s/o of spoken grammer thread

[saraha]

Do you have any spoken grammar habits that you use that you know logically are incorrect, but use anyway? (Probably like that sentence?)

 

My whole life my mom would tell us to be have. (Behave broken in to two words) My husband laughs when I ask the children "Have you been being have?" Instead of asking if they have been behaving. I know it is incorrect, but haven't been able to change it. One of my daughters recently said "Mom, I told her if she be's have, she'll probably get a sucker."

Also, it took me YEARS of my husbands eyerolls to stop saying something costed x amount of dollars.

Edited September 20, 2011 by saraha

[The Girls' Mom]

I'm doing good, instead of I'm doing well.

 

Ain't. (it IS a word! ;))

 

Ah...there are too many to list. I hack the English language to pieces when I speak. :001_huh:

[WishboneDawn]

My spoken grammar is awful. But I'm Nova Scotian and we're supposed to have a "quaint" dialect so I figure I can get away with it. :D

[Ria]

No. Shudder. It's the English major part of me. :lol:

[SeekingSimplicity]

I thought being have was correct :o

[elegantlion]

I had to explain to my ds a few years ago that gonna is not really a word, even though I use it.

[Ginevra]

Well, there's the whole "I/me/myself" issue that crops up as I'm speaking. If I'm writing, I can parse it out, but on the fly, I just have to pick a pronoun and go with it! :D So, I may say, "She was planning to go to the movie with Mary, Anna and...me?" If I think it through a minute, I'll get it, but speaking doesn't always afford that pause.

[saraha]

I thought being have was correct :o

 

Oh thank goodness, my husband thinks my mom and I are the only people on Earth who say that.:)

[Annie]

I often replace to with by. For example, "I'm going by my sister's house after church." I mean that I will be going to her house, not just driving by. :-P

 

I can thank my dad for this particular error. I found a couple blurbs on the the internet that indicate that it's a common word replacement in the particular neighborhood in which he grew up. It drives my husband crazy, but I actually kind of like it. :) It reminds me of my daddy.

 

I also say "gonna" on occasion. That one I'm trying to stop.

[melissel]

I'm doing good, instead of I'm doing well.

 

Ugh, I do this still, and I die a little inside every time I catch myself. I'm an editor and a grammar geek, and I'm trying to break the habit, but sometimes it sounds so fussy to say, "I'm doing well, thanks for asking!" For some reason, when I think of the word "well," I tend to think in terms of proficiency, not general well-being.

 

I say "gonna" too often as well, for many of the same reasons.

 

I do say "like" quite a bit--as in, "I was like, 'What were you thinking?!'" But I only use it in casual speech among friends. In more formal settings, I speak formally as required.

 

Otherwise, I'm a stickler for my language, to the point where I was teased in high school and college (and still sometimes by my DH :glare:) for my more formal grammar and vocabulary.

[saraha]

We use "going by" somewhere too, but to indicate a short trip or visit. My husband would go by the store on his way home to pick up a couple of things, but I go to the store to do our bi-weekly shopping. If my husband goes to his mom and dad's house, he'll be gone all afternoon. If he is going by, he is just stopping for a minute.