What's your biggest grammatical pet peeve?

[Richard Lindsey]

Something worth mentioning is that a number (by NO means all) of these "errors" mentioned here aren't actually errors but, let's say, variant usages--for example, they may be less common but still reasonably well accepted, or they may be regarded as perfectly correct in some regions/countries but not in others. Many questions of punctuation, spelling, and pronunciation don't have single correct answers; rather, they have several variations considered acceptable in formal writing. British usage of commas, for example, differs from American practice. British English typically gives collective entities such as companies and teams plural verbs rather than singular ones, as American English typically does. There are numerous other examples.

This isn't to say that I think "their" is an acceptable substitute for "they're"--my entire working life has been based on eliminating things like that. But it's just as well to keep in mind that not all of these issues have hard-and-fast yes/no answers.

 

[slobake]

Googled "pet peeve", found this:

"What does pet mean in pet peeve?

A peeve is an annoyance, and a pet peeve is an annoyance that's nurtured like a pet — it's something someone can never resist complaining about."

 

[Richard Lindsey]

"The" before pronouns or common names; such as "the I-5", "the Puget Sound".

That's common usage for freeways in Southern California (eg, "traffic is bad on the 405") but not, oddly, in Northern California ("take 680 down to Danville").

 

[slobake]

("take 680 down to Danville").

But not during rush hour.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

But not during rush hour.

Oh hell no.

 

[gln1955]

My biggest spelling problem is words with ie vs ei.
I was taught "ie" is always pronounced "ee" and "ei" is always pronounced "ai".
That doesn't work in Englisch, er English.

This is prolly why my German surname is mispronounced more often than not.

 

[LBS-bass]

I don't really think most of us who have responded in this thread are thinking of it as "policing" others' writing. Simply replying to a question about personal peeves.

Yeah, maybe. Maybe this sort of thread is like a backhanded way of smacking people upside the head randomly with their own quirks and foibles. That's another reason I don't really want to list all my cringes here. I'm sure if I do, it'll strike a chord with someone who will think, "oh, man, I made that mistake (or did that playful misspelling) yesterday and now she's calling me on it."

There was a long thread here a while back about the definition of passive-aggressive. That sort of stuff would certainly qualify.

 

[Jeff K]

Yeah, maybe. Maybe this sort of thread is like a backhanded way of smacking people upside the head randomly with their own quirks and foibles. That's another reason I don't really want to list all my cringes here. I'm sure if I do, it'll strike a chord with someone who will think, "oh, man, I made that mistake (or did that playful misspelling) yesterday and now she's calling me on it."

There was a long thread here a while back about the definition of passive-aggressive. That sort of stuff would certainly qualify.

Ha ha!!! I can only speak for myself of course, but grammar and spelling mistakes usually DO jump out at me, but I sure don't lose sleep over them. In my case, for years I had to review and approve investigative reports from the agents I supervised. So I guess proofreading is in my blood. But I'm not overly bothered by any of it.

Except when people don't separate paragraphs. THEN I can become passive-aggressive...

P.S. I just got back from the ophthalmologist's office. My eyes are still dilated, so if you spot any screw-ups in my post, please give me a pass and don't give me a backhanded (or forehanded) smack upside the head...

 

[LBS-bass]

Ha ha!!! I can only speak for myself of course, but grammar and spelling mistakes usually DO jump out at me, but I sure don't lose sleep over them. In my case, for years I had to review and approve investigative reports from the agents I supervised. So I guess proofreading is in my blood. But I'm not overly bothered by any of it.

Except when people don't separate paragraphs. THEN I can become passive-aggressive...

P.S. I just got back from the ophthalmologist's office. My eyes are still dilated, so if you spot any screw-ups in my post, please give me a pass and don't give me a backhanded (or forehanded) smack upside the head...

It all looks good from here, boss

I'm pretty much the same. I see all of that stuff - when other people do it. But I have cognitive issues from a variety of neurological problems and I can type faster than my brain can process what's coming out of my fingers. If I don't look carefully over my posts, I can toss some really funny stuff out here and be completely unaware of it. I will type "that" when I meant "the," just because typing "th" leads my hands to do things my brain hasn't caught up with. And don't even get me started on the things that autocorrect has done to me.

That's probably another reason I cut people a good deal of slack. I am in those shoes with just about every post I write here

 

[Jeff K]

^

 

[LBS-bass]

Sometimes I just type a word twice.

 

[IamGroot]

This is prolly why my German surname is mispronounced more often than not.

No, its Frankensteen.

 

[IamGroot]

 

[STRMan]

I can't stand when someone uses "conversating" instead of "conversing". Wouldn't you know it, this bastardization has made it into some prominent dictionaries!

 

[gln1955]

Yeah, maybe. Maybe this sort of thread is like a backhanded way of smacking people upside the head randomly with their own quirks and foibles. That's another reason I don't really want to list all my cringes here. I'm sure if I do, it'll strike a chord with someone who will think, "oh, man, I made that mistake (or did that playful misspelling) yesterday and now she's calling me on it."

There was a long thread here a while back about the definition of passive-aggressive. That sort of stuff would certainly qualify.

I'm pretty hard core when it comes to professional writing. On here, if I can understand what someone is trying to say, it's good by me. Inserting a comment on spelling or grammar in the middle of a thread (that is not this one) is a jerkweasel move.

 

[IamGroot]

I'm pretty hard core when it comes to professional writing. On here, if I can understand what someone is trying to say, it's good by me. Inserting a comment on spelling or grammar in the middle of a thread (that is not this one) is a jerkweasel move.

gin1955 said I needed to ascribe ownership to quotes from Wiki.

From Wiki
"jerkweasel"
An arrogant mammal who is usually found driving an orange el camino and giving others the stinkeye, or even worse, gorilla eyes. The jerkweasel juggles many jobs, including tennis coach, unlicensed medical doctor, and seller of inferior wooden shoes. When not juggling these jobs, the jerkweasel is involved in running various Ponzi schemes. The north american jerkweasel can be identified by the 14 nipples under it's belly.

 

[gln1955]

jerkweasel
An arrogant mammal who is usually found driving an orange el camino and giving others the stinkeye, or even worse, gorilla eyes. The jerkweasel juggles many jobs, including tennis coach, unlicensed medical doctor, and seller of inferior wooden shoes. When not juggling these jobs, the jerkweasel is involved in running various Ponzi schemes. The north american jerkweasel can be identified by the 14 nipples under it's belly.

If you are going to copy stuff from Wikipedia, please cite your source.

 

[Jazzdogg]

"literally"... I am "literally" annoyed by the overuse of "literally" without "literally" right context.

It bugs me that dictionaries change the meanings of words to reflect the misuse of the language by morons.

 

[slobake]

Read a headline today that said, "The Dead Sea is Dying." ???

 

[slobake]

View attachment 4902755

I seen what you did there. I think.