Ugh, that sounds like toddler-speak.Example from a commercial: "This is why we science"
ARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHH!
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What's your biggest grammatical pet peeve?
- Thread starter doctorjazz
- Start date
Then, instead of than.
I had a very part time, but week long Instagram discussion with a fella once.
He posted
" something something something is better then .... something else"
So I replied "then 'something else' what?"
Needless to say he didn't grasp what I was on about.... for a week
I had a very part time, but week long Instagram discussion with a fella once.
He posted
" something something something is better then .... something else"
So I replied "then 'something else' what?"
Needless to say he didn't grasp what I was on about.... for a week
I just stop people when they do that and ask if they mean it literally or figuratively."literally"... I am "literally" annoyed by the overuse of "literally" without "literally" right context.
Exactly!Oh my god, great way to ensure they don't talk to me ever again
Agreed.As for the "prolly", I don't really see that as an "offense" akin to the misuse of "to" vs. "too"; "affect/effect", and things like that. While I've never said "prolly", I'm sure I HAVE said, "prob-ly" while speaking (leaving out the "ab" in the middle). But I wouldn't do it while writing unless it was a typo!
Saying "prolly" and typing it are two different things.
Once again, agreed.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.
And believe me, I'm not about to lose any sleep over any of these minor peeves. But since the OP asked...
In another thread, I offered the analogy of a band mangling a song, then justifying it by saying something like, "You recognized the song, didn't you? So what's the problem?"
Just because the reader gets the gist of what's been written doesn't mean it's okay to mangle the grammar.
One of my all-time favorite songs is "I Was Only Joking" by Rod Stewart. But near the end, he uses the wrong word in the context he's trying to convey. The verse goes like this:"...But what I'm doing must be wrong
Pouring my heart out in a song.
Owning up for prosperity
For the whole damn world to hear..."
I'm pretty sure he meant, "...Owning up for posterity..."
But I can forgive him because the song as a whole is so great. (And yes, I know that Rod doesn't give a flying #### what I think...) But it still makes me sing the proper word when that part rolls around... We're doing our bestest. Boldly. Going. Going. Gonzo!!!!
I love what R. L. Trask writes, about the choice of using 'vs' versus 'versus,' in Mind the gaffe! : a troubleshooter's guide to English style and usage. Why not write it out? he opines.
I agree with him, wholeheartedly, on most things. Mind the Gaffe! is a good book (I've made the claim before
). It looks better, it reads better. If you're going to claim something, if you believe you have a point, and you're in the communication game, have some conviction. It's only a few letters, after all. YMMV, etc. TTFN.
Unless you’re writing for a character or invoking some regional colloquialism, or similar purposes, that’s just plain ignorant.
Interestingly, I realized several years ago that I’m a poor personal communicator because I speak like I write. Most people are poor writers because they write like they speak.
When I ask a coworker about a particular item we carry and she says, “We don’t got that in stock.” A little part of me, the part that cares, the part that thinks it matters, the part that thinks if we continue on like this the world as we know it will crumble, that part dies a little bit. I’m close to not caring at all. The Catholic nuns who taught me in grade school? If I talked like that they would be rolling in their graves! I continue the fight for them because no one deserves an uncomfortable afterlife. Speak properly, people, for the sake of dead nuns who can’t sleep.
We'd all still be speaking middle English (or older) if people didn't habitually mangle the grammar though. It's a slow process of change, but change happens whether we think we like it or not, and it is what has brought us to the current language conventions that we now staunchly defend.
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Invoking the colloqualism is what it is, and neither you nor anyone else here gets to dictate when or whether I get to write this way or some other way. This isn't a newspaper or some other formal setting, and I feel sorry for people who take themselves so seriously that this is a big problem for them
There are many more pressing matters, like which pickguard to choose.
Apostrophes in a plural word that isn't possessive. Drives me insane to see it.
