oh, I just wanna make sure we’re on the same page.”
And I hate 24/7. Is articulating, “Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week,” too much for one’s brain to handle? What’s with all the abbreviations in the English language lately? Like that pie I had last night, Oh, it was DEE-LISH!
People who are always abbreviating must have some kind of disorder in the Broca’s region of their brain.
SPECIALITY !!! Take that $#%$# extra i out !! Try our speciality steaks!
December 15th, 2007 at 10:05 am
Oh, here’s another I frickin’ can’t stand, and I see it all the time in the depositiont transcripts that I read:
“THERE YOU GO.”
December 15th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Something that is a huge pet peeve of mine is a particular phrase that I hear coming from the mouths of not only teenagers, but also from 30 year-old mothers. The phrase “My bad” just drives me insane!
Basically, it is the shortened-down version of “Sorry, my mistake” or “My fault”, which are two perfectly good phrases that have been used for a very long time. But all of a sudden, I hear everyone saying “My bad” and thinking that everyone in the population knows what it means. I seriously doubt that my 80 year-old grandmother would know what it means. What I want to know is where did this phrase come from in the first place? I can’t wait until it is eradicated and people start using proper English again.
December 15th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Hey Deb,
Off the topic here, but I just want to thank you for running that big piece way back I think at the end of 2006, about Associated Content. To date, I have made about $1,000 from AC.
December 16th, 2007 at 8:09 am
I actually don’t get too peeved with incorrect speech, since speech and documents are different. Being multilingual, I can understand how immigrants (my family included) shaped our language into American English and as a student in Linguistics, I’m fascinated by dialects and “mistakes”.
I would just like to say that while we all have our pet peeves, making comments about getting back to proper English is a bit off-base and one of my biggest peeves. I haven’t seen anyone here post in “proper English”. People wanting to learn English as a second language study English in its more pure form - that would be the type that comes out of Britain.
And as far as the Kindergarten thing goes, we don’t (usually) spell sauerkraut w. the “u” and we don’t say “Volkswagen” as folks-vagen, so the difference b/w “Kindergarden” and “Kindergarten” seems a bit silly. [/german rant]