Internet Pet Peeves

[*NikkiBell*]

Everybody has a pet peeve, but what about an Internet pet peeve? I have two. Certain people at my work do not know the purpose of the "Reply to All" button. It is overused like crazy and clutters up our mailboxes with information that has little to do with the majority.

Another pet peeve of mine is the IM speak. Now don't get me wrong; I use it myself to show that I'm joking or actually laughing out loud. The problem is when it is overused like Reply to All. I've received emails where things like ROFL or LOL or LMAO are every other word. I always find myself wondering if they really are laughing that much or even out loud at all.

What are your Internet pet peeves?

[Annette_VA]

Overuse of ROFL and LMAO gets to me, too. I do often laugh out loud at stuff I read, especially here - So LOL works. I don't think I've ever rolled on the floor laughing or laughed my *** off, though.

I wish more people would use the BCC field. Sometimes I get emails that people have sent to everyone they know, so I have to scroll half way down the screen to get past the header and to the actual message. Not to mention I don't necessarily want the people that these people are emailing knowing my email address

[tiggerbell]

My REPLY TO issue is the opposite - when we're having a group discussion, please don't just reply to ME!!! (My sisters are notorious for this)

And I agree on your other point - I call it Manic Internet Laughter... Not everything is that funny! :sad2:

It starts to feel similar to when a teenager is talking and keeps using the word "like" in "like" every sentence "like" a lot.

[DVCsince02]

:clown:

[shellyminnie]

I definitely have to agree with the overuse of LOL and LMAO!! Sometimes, while appropriate to use, other times its not or can be overused way too much. :rotfl:

The other online peeve I have is with facebook. We need smilies over there!!! I don't know how many times I've went to the right hand side of my screen to find a smilie to use and there are none there!! FIX THIS PLEASE!!

[TSWJan78]

I agree with the LOL, LMAO, ROFLMAO, LMFAO.... I could go on forever. I also hate it when someone just stops talking in an IM... If you are going to walk away fine but just say that... otherwise I sit and wait and wait for a reply and don't get one and I am not sure if something just came up or it was something I said.

[Bornteach]

I agree with the LOL, LMAO, ROFLMAO, LMFAO.... I could go on forever. I also hate it when someone just stops talking in an IM... If you are going to walk away fine but just say that... otherwise I sit and wait and wait for a reply and don't get one and I am not sure if something just came up or it was something I said.

I could not agree more!

Also, at work, people use the public folder to reply privately! I have had hundreds of conversation about how not to do that but they seem oblivious!

Also......

THEIR-THEY'RE-THERE

YOUR - YOU'RE


ARGHHHHHH!!!

[misstheworld]

Thankfully, my office instituted a rule about a year ago that if you send an email and it's going to 10 or more people, everyone has to be bcc'd. It really cut down on spam and those awful if-you-don't-send-this-to-125.6-people-you'll-get-a-wart emails.

I'm all with you NikkiBell!

[*NikkiBell*]

I agree with the LOL, LMAO, ROFLMAO, LMFAO.... I could go on forever. I also hate it when someone just stops talking in an IM... If you are going to walk away fine but just say that... otherwise I sit and wait and wait for a reply and don't get one and I am not sure if something just came up or it was something I said.

Good call. I've always hated that too.

[k5jmh]

I must admit that I use LMAOaF, but only when gassy.

[eeyorethegreat]

I agree with the LOL, LMAO, ROFLMAO, LMFAO.... I could go on forever. I also hate it when someone just stops talking in an IM... If you are going to walk away fine but just say that... otherwise I sit and wait and wait for a reply and don't get one and I am not sure if something just came up or it was something I said.

I have to admit, I have done this a few times. I don't IM much at all but I have been known to get distracted by something or get up to go to the bathroom thinking I'll go quickly and get right back and the person I am on IM will never know and on the way back I totally forget that I was ever on IM in the first place! Eventually I remember that I forgot and have to go back and apologize. I've done the same thing with people on the phone. "I'll be right back, I need to let the dog out..." Ten minutes later I realize that I never went back to the phone. It's pathetic I know and I admit I can be a bit scattered especially if I have a lot going on or a lot on my mind!

[rtobe]

I'm feeling like a luddite and curmudgeon today. So for me at work, take away the send button period. Pick up the phone, not everything should be "discussed" via an e-mail.

Ok, leaving soapbox now. Thank you for allowing me to vent. And, yes, I cannot spell.

