While the 'your/you're' and 'they're/their/there' errors cause me to cringe every time I see them, this common mispronunciation (often observed on television) gets the worm. I don't understand how news reporters can be that stupid, or possibly ignorant, to make the error.

I also dislike the damage that online chatting has done to the English language. I don't mind the occasional 'lol/rofl' in a conversation over an instant messenger, but truncations such as '2' and 'ur' are useless and extremely annoying. To me, using the number '2' indicates the inability to distinguish between 'to' and 'too'.

I could go on like this for hours, naming every little thing that annoys me, but I wouldn't want to take up too much room on your thread, so I'll stop here. Don't get me wrong though, I just prefer to see clarity and precision in writing, especially that of adults. It's a horrible thing to see simple errors, such as the ones mentioned above, in the work of so-called 'professionals'. It makes life a lot harder for us (us being those who end up correcting the errors of the lazy and/or ignorant).

I can understand that everyone makes mistakes, but when each and every sentence that somebody has written makes me cringe five or six times, it often gets on my nerves.

(Yikes, ended up ranting there!)

Well, I have one word to say on this one. Ebonics.

when people say "funner" instead of "more fun". also, when people end their sentences with prepositions.

After reading these posts, I realize that I need to go back to school. LOL! (which has to be somebody's pet peeve)

lol.

another one 'pleonasm', was it?

The exact same thing.
The same thing.

What's the difference?

tell him he literally doesnt know the meaning of the word literally.

there, they're, and their. I've seen all used for the wrong reasons. It bugs the hell out of me!!!!!

There - place - Go over there and sit down.
They're - contraction of they are - They're out of here.
Their - personal ownership - They need to screw their heads on!

I'm Norwegian, and my english grammar is not exellent - but my "pet" is separation of words. *mind went blank trying to come up with examples*

Oh.. Great Scott - I work 8 hours/day. In the busy period I usually work a steady 9hrs/day... => I often "give" 113%

There's a person at one of my customers who says this at least 5 times during any given meeting.

It's a MUTE point...

Makes me want to tear my hair out and jump up on the table and scream at him no it's not -- its a MOOT point - don't use the freakin' word unless you can use it in a sentence...

But I don't...

It's a nice fantasy though.

EDIT: I Just noticed three post's above :).

I hate it when people say good instead of well

pet peeves
 

When people say or spell "heighth"; "me and you"; and when alot is written as one word rather than two

People, it's pronounced familiar (fu-mil-yer) not fermiliar (fer-mil-yer or far-mil-yer). There is only ONE 'R' in the word. STOP INTERJECTING LETTERS! If I hear another person who I consider to be intelligent mispronounce this word, I'm ending my life. Just try me Dan Rather...just try me.

[QUOTE=Batman976]

Anyways - There should be no 's' at the end of this word. I don't know why it bothers me so much, but for some reason it does. "Towards" doesn't bother me quite as much, perhaps because I don't hear it as often.

QUOTE]

.....what about "towels"? does this bother you?

Tell me about grammer. Forget grammer. We need better words in English, also, more words.

I invented a word that I am sure will become widely circulated someday.

grubnuf - Havn't figured out what it means yet, but I think it is something important.

irrespective - It means "dis-regarding the state of something. i.e Irrespective of whatever you may think, I am going to rule the world someday."


I don't care about grammer. Nor do I think much about punctuation.
When is the last time you stoped in mid-thought and said to yourself "Oops, a run-on sentence...must include a semi-colon somewhere or I won't be able to understand this thought."

English is about communication of information. French is about poetry. I see way to many of the culteral elite using wonderfully colourful phrases that are completely void of an useful information. If you don't know what to say, shut up.

And maybe schools should start letting kids read actual books for once, instead of supposed "classics". King, Asimov, Steele, perhaps a good maintenance manual once in awhile.

"interjecting"?

"injecting" would seem more appropriate. "ter" seems like they are injected for no reason there.

Are you absolutely sure it's not "MOAT"?

Or, perhaps you didn't hear him properly because he was speaking at -3dB.

Dunno

Hahah oops. Sorry. 'Inserting' probably would have worked best. I'm sure i just made a few pet peeve lists (not list's).

People who randomly turn nouns into verbs need to be shot. Twice.

I will not "action" your request, and I will not "source" your document. I may shove them both up your a**, however... ;-)

Here's a few more:

It's schedule, not skedule.

Drinking may affect my judgement, but the only effect it will have on me is to challenge my relationship with gravity. Learn the difference.

It's pronounced 'Zed', not Zee.

Finally, spell-checkers that claim to be English(Canadian) that correct the spelling of words like 'colour' to 'color', and 'honour' to 'honor'.

Actually that depends on if you are from the U.S. or Cananda. In the U.S. it is actually correct to pronounce it Zee. In Canada it is Zed.

[QUOTE=crooks]And how are you going to communicate information if you don't use correct punctuation or grammAr?

