Grammatical NIGHTMARES

[decodelighted]

Okay -- I will cop to being awful at spelling. So I know my upcoming rant on proper word usage is a bit, um, ridiculous. But ... does anyone else have pet grammar peeves that drive them mad??

Just yesterday I nearly revised my life plan to include driving the highways & byways of this country in a Grammar Van schooling the nation's tots (& adults) on the difference between "to" and "too".

PEOPLE .. you drive TO the store --but-- have TOO much fun.

And when did "HEIGHTH" become a word?? It's WIDTH and HEIGHT??? Even Dr. Phil says "heigth" AIIIGHHH. Am I wrong? Should I google this before spreading my vitriol??? I guess we'll soon see!

 

[TravelingGal]

LOL Deco, I just posted my bit of grammar on the LIW "self control" thread. Timely.

TGuy is not an English guy. He still gets mixed up with their, they''re and there. So I know sometimes spelling/grammar usage doesn''t equate to brains. Especially on a forum like this where some of us type faster than we think.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Lose and loose-as in you lose your rings because they''re too loose.

and

Advice and advise-as in I need advice so I''m asking you to advise me.

 

[decodelighted]

Date: 11/14/2007 1:51:00 PM
Author: TravelingGal
LOL Deco, I just posted my bit of grammar on the LIW ''self control'' thread. Timely.

Yeah, um, you TOTALLY didn''t inspire this rant *cough* yesyoudid. And I don''t think it''s about brains, at all. It just doesn''t seem to be valued anymore. In fact, IMPROPER usage is "catchier" in advertising ... therefore: popular.

 

[chrono]

The Edit button is my best friend. I find myself coming back to my own posts to edit it after catching grammatical and spelling errors upon re-reading them. It drives me crazy to see simple errors like those you gave examples off but hey, I can only correct my own, not others. Still, the level of English here is very high compared to other forums that I peruse. At least capital letters are used correctly and no funky short forms makes for easier reading.

 

[somethingshiny]

It bugs me when I see the wrong There,Their,They''re and You''re,Your. But, I know I''ve probably done it when I get typing quickly, too.

My BIG pet peeve is when people use the word IRREGARDLESS. ''regardless'' = ''without regard''. So, ''irregardless'' = ''without without regard'' = ''WITH regard''. drives me bonkers!

Another one is when people don''t pronounce the ''B'' in ''obviously''. IT''s not ''oviously''!!

And, of course, ''CUTLET''!

 

[decodelighted]

Date: 11/14/2007 2:02:01 PM
Author: somethingshiny
And, of course, ''CUTLET''!

Stop, you''re making me HUNGARIAN!

 

[somethingshiny]

Date: 11/14/2007 2:03:36 PM
Author: decodelighted

Date: 11/14/2007 2:02:01 PM

Author: somethingshiny

And, of course, ''CUTLET''!

Stop, you''re making me HUNGARIAN!

TE HE HE!

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 11/14/2007 1:57:30 PM
Author: decodelighted

Date: 11/14/2007 1:51:00 PM
Author: TravelingGal
LOL Deco, I just posted my bit of grammar on the LIW 'self control' thread. Timely.

Yeah, um, you TOTALLY didn't inspire this rant *cough* yesyoudid. And I don't think it's about brains, at all. It just doesn't seem to be valued anymore. In fact, IMPROPER usage is 'catchier' in advertising ... therefore: popular.

Yes, there is definitely some truthiness to that.

ETA, which reminds me. Definitely. Definitely. Definitely not DEFINATELY.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

How about carrot or caret instead of carat?

 

[labbielove]

Here''s a couple of my recent ones-

We walk down the aisle, not isle,

And I''ve never heard of "supposably"......ummmm do you mean supposedly?

 

[baby monster]

My boss with 2 grad degrees, NYU & Columbia, does not know the difference between 'effect' and 'affect'. Makes me nuts.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 11/14/2007 2:16:38 PM
Author: labbielove
Here''s a couple of my recent ones-

We walk down the aisle, not isle,

And I''ve never heard of ''supposably''......ummmm do you mean supposedly?