[tlcoke]

I definitely have to agree with the overuse of LOL and LMAO!! Sometimes, while appropriate to use, other times its not or can be overused way too much. :rotfl:

The other online peeve I have is with facebook. We need smilies over there!!! I don't know how many times I've went to the right hand side of my screen to find a smilie to use and there are none there!! FIX THIS PLEASE!!

Shelly, I also wish FB had smilies. It would make conversations so much easier to just use an appropriate smilie.

I must be too old, I not all up on IM speak, so I find it very confusing and I sometimes have to Google to find out what someone is saying if they over use it in their notes. :rotfl:

At work, we had a sign on our door, that said "Authorized Personnel Only" For Customer Assistance, please go to room ...." with a picture of a Stop Sign on it. It seemed the College students couldn't read this sign and kept walking into our production center. I said we needed to put the sign in IM speak and they might actually read it.

[DVCsince02]

I'm feeling like a luddite and curmudgeon today. So for me at work, take away the send button period. Pick up the phone, not everything should be "discussed" via an e-mail.
Ok, leaving soapbox now. Thank you for allowing me to vent. And, yes, I cannot spell.

I couldn't agree more.

[Minnie Lor]

My three pet peeves are the under-used bcc. I always use it and wish others would.

I also dislike how people don't clean up an email. I hate having to see that this person forwarded it to that person then that person forwarded to the next people. If people aren't smart enough to use the bcc then at least clean up the email before forwarding.

My third pet peeve is the group list. I may send an email to someone and then I get it back from them because i'm in their normal "send everything to this group". Or I get emails that are offensive, not applicable, etc. just because someone used send to "my group". Pick and choose who gets an email. I don't forward everything to everybody. I send only what I think the recipient would enjoy or that it pertains to.

I don't mind the LOL but the LMAO is just :sad2:

[clc053103]

Use of the term "Prolly". The first time I saw it, I actually had to google to find out what it was. Don't want to hear the word pronounced like that in real life so I certainly don't want to read it mispelled that way either. Is it too time consuming to type those whopping 2 extra letters to write the real, correct word?

ETA: And forgot my other pet peeve- stop sending chain emails- I don't care if you aren't going to get your wish granted if you don't send it to 7 other people. NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN! I PROMISE!!!

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

I guess the only thing I have found odd. (Mind you I have only been on 3 msg boards and listen to one podcast) Yes I am a bit computer challanged. But a friend had a falling out with some other board and keeps coming to my board to complain about it. Why would someone want to be friends with people who either dont like them or are not nice to them. Why vent to people who have no idea who these people are. Just seems bizzare to me. Or like beating a dead horse. The LMAO thing gets old because you have to skim through all of that to read the purpose of the post. Oh also the walking away thing. I always think I did something to the computer.:laughing:

[dpuck1998]

I could not agree more!

Also, at work, people use the public folder to reply privately! I have had hundreds of conversation about how not to do that but they seem oblivious!

Also......

THEIR-THEY'RE-THERE

YOUR - YOU'RE


ARGHHHHHH!!!

Yea...umm....sorry 'bout that ;)

Mine is forwards! DO NOT FORWARD ME ANYTHING! NO BILL GATES WILL NOT SEND YOU ANY MONEY! If the initials FW are in the email I delete it.

[Bornteach]

Yea...umm....sorry 'bout that ;)

Mine is forwards! DO NOT FORWARD ME ANYTHING! NO BILL GATES WILL NOT SEND YOU ANY MONEY! If the initials FW are in the email I delete it.



Don, it was not reflection on you!!!!!

:)

YOU'RE fantastic!

[mainegal]

ETA: And forgot my other pet peeve- stop sending chain emails- I don't care if you aren't going to get your wish granted if you don't send it to 7 other people. NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN! I PROMISE!!!

I do not know what ETA means.

But I totally agree. A friend, a very godd friend, is always sending me those emails that say to send to seven other friends. Other than I don't have seven friends, much less seven friends I would do that to...!!! I just ignore those emails.

LMAO - Up until five minutes ago, I didn't know what that meant. Thanks a LOT for letting me know! I feel so much smarter now.

[cslittle999]

I do not know what ETA means.
My immediate thought was ETA is estimated time of arrival but that didn't work so I Googled and found this site: http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/ETA

It appears there are 72 acronyms for ETA. Some of them would be interesting but I think clc053103 was using "edited to add". :)

[Minnie Lor]

Yea...umm....sorry 'bout that ;)

Mine is forwards! DO NOT FORWARD ME ANYTHING! NO BILL GATES WILL NOT SEND YOU ANY MONEY! If the initials FW are in the email I delete it.

