You have no idea how much I enjoyed reading the pet peeves you all mentioned in your comments to my post a few days ago. It's been so fun, I'm going to do (at least) a couple more, starting with a subject close to my heart, grammar.
And to get the party started, here's a gem from Frances at il*mostro:
Misuse of the word "literally." This one is so hilariously annoying that my brother Ducky and I regularly email each other with the latest ones we've heard. I'll do a whole post about this one soon, but for now, two of my all-time favorites:
He literally wore his heart on his sleeve.
He was literally the black sheep of the family.
It's sales, not sells. You don't make a sell, you make a sale. It's extremely common in the Etsy forums and makes my teeth hurt.
Alot. This one bugs me. A lot.
Misuse of Apostrophes--where to begin? The one that comes immediately to mind is "The Johnson's." The Johnson's what?
Oh, and along that line...misplacement of apostrophes. You have to put the apostrophe in place of the missing letter, not just any ol' (see how that works?) place.
Correct: Y'all
Incorrect: Ya'll
And finally, irregardless is not a word.
What are your grammar pet peeves? (And if you tell me your driving pet peeves too, I'll include them in next week's post, along with a link to your blog or shop.)
Posts
Ok, this post cracks me up... their, they're and there is a big one for me. My dad was big on "can" verses "may"... if I said, "Can I go to the movies" he ALWAYS answered with "I don't know, CAN you?"... ha! Orangies Attic
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way. One of my favorite moments on Friends was when Rachel writes Ross the really long post-breakup note, and he has to tell her the difference between "your" and "you're".
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college, I had to peer-teach a grammar lesson and I couldn't believe how many people had never used "whose" correctly.
Wow. A forum to vent about misuse of grammar? This is like Christmas to bitchy anal people such as myself.
ReplyDelete1. “Alot,” like you said above. You don’t say “alittle.” Why would you say “alot?” Unless you’re aidiot. (Note: journalism/advertising style is now to tuck the periods, commas and question marks inside quotes always. I didn’t do it incorrectly. But thank you.)
2. It’s “asterisk,” not “asterick.” There’s an S. Well, two, but you know what I mean.
3. It’s not “where’s my keys” or “there’s my kids.” Since “where’s” is a contraction of “where is,” you’re saying “where is my keys.” It’s that whole singular-plural thing you learned when you were like two. It’s “where ARE my keys” and “there ARE my kids throwing dirt clods at passing cars.”
4. Ending a sentence with “at.” “Where are you at?” or even “Where are you at with this?” It’s simply “Where are you?” or “Where are you with this?” Sadly, this one is becoming even more pervasive. Ignorance is sweeping the nation like a big, dumb plague. Thankfully, my kids have me to harangue them, so they won’t contribute to the ignorancification of America, and so they can learn to speak correctly, much to their humiliation in front of all their stupid friends.
Whew. Thanks. I feel better. Alot.
1. A/an - as in, "it was AN isolated incident," not "it was a isolated incident."
ReplyDelete2. Your/You're, there/their/they're, and to/too/two. Come on, people.
3. ANY error made in print in an item of advertising. Example - My cousin is showing his student film tonight at the "New Englang Film Festival."
4. Liberal use of "quotation" marks. A cafeteria near where I work lists all of its burgers as "burgers."
5. When I make grammar mistakes by accident and my friends correct them. Jerks.
6. Oh, yeah. It's "by accident" not "on accident."
Ditto on number 4 "above."
ReplyDeleteLove that hedgehog stamp so much I favorited it.
ReplyDeleteI hate the use of exited when someone means excited. I taught fifth grade and I saw that one alot. Which also bothered me A LOT.
I also hate the liberal use of quotation marks. Another teacher used to quote everything on fliers she made up. Why?
I know I should have a ton of grammar pet peeves. I work with a proofing department all day, but since I am the queen of the run on, I can't really say anything.
ReplyDeleteheh.
Seems everyone has pretty much covered the bases. My choice would've been the contractions: they're, their and there along with you're and your. Many times I think these are not done intentionally but merely because the typist is in a hurry, after all there are so many wonderful blogs to visit and oh too little time. Eureka ! How about the misuse of too and to ? It certainly doesn't equal 4. ;D
ReplyDeleteHee hee! Thanks for including my monsters in your post. I think the best part about doing big craft fairs is meeting so many people who see those designs and thrill to telling me their pet peeves, or just how much they share mine.
ReplyDeleteI love the misuse of literally because it can be so visually amusing, just like you said.
Oh no! I found myself using "ya'll" on one of my posts. Going to go fix it now...
ReplyDeleteI am literally lmao reading these comments.
ReplyDeleteNecro-thread so perhaps pointless; but regardless, I just happened on this post and thought to throw in my two cents.
ReplyDeleteI believe the confusion surrounding the use of apostrophes in regard to plurality stems from a misunderstanding of the proper use of apostrophes when indicating the possessive of plural nouns that end in s by adding apostrophes ;)
(Long sentence which likely needs punctuation correction, but if I used a grammar-checker it would be impossible to even get away with the "wink" as punctuation!)