A guy I work with never uses a single form of punctuation in any of the things he writes. You have no idea how difficult it is to understand what it is he's trying to say. We have a debate about what it is we think he means, after which we call him and discover that we were all wrong.

The one I see most commonly is absent commas when addressing someone. "I don't think so Ted" or, "Jane have you seen my new computer?" It's also notably absent for prepositional phrases: "In the past we saw a great increase in numbers" or, "For my money you can't find a better car."

Actually, "me and you" oppositions can be correct when the sentence is structured right, as in, "That's the difference between me and you," or, "He didn't know if it was me or you who damaged the drapes." "You and me" sounds better, but the reverse is also technically proper, as far as I know. So it bugs me when people use "you and I" in situations where "you and me" is actually correct.

I totally agree with you on this. The 'you and I/you and me' rules are simple. If you are not sure, remove the other person from the equasion. Ex: 'You and I can go to work together'. If you are not sure, you can remove the 'you', thus: 'I can go to work'...not 'Me can go to work'.
This is what I learned in school. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Yes, willravel, you are right and it drives me crazy too! I get profoundly aggravated when I hear people use "I" when "me" would be correct. My theory is that they (or their parents) were corrected for misusing "me" and decided that the correct thing to do is use "I" all the time.

As in, "Mom's going to the mall with my friend and I." Aaargh!

I have to say that almost all of the things mentioned in this thread annoy me beyond description. I'm no grammatical expert but both my mother and grandmother were English teachers, so I doubtless picked it up by exposure as a child. The ones that bother me most are the misplaced apostrophe and lose and loose. The worst thing is when someone goes to the trouble and expense of printing mistakes of this sort on their menu or sign - a guarantee that they'll never have me as a customer. Most of the time when I hear people butchering the language I never correct them because I'm afraid of what might happen if I open my mouth. I might just start screaming like a banshee with frustration and that just wouldn't be polite.

I also feel the need to point out that there's a difference between creative use of the language and sheer ignorance or laziness. Of course we should be able to invent a word and use it. Think of Finnegan's Wake, for example. We should also expect to be misunderstood, and to have to explain what we are saying to a lot of people. Hopefully someone will get it and think we're clever. Unfortunately the overall literacy level seems to be sinking, and it seems that a lot of people just really don't care whether they can use the language properly or not. I'd say that precludes any possibility of creating a literary masterpiece, much less making ones self understood in daily conversation.

Isn't it just easier to say "we" or "us"?

The whole "its" and "it's" thing bugs me to no end. (When people get it wrong, that is.)

It irks me when somebody uses a subject pronoun instead of an object pronoun, especially with a preposition.

Ex. It was between Bob and I.

It should be "Bob and me".

At certian times you have to specify the persons in the group you are referring to. Ex: John, Martha, and I are going to the store.In situations like this, 'we' and 'us' are too general.

its not really gramatical, more vocal..... idea or idear? apparently john kerry says idear, so is it the proper way to say it?

It is totally incorrect to say idear, just as nucular was misspronounced by Bush. Idea, and nuclear are the correct words, and I'm voting for Nader because of it!

Apostrophes
 

Apostrophies! Why can't people get these right? It is Rule Number One in Elements of Style.

1. Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's.

Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write,

Charles's friend
Burns's poems
the witch's malice

"Charles's friend" is what people muss up most often, and personally, it drives me nuts.

That's all. :)

My overall pet peeve is people who point out grammatical pet peeves to me! :D

One word...

Irregardless!

Dont You Find It Incredibly Annoying When People Insist On Capitalizing Every Letter Of Every Sentance. I Find It Quite Difficult To Read And Would Happily Strangle Anyone Whom May Indulge In Such Practises.

Nor is "apostrophe'd"

And nor is "kicked"...in the head...until...you...understand.

Sorry, just thinking back to my schooldays.

When Churchill was a journalist an editor scolded him not to end a sentence with a preposition. His reply was "This is the sort of impertinence up with which I will not put."

There's something I need to get off my chest here.

'Addicting'

The word you're looking for is ADDICTIVE.

Heroin isn't addicting. Cigarettes aren't addicting. The fucking games on addictinggames.com aren't addicting.

I realise America was founded on the principles of freedom-from-spelling, the separation of dictionary and pen, but please stop using 'addicting' when you mean 'addictive'.

Thankyou.

Can't stand when people don't know the difference between there, they're, their.

Is it so hard to know when to use "take" or "bring"? You take something over there, and you bring it over here.

i have a friend that ends every sentence with either "dude" or "man"
"what do you wanna do dude?" "i know man" "lets go to the mall dude"

IT KILLS ME!!!!!!!!

Someone could have already posted this, but I'm too old and lazy to look first.

I am particularly disturbed when people tell stories in present tense, as if they're narrating something that's currently happening. EXAMPLE: "Yesterday, I'm walking down the street and this guy walks up....."

ARRGGHH!!