I have a SIL that doesn't like FW. So I delete it in the title if I think she'll really like the email.

[Willow1213]

My pet peeve is forwards from my boss! Someone will find something interesting and send it to the "team" and our boss. Our boss will then forward it BACK to all of us to tell us about something awesome he just found :confused3 I don't get it, but whatever. In an email group that I am in, we call it "exercising your delete key".

[adsrtw]

Great thread Nikki!

I handle all of the schedules for my department of 30-ish. Thursday, I sent out a plea for overtime during this week. Some of the responses include:

Using numbers in place of letters ~ I will work l8

ALL CAPS ~ not so much concerned about the feeling of yelling, but it hurts my eyes to read all that crap.

Using a hard to read font/color. Come on, I get nearly 20 email about OT. Cut me a little bit of slack.

And one thing that is my biggest pet peeve is when somebody responds to an old email with a completely different question.

[princesskelz]

idk if its a real pet peeve from reading all of yours but some teenagers/tweens like to type like this

H! MY N@M3 !Z K3L$SY @NDD ! LUV33 DI$N3Y @ND TH3 D!S UN-PLUGG3D....

It seriously took me 5 minutes to type all of that. Its really annoying and hard to read at times too:rotfl:

I also hate spam e-mail:headache:

[DisneyKevin]

Ok....I'll play.

Olde English Font in a business email.
Unless you are inviting me to your lunch break wedding....it's unnecessary.

Lime Green Font on a baby blue background.
It's hard to read and you are not Rainbow Brite.

Pictures of roses, puppies, or cats doing "cute" things in a regular email.
Do I need to say more?

running every sentence and thought into one paragraph like it's verbal tourette's and not using any punctuation like you are too busy to actually compose an email and im supposed to have time to figure out what youre talking about or if this is you ee cummings phase and this is your way of exprsssing your individuality and you dont know how to add cute puppy pictures or you have no idea what all of the buttons on your computer do and then have to figure out why youre talking about a bad date last weekend in the middle of your email asking me where something might be located which might or might not be important and using this size font

And finally.....

The email response appropos to something asked 3 weeks ago, but not referenced in the response.....

Ex.

'Sure I'd love to.....maybe Thursday.'

Ok.....I'll think of more

[siskaren]

Great thread Nikki!

ALL CAPS ~ not so much concerned about the feeling of yelling, but it hurts my eyes to read all that crap.


I hate that too. To me it's like when I'm driving at night and a car coming toward me has its high-beams on.

I could not agree more!

Also......

THEIR-THEY'RE-THERE

YOUR - YOU'RE
ARGHHHHHH!!!

I am so with you on that one. I'm becoming convinced that a lot of people must not be familiar with the concept of contractions, which could also explain why they think it's would of, should of and could of, instead of would've, should've and could've.

It also drives me nuts on mailing lists (like yahoogroups) when people quote an entire long message just to comment or ask a question about one small part of the message

[daneenm]

Mine is absolutely...forwards of stupid urban legends without checking snopes.com (or the urban legend site of your choice).

If I get told one more time that flashing my car lights is a gang sign to kill me or I should not use deodorant lest I contract breast cancer, I will scream! :scared1:

[*NikkiBell*]

LOL (no, seriously doing so) at the ee cummings reference. I always love shocking my fifth graders with him each year while reading Walk Two Moons ( which is fabulous by the way).

[clc053103]

ETA is "edited to add"!

On a parenting board I frequent, if you edit your post it's common to include this at the bottom so they know why you are editing, so people don't wonder if you went back later and changed something and why.

so in complaining about an annoying internet acronym, I USED an annoying internet acronym! Sorry, that gets a big LOL!!!

[georgemoe]

So I have a question then. Should the DIS ban these emoticons?

:lmao: and :rotfl2:

:scratchin

[FireDancer]

My pet peeves might be colored by the fact I am in the technology field so they are a bit broader reaching than user habits. My two pet peeves are the mainstream medias complete misunderstanding and misreporting on technology news (please see the coverage of the conficker worm) and the government's inability to understand it enough to really legislate it (please see DMCA).

[PinkBudgie]

Mine is absolutely...forwards of stupid urban legends without checking snopes.com (or the urban legend site of your choice).

If I get told one more time that flashing my car lights is a gang sign to kill me or I should not use deodorant lest I contract breast cancer, I will scream! :scared1:

Oh this is mine too! When I get one, I go to one of those UL sites, find the source that proves it wrong, then send all that info back to the sender. I explain why whatever it is won't happen or isn't true and provide links. Oddly enough, I have NEVER heard back from anyone thanking me for providing them with correct information. ;)

[jeanigor]

Don, it was not reflection on you!!!!!
:)
YOU'RE fantastic!

