It's wheelbarrow not wheelbarrel.

[Hyacinth]

Lol. It's not like we sit in the corner with a whistle to call out offenders and a whiteboard to conduct lessons. I mean, in our imaginations, sure. But we can be polite at parties.

[Shellydon]

Nuclear not "Nuke-ular"!!!

Lose not Loose (as in, "Don't lose the keys")

A lot not Alot

Washroom not Warshroom

Horseradish not Horshradish

"I couldn't care less" not "I could care less"

 

 

*raises hand sheepishly*  I do this all the time.  Ending sentences with non-prepositions is a goal I ought to strive for... And I should never start my sentences with a conjunction, either. :laugh:

 

A couple of these are accents or at least a product of where you live.  Warshroom is very common in places Georgia and Maryland.  Same with nuclear pronounced differently.  Not mistakes,  just regional dialect.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Shellydon

[theelfqueen]

You're "Supposed to" do something, not "Suppose To"

 

[Seasider]

Sell as a noun kills me.

 

 

And I don't care for sale as a verb.

[Amy in NH]

another whole

[scholastica]

Lol. It's not like we sit in the corner with a whistle to call out offenders and a whiteboard to conduct lessons. I mean, in our imaginations, sure. But we can be polite at parties.

Speak for yourself. I have a special whistle and whiteboard just for parties. They're fancier than the ones I use at home for my family. 😉

[Lady Florida.]

Lol. It's not like we sit in the corner with a whistle to call out offenders and a whiteboard to conduct lessons. I mean, in our imaginations, sure. But we can be polite at parties.

 

And I'm probably not alone when I say I can't help but notice these things. They jump out and scream at me even though I'm not actually looking for mistakes. I don't call people out but I do notice them. It's a blessing and a curse. ;)

 

Oh, and I don't claim to have perfect grammar (though I'm pretty close to a perfect speller) and I do cringe when I find my own mistakes.

[mmasc]

Prostrate for prostate

SAL-mon for salmon

Wreaf for wreath

[Slache]

I had poor schooling and didn't know half of these were wrong. I'm sorry. It's not my fault. I imagine most of the ignorant around you are not intentionally ignorant.

[Excelsior! Academy]

I had poor schooling and didn't know half of these were wrong. I'm sorry. It's not my fault. I imagine most of the ignorant around you are not intentionally ignorant.

 

Yes!  I once posted a thread about grammar pet peeves.  Almost every response was something I had posted in previous threads.   :blushing:  I've learned a lot from this board over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eta:  Had to correct a glaring grammar mistake.   :leaving:

Edited October 5, 2016 by Excelsior! Academy

[gardenmom5]

I'm not sure how much grammar is being taught anymore.  it used to be a joke about using newspapers for grammar lessons by finding  the errors .. . . . it's become its own worst cliche.

dd is a classics major - and grammar snob.  after attending curriculum night for 1ds's english class - she was wanting to pull her hair out.  in all fairness - *I* was cringing  at the teacher's spoken errors. (no, not regional dialect.)  she couldn't have been  out of school more than a few years - but she was *an english major*!!! for crying out loud.   she even  accused 1ds of plagiarizing a paper becasue (get this) teenagers don't talk that way. (well, she obviously didn't.) she did eventually apologize.

 

and my brother - who frequently would repeat nasty comments one of his engineering teachers made about english majors. (his then wife was an english major.)   dear brother - maybe you should have spent more time studying the proper use of grammar . . . . (then people will hear what you say - instead of how you say it.  or spell it.)

 

and our grandparents are NOT our descendants  (nor are they our posterity) ....  cry

 

I bought it off of eBay
a young quarterback out of Dallas, Texas

You know what doesn't bother me? "I could care less." I think that's because it's obvious what is meant (as in nauseous/nauseated – everyone uses those "wrongly"), plus the "wrong" way is more emphatic and fun to actually say.
(I also don't mind split infinitives – and I am a professional copy editor :-) )
"I could CARE LESS!"
... whereas if you say it correctly, you have to put the stress on the word "couldn't" – "I COULDN'T care less" – which doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely


ETA: Of course I do say it correctly, and one can put the stress on the last word – "I couldn't care LESS" – which I guess is what I actually do. I never correct anyone who says it incorrectly, though ... unless they're in my own family, haha. There is a very funny video made by a Brit (sorry, I can't remember his name) claiming that the queen is annoyed by Americans saying this incorrectly.

 

you could say "I could NOT care less" - with the emphasis on the 'not'. 

 

when I hear it I waver between sighing with a smile - or wanting to cry. or banging my head against the wall.  depends upon the mood.

 
Wreaf for wreath

are they missing their two front teeth so they speak with a lisp?   ;p

 

 

eta: clarifying

 

and spell check is NOT your friend.  it will not tell if you if used the wrong word - only if you spelled it incorrectly.

