Linguistic pet peeves

[Stacy's a freak]

Not long ago someone posted "I'm sorry for your lose" on an online obit

A co-worker of mine likes to wear clothes with sequence on them. And she had to get her driver's licenses renewed. I'm not sure how many she has.

Like the game?! awesome

 

[L&Lfan]

People who say "idear" for idea. And "pitcher" for picture. And "punkin" for pumpkin.

 

[mamacatnv]

Irregardless
Yes, I know its a "word" but it makes me cringe and I automatically discount the users intellect.

Per Merriam Webster online
Is irregardless a word?
Irregardless was popularized in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its increasingly widespread spoken use called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that “there is no such word.” There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Punctuation. Why is it some people post without punctuation. I have seen it on FB and message boards. How can you be an adult and not use any punctuation in a paragraph? How does that happen?

 

[CdnCarrie]

Ooh, now you've got me started! Disclaimer: I am a professional book editor and linguistic errors keep me gainfully employed, but they drive me crazy nonetheless.

Further - follow up "I need to further investigate this investment opportunity."
Farther - distance "I think he lives a little farther up the road."

"try and..." the word "and" implies guaranteed success. It should be "try to..." which implies an attempt but no guarantee of success.

who and that - who is for people "It was Mary who is believed to be the owner of the little lamb,..." and that is for things. "It was Mary's lamb that followed her to school one day." Which can be used in place of that, but sometimes it sounds pretentious.

Either/or "Either Jack or Jill went up the hill..."
Neither/nor "Neither Jack nor Jill came back with water."

I've just started editing a new book, so I'm sure I'll have more to add to my list before I'm finished.

Queen Colleen

Love these! I'm sure I have done many of them myself but love the clarification. Well not the further/farther one. That one is clear to me but the who and that is a great reminder.

 

[ImDMous]

I thought of this thread on the way to work. The 2 airheads who talk between the songs on the station I listen to in the morning were retelling how they went to an Escape Room.

"You guys would have never got out of that ex-cape room without me. I'm so smart."

Uhhhmmmm, I'm betting that's not true.

 

[siskaren]

Punctuation. Why is it some people post without punctuation. I have seen it on FB and message boards. How can you be an adult and not use any punctuation in a paragraph? How does that happen?

Or they don't even make paragraphs but just post a big wall of text. Or there are a few people here who do use periods and commas but they don't put spaces after them. How do you not know that there should be spaces after periods and commas?

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

what is a linquistic and why would i want one as a pet and why would i name it peeves

 

[katie01]

Punctuation. Why is it some people post without punctuation. I have seen it on FB and message boards. How can you be an adult and not use any punctuation in a paragraph? How does that happen?

Could be learning disabilities. Speaking from personal experience as a parent

 

[saucymb]

I'm fascinated by the number of people who graduate from high school or college who don't know how to use the word graduate in a sentence.

Correct: "I can't wait to graduate from high school!"/"I graduated from high school"
Incorrect: "I can't wait to graduate high school!"/"I graduated high school"

That preposition "from" is important!

 

[Vijoge]

voilà I know people who say wal-laa or something like that

 

[bethbuchall]

voilà I know people who say wal-laa or something like that

We quite often say, "Viola!" jokingly because I've seen it spelled that way so many times. Of course, we probably sound like rubes to anyone who doesn't know us.

 

[karensi]

voilà I know people who say wal-laa or something like that

YIKES! Kind of embarrassed here. I pronounce it as WA-LAA ...how is it supposed to be pronounced?

 

[jdb in AZ]

YIKES! Kind of embarrassed here. I pronounce it as WA-LAA ...how is it supposed to be pronounced?

Just change the WA sound to a VA and you've got it.

 

[karensi]

Just change the WA sound to a VA and you've got it.

Thank you, so it's VA-LA?

 

[kimblebee]

Thank you, so it's VA-LA?

It's more like VW-ALA

It looks like a tongue twister but it's not.

 

[leebee]

Language things that make me crazy:
>Waiting "on line." Unless you are standing directly ON a line painted on the ground, you are waiting "IN" line, not "on" line.
>I's, as in, "Today is my husband and I's anniversary." No, "Today is my husband's and my anniversary."
>"Gone missing." The word is "disappeared."
>It also makes me crazy when people use "whom" but then end the sentence with a preposition. Correct English says, "She is the person with whom I am going," not "She's the person whom I'm going with."
>Then there is the whole issue of misusing apostrophes. Apostrophes are used to indicate possession or a contraction, NOT a plural.
>Many of the confusions previously listed: Lose/loose, weigh/weight, using of instead of have, leaving the -ed off of things (suppose/supposed, etc).
>Depersonalizing someone, saying "the wife," or even worse is depersonalization with slang ("the hubster," for example). I know it's common in the language, but it bugs me. At least own your spouse and use "my," but I hate it when people are objectified.

Voila is "vwuh-lah." It's French, originally (and I don't know how to get the accent mark in there!)

 

[L&Lfan]

I hate the local expression "down the shore". It has always sounded strange to me . I say "to the shore" or "at the shore" depending on what I mean.

 

[bianca]

I think this is more of a Michigan thing, but it bugs the heck out of me! People say "melk" instead of "milk"! I even hear it on the radio during supermarket ads.

Two words that I regularly hear people say wrong are "phrotographer" and "nuculer". Sorry, but By my estimation, your IQ dropped 30 points once I heard either of those words uttered.

 

[daughtersrus]

I'm from the Chicago suburbs. It drives me nuts when people say Ill-i-noise. The S is silent
It also bugs me when people add an S to the end of a store name. The Jewels. WalMarts...