No need to over inflated his head even more....


Mine would have to be the constant use of acronyms and middle school grammar mistakes.

I know things like VIP, ASAP, RSVP have become commonplace in our lexicon, but we have friends that during conversation will say things such as LOL!, OMG!, BRB. We refer to them as being in 'texting mode'.

If you can't be bothered to use the correct form of to (too or two) or there (their or they're) why should I bother to read it? I give you the courtesy of spelling and using words correctly, I expect the same respect.

[dgthree]

Along the vein of the there/their/they're, I hate it when people type loose when they mean lose.

[Minnie Lor]

Along the vein of the there/their/they're, I hate it when people type loose when they mean lose.

That one I have to think about each time.

[Minnie Lor]

So I have a question then. Should the DIS ban these emoticons?

:lmao: and :rotfl2:

:scratchin

I think that they're overused a bit. Was it really :lmao: (sometimes it is) but more often it's :laughing:

[hideeh]

I often wonder if the person responding to an email, post, thread, etc. actually thought about what their post said before they sent it. OR did they bother to proof read at all?

[jeanigor]

Along the vein of the there/their/they're, I hate it when people type loose when they mean lose.

I hope not to get flamed for this, but here goes.....

dining - 1) to eat the principal meal of the day; have dinner. 2) to take any meal.

dinning - making a loud, confused noise; making a continued loud or tumultuous sound; creating a noisy clamor.

[MineMail]

There's a person on another board who says she's posting from Pakistan. While you might think there's a language barrier, don't.
She posts in english, but uses bizarre IM-speak. It used to be said that you had "mastered" a language and were fluent when you could joke with people. This woman has taken it to a whole new level:

"if u go 2 A bch, wr sunblk bcz its hooottttttt."

She feels that to "master" english she has to write in a bizarre IM language.
Please, I don't want to spend the time to "decode" your secret message about sunblock at the beach.
I skip over all of her posts. It's too much work to play codecracker.

It confuses me when people write "to" instead of "too."

"I wanna go to! lmao" - everytime I read a sentence like this, I think "where does she want to go TO?" but I never get an answer because she meant to write "too"

I confess to using "lol" too much. While I am always laughing, it's not really that demonstrative. I guess "chuckle" or "snicker" would be more correct, but it's more letters.

My biggest pet peeve is "OMG." I was brought up to not use the full term ("oh my god") unless I was in mortal peril and looking for divine intervention. To see it used so flippantly bothers me. "OMG my ice cream fell off the cone!" Gak. I don't God really cares about your ice cream cone, there are more important things in this world.

There are posters who use OMG every other sentence. It's like punctuation or "uh" to them.

[kathrna]

I agree with the THEIR-THEY'RE-THERE and YOUR - YOU'RE

I also will add two: it's and its.

I can't stand reading this in elementary/high school papers. The above mentioned grammatical errors stick out like a sore thumb when I read a publication or see them on the boards.

I also dislike political emails. My BIL is SO far left, it's like he would meet back up with me on the other side.

But my all time pet peeve is the LMAO. I've seen that so much lately that it drives me crazy. When I see certain people post, I KNOW it's going to be in there somewhere. These people "LMAO" so much that they should have no *** to laugh off! It should be completely gone! Nothing is that funny ALL the time! A chuckle, yes, other than that, really?!

[*NikkiBell*]

Don is guilty of leaving IM convos.

Todd, for sake of sanity, I could never continue to be friends with someone who says "OMG" in real life conversations.

[MineMail]

Before the PC police come through, let me add that I rarely comment about grammar errors unless I can't figure out what they mean. People who make multiple mistakes repeatedly get a pass because I figure they have some issues that I don't know about and I probably don't WANT TO know about. As already stated, if you make it difficult for me to read your post, I don't.

I love it when people from other countries use expressions that are unique. A woman from Britain posted that her friend was "snogging in public" - I had no idea what that meant, so I asked and learned something. I was ready when that Harry Potter book came out with all the snogging. (Making out.)

I also like to read the different phrases used in different parts of the US.
On the east coast, I've always heard of "same old, same old" being used to mean that "business as usual" was happening. Someone from California write it as "samo, samo" which took me a while to decode, lol. (Yes, I am laughing out loud)

There are some good things to be found.

[jeanigor]

Todd, for sake of sanity, I could never continue to be friends with someone who says "OMG" in real life conversations.