I''ve looked this one up....supposedly supposably IS a word.l

 

[Steel]

You are my sisters!

Over here there are countless errors that drive me crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Off the top of my head:

Amn''t I? = Am I not?
All intensive purposes = all intents and purposes
Philm = film (as in movie)
Heigh-th = height (Deco - I am delighted I am not alone on this one

)
Advice/advise (Yeah! HH: There is a difference! Not just spelled differently for a laugh!)
dat = that
There are millions more but I have ''brain freeze''! (Probably a good thing, I get so wound up!)

"Amn''t I correct, advice me if I amn''t, but in dat pfilm there dog wot they loose woz da same heighth as mine?"

 

[E B]

One error that I hear used all the time is "I'm nauseous...", especially on TV and in movies. DH actually uses the wrong word just to watch me give him the stink eye.

 

[decodelighted]

Oooooh ... I found a perfect cheat sheet for my VAN travels .... right here. English teachers should totes (ha!) use this for discussion!

 

[MustangGal]

What''s been getting to me lately is people using texting abbreviations in normal conversation and typing. It''s not a new language, take the time to say it all!

 

[isaku5]

For the record, deco, you are one of the best spellers on this forum

; not only that, you make your posts interesting, concise, and direct - emphasizing where needed. Okay, I''ll admit a little too direct in some cases.

, but even your "directness" sometimes doesn''t doesn''t seem to get through to the poster.

I admit that spelling and grammar errors irritate the heck out of me. I don''t mean to be insulting, but to me it indicates ...uh...dare I say it...laziness. I know Spellcheck doesn''t cover many of the "two, to, too; they''re, there, their" quandaries, but it doesn''t take a genius to figure those out. After you''ve posted, read the darn thing to try to ensure accuracy.

My pet peeve, though, is text slang

. After having text messaged a few times, I understand the need for brevity, but I''m glad to see that it''s not prevalent in this forum.

 

[E B]

Date: 11/14/2007 2:27:02 PM
Author: decodelighted
Oooooh ... I found a perfect cheat sheet for my VAN travels .... right here. English teachers should totes (ha!) use this for discussion!

What a fabulous website! I''ll keep it handy for my own questions. I majored in Journalism, but I''m constantly second-guessing what I write (I edit my posts a LOT after I first type them) and this will be a good website to consult.

By the way, is the word "gotten" appropriate in the following sentence, or at all?

"We''ve gotten a lot of use out of them!"

It doesn''t sound right, but I can''t figure out why. I''ve actually stopped in the middle of a thank you card to ask DH, and he doesn''t know either. Blarg!

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 11/14/2007 2:30:57 PM
Author: isaku5
For the record, deco, you are one of the best spellers on this forum

; not only that, you make your posts interesting, concise, and direct - emphasizing where needed. Okay, I''ll admit a little too direct in some cases.

, but even your ''directness'' sometimes doesn''t doesn''t seem to get through to the poster.

I admit that spelling and grammar errors irritate the heck out of me. I don''t mean to be insulting, but to me it indicates ...uh...dare I say it...laziness. I know Spellcheck doesn''t cover many of the ''two, to, too; they''re, there, their'' quandaries, but it doesn''t take a genius to figure those out. After you''ve posted, read the darn thing to try to ensure accuracy.

My pet peeve, though, is text slang

. After having text messaged a few times, I understand the need for brevity, but I''m glad to see that it''s not prevalent in this forum.

LOL...

(yes, that''s text/IM slang folks...)

 

[E B]

Another good one is it's vs. its. I have to be careful with this one.

p.s. Just so everyone knows, I don't mind being corrected. If you ever see me misuse a word or spell something incorrectly, please tell me. I'm absolutely serious.