Gerardo and I just chuckle to ourselves...then do a Valley Girl impression of them...:laughing::laughing:

[Madi100]

Don is guilty of leaving IM convos.

Todd, for sake of sanity, I could never continue to be friends with someone who says "OMG" in real life conversations.


That's probably because Don is busy talking to everyone and doesn't remember who he hasn't said good-bye to.

I don't UNDERSTAND the reply to all. Seriously, how do you accidentally do that?

My biggest internet pet peeve is my sister thinking she can say whatever she wants in an email and then not answer her phone when you try to call her.

And, my step-mom sending emails from my dad (and her) when my dad 1 - doesn't have a clue she is doing it 2- doesn't really care about what she's saying. She just signs his name because she thinks he has some sort of power.

[*NikkiBell*]

I look at grammar errors that occur online slightly differently. I do not expect one to use capitalization and punctuation correctly in IM convos. Unfortunately, this is the result of the very lazy technology saturated culture we have become. However, emails to people you are not the best of friends with, homework assignments, formal letters, etc. should follow appropriate grammar rules.

On the boards, the only grammar errors that bother me are misused homophones like there, their, and they're or it's and its. That just drives me batty. Pluralizing a noun with an apostrophe will send me over the deep end though. There's only so much a girl can take.

[firsttimemom]

So I have a question then. Should the DIS ban these emoticons?

:lmao: and :rotfl2:

:scratchin

Perhaps if there was a limit to using one or the other (and only one!)

[firsttimemom]

On the boards, the only grammar errors that bother me are misused homophones like there, their, and they're or it's and its. That just drives me batty.

Now that homework season is upon us, I appreciate the refresher on what a homophone is. Saves me the embarrassment of having to look it up in front of my kids. :-)

[*NikkiBell*]

You got it, Liz! ;)

[robind]

I hope not to get flamed for this, but here goes.....

dining - 1) to eat the principal meal of the day; have dinner. 2) to take any meal.

dinning - making a loud, confused noise; making a continued loud or tumultuous sound; creating a noisy clamor.


Todd -I have so done that - but I put it up to being a very, very poor speller, have been since grade school.

I know we have gotten very sloppy in e-mail, even at work. When I went to work at the UN they actually told everyone who started there - that you should write all your e-mails as if they were formal business correspondence - start w/ Dear Mr or Ms, use proper grammer etc. When I left there, I have tried to keep it up.

I must agree w/ the LMOA and LOL, very overused by some people. I do wish facebook had the smilies - sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

[jeanigor]

I just received an e-mail that was CC'd to others in my office. I now have 13 forwards and the original message. I hate inbox clutter.:sad2::sad2::sad2:

[tiggerbell]

We don't send e-mails at work - we just yell!

[jeanigor]

We don't send e-mails at work - we just yell!

Its hard to hear her yell from Pittsburgh.

[tiggerbell]

Its hard to hear her yell from Pittsburgh.


Then you don't work with the same women I do!



ETA: You gotta project from the diaphragm!

[jeanigor]

Then you don't work with the same women I do!



ETA: You gotta project from the diaphragm!

must not post....don't want points.... I think Don has jumped into my head...must not post.....:happytv::happytv:

[tiggerbell]

must not post....don't want points.... I think Don has jumped into my head...must not post.....:happytv::happytv:


I was quoting MuppetVision 3D - you pig. :snooty:

[jeanigor]

I was uoting MuppetVision 3D - you pig. :snooty:

Link Hogthrob, at your service....

http://blog.earnmydegree.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/link13.jpg

[dgthree]

I could never continue to be friends with someone who says "OMG" in real life conversations.

I just had to giggle. Food Network has some new show featuring Brian Boitano, and a video clip I saw shows him OMG'ing about something. It was *so* over the top!

[siskaren]

Pluralizing a noun with an apostrophe will send me over the deep end though. There's only so much a girl can take.

Tell me about it. I just want to scream everytime I see CM's and ADR's. :rolleyes:

[Minnie Lor]

Tell me about it. I just want to scream everytime I see CM's and ADR's. :rolleyes:

uh oh - guilty here. I have a very hard time with apostrophes and whether it's in between or after or not all. I have a hard enough time without a spell checker on here. Spell checker has made me lazy. I need a grammer checker too. ::yes::

[mainegal]

If the internet peeves have turned into grammar peeves, here’s mine:

Her and her husband went to the beach (sentence should start with She)

Him and John bought ice cream. (sentence should start with He)

[kathrna]

This has been a very informative day!

Oh, and the use or "a" when "an" should be used. That bugs me.

Here's a question for all the teachers: do you use "an" in front of the letter "H"? I've seen signs on businesses that say "an historic Inn". That just doesn't seem right to me, but I'm not as hip on my grammar as my DS is.

[katscradle]

Well I just thought I would put in my two cents worth here.
#1. is the FW: emails, I do not need the same email from 6 people taking up space in my inbox. So I just delete them all.
#2. would be when a person cannot seem to take the time to type out what they want to say with using the short form.

Niki, this is a great thread!
Thank you! :thumbsup2

[maroo]

uh oh - guilty here. I have a very hard time with apostrophes and whether it's in between or after or not all. I have a hard enough time without a spell checker on here. Spell checker has made me lazy. I need a grammer checker too. ::yes::

Tell me about it. I just want to scream everytime I see CM's and ADR's. :rolleyes:

Wow...

I am guilty of many of the things discussed on this thread! Maybe I need to go back to school before I post on the Podcast board again! :teacher:

Lorie - Point well taken about :lmao: - I know what he "means" if you spell it out...I just don't spell it out in my head. He is so darn cute! :headache:

I do say OMG in real conversation. I do use :rotfl::lmao: :rotfl2: fairly regularly. But that is just me.

And CMs and ADRs just look funny without the apostrophe!


:faint:

[rtobe]

I would like to add that emoticons do have some place in internet boards and IM type of communication as they are more interactive and instantaneously than an e-mail is. The purpose they serve is to communicate what may not be readily apparent from the text itself thereby providing the reader with the missing inflection or conversational clues since the "conversation" is not taking place face to face or via a telephone.

As for some of the other things mentioned here, on the advice of counsel I am invoking my Fifth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution :)

[OKW Lover]

Disclaimer: I am not an english teacher; nor do I play one on TV. :surfweb:

If the internet peeves have turned into grammar peeves, here’s mine:

Her and her husband went to the beach (sentence should start with She)

Him and John bought ice cream. (sentence should start with He)

I totally agree with this. But I've got another question that's similar. Should you say "Bert & I" or "Bert & me"? I learned it should be "Bert & I" (intentional reference to Maine humor but still an accurate illustration too) but I've heard "Bert & me" so often that I'm wondering if things changed in the 50 or so years since I learned that.



This has been a very informative day!

Oh, and the use or "a" when "an" should be used. That bugs me.

Here's a question for all the teachers: do you use "an" in front of the letter "H"? I've seen signs on businesses that say "an historic Inn". That just doesn't seem right to me, but I'm not as hip on my grammar as my DS is.

I always remember that you use an in front of a word that starts with a vowel, or a vowel sound. I know that doesn't help here unless the party usually drops the H in historic making it 'istoric.

Lets see, are there any horses that still need beating? :rolleyes1

[kathrna]

Disclaimer: I am not an english teacher; nor do I play one on TV. :surfweb:


I always remember that you use an in front of a word that starts with a vowel, or a vowel sound. I know that doesn't help here unless the party usually drops the H in historic making it 'istoric.


OK, well that's the way I learned it, too. Perhaps it was the location of where I saw this "an historic Inn". It was when we lived in Miami, where the latino community is big. Perhaps this establishment was owned by a person of Hispanic background, thus making the sign correct, as Spanish don't say the "H" in words. "An (h)istoric Inn" I see the light now. :idea:

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Todd, for sake of sanity, I could never continue to be friends with someone who says "OMG" in real life conversations.

OMG you wont be my friend. :lmao:

[AnneR]

This is a great thread.

I must confess, I am pretty lazy and don't spend much energy on paying attention to details of emails and such.

I have to second or third the forwarding of group emails back to the group. As someone who can get several hundred emails in my official work inbox each day, I don't have time or patience to deal with the same information repeatedly.

On the overuse of OMG, I must admit, my brother and I use it to torment our teenagers. Nothing like having your dad or uncle say to you OMG TMI!

[wishspirit]

I love it when people from other countries use expressions that are unique. A woman from Britain posted that her friend was "snogging in public" - I had no idea what that meant, so I asked and learned something. I was ready when that Harry Potter book came out with all the snogging. (Making out.)

Yep, that sounds very British! I didn't know that Americans didn't use that word! We come out with a whole load of crazy expressions! However I never judge anyone else's grammar for 2 reasons: 1) I guess that most of it's American cultural differences 2) I am terrible with grammar and spelling myself!

I can't help but love this simile though: :rotfl: I can't help using it all the time!