 

[Mara]

on the spelling....well grammar too i suppose. pet peeve.

recently someone wrote about being board. it took me a few reads to realize they meant bored. and they used it MULTIPLE times in one paragraph. i was thinking, oh my god, this person is intelligent, why don't they know how to spell bored. do they really think it's board or was it just typed once and then it was like an epidemic? like you just do it once and can't stop.

this is similar to the peek vs peak in self control thread. someone said peak and then like 2 others said peak too. it was like a virus! hahaa.

from a bad grammar perspective, i have the horrible california habit of saying 'like' about 20 times in my sentences. many times i even WRITE it out. i think i used it up above. multiple times. greg says he will one day break me of that. i just laugh.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 11/14/2007 2:35:31 PM
Author: EBree
Another good one is it''s vs. its. I have to be careful with this one.

p.s. Just so everyone knows, I don''t mind being corrected. If you ever see me misuse a word or spell something incorrectly, please tell me. I''m absolutely serious.

Capital "P", capital "S".

 

[E B]

Date: 11/14/2007 2:37:59 PM
Author: TravelingGal

Date: 11/14/2007 2:35:31 PM

Author: EBree

Another good one is it''s vs. its. I have to be careful with this one.


p.s. Just so everyone knows, I don''t mind being corrected. If you ever see me misuse a word or spell something incorrectly, please tell me. I''m absolutely serious.

Capital ''P'', capital ''S''.

Why thank you! I had no idea. I''ll remember it now.

 

[AmberWaves]

Ha, my favorite is "altar". "I''m going to the alter". Our rehearsal lady actually used that word many times in an email to me. Isn''t that her JOB? I actually dated the son of the head of a fancy private school here in Los Angeles- he had private education all the way. Still- he told me a video was all set, just had to be "rewinded". That killed it for our relationship.

 

[isaku5]

Date: 11/14/2007 2:34:30 PM
Author: TravelingGal

Date: 11/14/2007 2:30:57 PM
Author: isaku5
For the record, deco, you are one of the best spellers on this forum

; not only that, you make your posts interesting, concise, and direct - emphasizing where needed. Okay, I''ll admit a little too direct in some cases.

, but even your ''directness'' sometimes doesn''t doesn''t seem to get through to the poster.

I admit that spelling and grammar errors irritate the heck out of me. I don''t mean to be insulting, but to me it indicates ...uh...dare I say it...laziness. I know Spellcheck doesn''t cover many of the ''two, to, too; they''re, there, their'' quandaries, but it doesn''t take a genius to figure those out. After you''ve posted, read the darn thing to try to ensure accuracy.

My pet peeve, though, is text slang

. After having text messaged a few times, I understand the need for brevity, but I''m glad to see that it''s not prevalent in this forum.

LOL...

(yes, that''s text/IM slang folks...)

Thanks for picking that up TG!!!!

I confess to having proofread "the darn thing" too and I still didn''t catch it.

Now I''ll have to proofread twice (and I''ll probably still miss a few things

)

I''m with the others who say, "Call me on my typos, spelling and grammar errors

"

 

[TravelingGal]

I thought really bad grammar would kill a relationship...until I met TGuy. Must be love...

Once a girl e-mailed me to say when I got into town, she definitely wanted to buy me a drink...except she said she "defiantly" wanted to buy me a drink. The mental image had me chortling for hours.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 11/14/2007 2:42:55 PM
Author: isaku5
Thanks for picking that up TG!!!!

I confess to having proofread ''the darn thing'' too and I still didn''t catch it.

Now I''ll have to proofread twice (and I''ll probably still miss a few things

)

I''m with the others who say, ''Call me on my typos, spelling and grammar errors

''

Isaku, trust me, we all do it! If I have to be paranoid about my spelling/grammar around here, it''s not a place I want to be.

 

[decodelighted]

Hmmmm. I prefer "p.s." even though "P.S." is correct. What a thrill it was to get all e. e. cummings on our school''s literary journal.

I''m an indignant grammar rebel? Oxymoron or just regular moron. You be the judge!

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 11/14/2007 2:50:32 PM
Author: decodelighted
Hmmmm. I prefer ''p.s.'' even though ''P.S.'' is correct. What a thrill it was to get all e. e. cummings on our school''s literary journal.

I''m an indignant grammar rebel? Oxymoron or just regular moron. You be the judge!

Better than being an indigent grammar rebel.