[Tonya2426]

For all of us who have forgotten our grade school grammar rules, I suggest you check out the Grammar Girl website. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/default.aspx (http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/default.aspx)

It is very helpful for little refreshers on the finer points of grammar that seem to be lost these days. There is also a podcast! (Well, actually it is a podcast that gets put up on the website in text form.)

[thruthelookinglass19]

I loved reading this thread! I'm glad to know that I'm not the only "fuss-budget" when it comes to grammar, spelling, etc.!!

One of my biggest email peeves though, is when someone marks every single email they ever send "high priority". As if my colleague telling me that she has a 2pm meeting next week Thursday for 30 minutes that she must step away from her desk for is THAT important that she must send it "high priority".

[mainegal]

Should you say "Bert & I" or "Bert & me"? I learned it should be "Bert & I" (intentional reference to Maine humor but still an accurate illustration too) but I've heard "Bert & me" so often that I'm wondering if things changed in the 50 or so years since I learned that.



"Bert and I" :thumbsup2

I test it by dropping Bert.

"Bert and I went to the beach."
"I went to the beach."

Both are good and sound correct.


"Bert and me went to the beach."
"Me went to the beach."

Not correct. Just doesn't sound right at all.
At least, I hope it doesn't sound right to all of you!



Grammar Girl lives in my iPod!
Grammar Girl also has a book.

[FireDancer]

"Bert and I went to the beach."
"I went to the beach."

Both are good and sound correct.


"Bert and me went to the beach."
"Me went to the beach."

Not correct. Just doesn't sound right at all.
At least, I hope it doesn't sound right to all of you!



This is exactly how I learned when to use I vs Me or she vs her, etc. Just take out the other person as though only the singular is doing the action and see which sounds correct.

The first person is also always last...He and I not I and He.

As far as a vs an I always learned that an is used only when the noun starts with a vowel or you are referencing an acronym:

An apple
An HMO
A bus

I know it is grammatically correct not to have an apostrophe after an acronym but I see it all the time. Technically though, if you aren't making the noun possessive it shouldn't have the ': "The CM's car" is correct. "The two CM's were great" is not.

Going away from the Internet pet peeves to grammar and spelling I have to say the one that always makes me cringe is asking "what is your favorite desert at Disney".

Florida is hot but it is way to humid to ever be a desert. Remember, there are 2 s's in dessert because you always want more. Which leads to another question, when purling a single letter is the ' used? I have always been taught you have.

I have to also thank you for this thread because it actually makes that 3 years of diagramming sentences in catholic school pay off. It makes me talk English more gooder:rotfl:

[froggy5657]

I hate when people are dating and on Facebook there is a back and forth between their walls saying

"I Love You"
"I Love You More"
"I love you the most"
"I love YOU the most"
"I love you so much *kissy noise*"
"I love you 5 times that *Kiss* *kiss* *kiss*"
Etc.

I am glad that you love each other, but can you not make it show up in my feed so I miss things that actually have meaning to MY life.

[siskaren]

As far as a vs an I always learned that an is used only when the noun starts with a vowel or you are referencing an acronym:

An apple
An HMO
A bus



Actually, just to be nit-picky (like we're not doing enough of that on this thread ;)), the reason an works in front of HMO is because when you say the letter "H" it starts with an "a" sound. CM and TV are also acronyms, but you wouldn't say an CM or an TV because neither starts with a vowel sound.

And just for the record, even though I am a grammar fuss-budget, one thing that I can never remember is when to use lay and when to use lie, so it's not like I'm perfect myself. ;)

[adsrtw]

running every sentence and thought into one paragraph like it's verbal tourette's and not using any punctuation like you are too busy to actually compose an email and im supposed to have time to figure out what youre talking about or if this is you ee cummings phase and this is your way of exprsssing your individuality and you dont know how to add cute puppy pictures or you have no idea what all of the buttons on your computer do and then have to figure out why youre talking about a bad date last weekend in the middle of your email asking me where something might be located which might or might not be important and using this size font



Oh Kevin, are you sure you don't work for me? I get at least 2 emails daily like this. :lmao:

[timmac]

Mine is absolutely...forwards of stupid urban legends without checking snopes.com (or the urban legend site of your choice).

If I get told one more time that flashing my car lights is a gang sign to kill me or I should not use deodorant lest I contract breast cancer, I will scream! :scared1:

Totally in agreement with you here. I will usually politely (but firmly) reply back that this isn't true, include the snopes (etc) link, and ask that they please confirm such things before sending. In the special case of a warning about a new computer virus, I will usually add in my explanation that the forwarding of the message and subsequent clogging on inboxes IS the virus itself.

I've actually gotten a response back from one person claiming that "I don't have time to check into all these things", to which I pointed out that if she had time to forward it initially, then respond to me, that she had time to check it out in the first place before ever wasting everyone's time. I never got another forward from her except once when she noted that she had already checked it with snopes (and it was valid).

On the other hand, I know at least one friend who will occasionally send things to me individually asking for my opinion, before forwarding to anyone else.

For humor sake though, here's a great parody warning, if you've never seen it before: http://chainletters.net/chainletters/bad-times-virus-warning/

[timmac]

My pet peeves might be colored by the fact I am in the technology field so they are a bit broader reaching than user habits. My two pet peeves are the mainstream medias complete misunderstanding and misreporting on technology news (please see the coverage of the conficker worm) and the government's inability to understand it enough to really legislate it (please see DMCA).

Both very good points!

[UrsulasShadow]

I hate when people are dating and on Facebook there is a back and forth between their walls saying

"I Love You"
"I Love You More"
"I love you the most"
"I love YOU the most"
"I love you so much *kissy noise*"
"I love you 5 times that *Kiss* *kiss* *kiss*"
Etc.

I am glad that you love each other, but can you not make it show up in my feed so I miss things that actually have meaning to MY life.

You do NOT want to friend my DS and his young lady!

[kathrna]

OK, I saw something today that I am surprised that I forgot about: alot. It's two words, darn it! TWO WORDS! My six yo is privy to this info, why aren't adults? a lot

[MineMail]

One of my biggest email peeves though, is when someone marks every single email they ever send "high priority". As if my colleague telling me that she has a 2pm meeting next week Thursday for 30 minutes that she must step away from her desk for is THAT important that she must send it "high priority".

Or the idiots who send an email asking you to do something/complaining and copy your manager. I have three idiots in my office that do this all.the.time. Since most of the messages are incomplete or prove their stupidity, I reply to everyone just so that no one thinks I dropped the ball.

My favorite was the dope who sent me an email, copying my manager, to say the email database was corrupted. It sent a message to everyone, but the database was empty. What had I done that caused the problem?

I initially thought the system had been hacked, but that wasn't the case. The logs shows that SHE had sent an email to everyone in the database instead of the 400 people she was supposed to message. The woman should be given an abacus - it's more her speed. She then followed up by erasing the database.

I didn't mince words in my "reply to all" pointing out that the system was fine before she used it, then I detailed how she managed to destroy a system that hadn't given us any trouble for four years.

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I've got several but the most recent internet peeve is Mom. She now has internet access and sends email with no punctuation, no paragraphs and all in caps.

We've all (4 daughters) have explained how to write emails and what not to do but it's not worked.

She also sends emails discussing people we've never heard of. At the end of the email she'll say "I can't wait to find out what happens tomorrow". I finally figured out that she is talking about soap operas.

I guess I should be glad she's trying to learn something new.

[dkostel]

Yeah, moms. Mine prints out EVERYTHING on a website. Like if I pointed her to the WDW info to check out the menu at Jiko, she'd go to the main page & print, hit dining and print, hit menus link and print, etc. She doesn't really get the concept of digital content.

My work email pet peeve is people who write "see attached file..." and there isn't one. Oh wait, that's me. I've installed a macro in Outlook that looks for "attach" in my email and if nothing isn't attached a box pops up with "the word attach is in you message and there is no file attached idiot." Then I have to push yes if I still want to send. It has saved a lot of embarrassment.

[DSNY4ever]

Nothing to add. Just wanted to say this thread cracked me up, everything was very true.

Someone on these boards has a Siggie that says something along the lines of "Every time you use an apostrophe to pluralize a word, God kills a kitten" and then it has a photo of a fluffy, adorable kitten that says "please think of the kittens." It makes me chuckle every time.

[SamSam]

I've got several but the most recent internet peeve is Mom. She now has internet access and sends email with no punctuation, no paragraphs and all in caps.

We've all (4 daughters) have explained how to write emails and what not to do but it's not worked.

She also sends emails discussing people we've never heard of. At the end of the email she'll say "I can't wait to find out what happens tomorrow". I finally figured out that she is talking about soap operas.

I guess I should be glad she's trying to learn something new.

:)This one made me laugh because it reminded of when my mother first started using e-mail. She sent my grown son (her grandson) her very first attempt at e-mail, without any spaces, caps, or anything. He got a real chuckle out of it. When I asked my mom about it, she said that she couldn't figure out how to do anything except type the letters. :)