Edited October 3, 2016 by gardenmom5

[DesertBlossom]

free rein

rite of passage

defuse the situation

it didn't faze me

Ha! I am an idiot. I wasn't even thinking about the spelling, though that seems so obvious now. Different homonyms, but at least is sounds the same if you're just hearing it. I was thinking one of the words was all wrong, like "wheelbarrel" or Joey's "moo point." 😆

 

I shouldn't have tried to give up caffeine.

[LMD]

Spelling bingo - ridiculous not rediculous. Say it with a french accent to remember the correct spelling!

[Melissa in Australia]

Legos instead of Lego.

[Tanaqui]

Melissa, the company prefers you to call them "Lego bricks". As none of us is quite pedantic enough to do that, I think we must all defer to local custom. In the US, "lego" is a count noun - not a mass noun. Both of them are equally correct.

 

in all fairness - *I* was cringing  at the teacher's spoken errors. (no, not regional dialect.)

 

When people say this, and eventually get pinned down with examples, I usually find that they are, in fact, examples of regional dialect. Sometimes they're examples where the complainer's usage diverges from Standard English. Occasionally they're examples of sociolects.

 

However, spelling can still cause me to pause - esp say, at church this morning when we're getting a sermon about judgment and the Bible spells out the word judgment in verses just as it should, but up on the screen where typed verses and notes appear for all to follow, again and again, someone "fixed" the Bible's misspelling and used judgement.

 

Both spellings are acceptable, though the spelling judgment is much more widespread, especially in the US, than judgement is. (For reference, here's the UK corpus.)

 

Yes, it is one of those words with differences worldwide, but when one is copying a verse from the Bible, one would think/expect the spelling in the book - esp The Book (as Christians tend to think of it) - ought to be correct for the area, not need fixing.

 

So, um, which edition of the Bible do you use?

 

Irregardless is not a word. It is just 'regardless'.

 

Nonsense. If I say it, and you understand it, then how is it not a word? Of course it's a word. What a silly thing to say!

 

Now, it's a greatly stigmatized word, and many people don't like it - but if we could eliminate words on the basis of not liking them I'd start with "diarrhea", which I can never spell.

 

As far as listing our pet peeves goes, the only thing that really bothers me - and you're nearly all guilty of it! - is people using "grammar" when they mean "vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, or punctuation". On the one hand, I'm aware that I'm expecting people speaking casually to use a technical term in the technical sense. Bad descriptivist!Tanaqui! On the other hand - and gosh, this one is winning - since everybody admitting to a pet peeve is acting like a prescriptivist anyway, it behooves you all to get it right. If you're going to sit around nitpicking if people say horseradish instead of horshradish (and shibboleth instead of sibboleth, amirite?) and whether or not they end a sentence with a preposition, then you should at least be consistent with your nitpickery.

 

Nucular for nuclear is not an issue of grammar, it's an issue of pronunciation. (And given that it's widespread among native speakers, including a great many well-educated ones and no shortage of scientists, you've definitely lost that one.)

 

Definately for definitely is not an issue of grammar, it's an issue of spelling. (Oh, what I wouldn't give for spelling reform...! Yes, I know it's never gonna happen, but I can dream!)

 

Wheelbarrel for wheelbarrow is either an issue of spelling or pronunciation or both. Easier to call it an eggcorn.

 

Free reign for free rein is an issue of spelling or vocabulary (or both), and also an eggcorn.

 

And I'm sure I'm much more fun at party than all youse guys put together, because I can talk 20 minutes on the subject of eggcorns without pausing for breath. I'm certain my monologing is absolutely scintillating! (Well, the crickets like it!)

 

(Also, "figuratively" is not a substitute for "literally", nor do some people use "literally" to mean "figuratively". It's an intensifier. It's been an intensifier. Mark Twain used it as an intensifier, and what he didn't know about writing isn't worth knowing. On the subject of consistency, if you don't complain when people use "really" to talk about things that aren't "real" ("My mom really exploded when she saw the house"), or "very" to talk about things that aren't "veracious", then you really haven't a leg to stand on when it comes to literally, which has been used as an intensifier for literally over 300 years. Before that it meant "having to do with letters".)

Edited October 3, 2016 by Tanaqui

[Tanaqui]

Incidentally, on the subject of the word "grammar", I am constantly amused by the fact that grammar and glamour are cognates, along with grimoire.

[creekland]

So, um, which edition of the Bible do you use?

 

I was comparing it to the one in the pew provided for worshippers (in this case NIV)... but looking at all the different versions I have here at home, judgment is still spelled the US way even when I pull out my old KJV and RSV.

 

But it's ok, feel free to assume it's not a spelling mistake on the part of the person typing the slides if you wish.  Personally, I think the odds are almost 100% that it was.  I don't think they intended to "correct" the Bible seeing that as a misprint.  I think they glossed right over it thinking they knew how to spell the word.  My mind just picked up on it and saw it all - their "correction," and my "reaction" - in the humorous light given the topic/sermon.  It does that.  It's one thing I like about it, so I hope it never changes.  I absolutely love seeing humor in the world around me.  Without humor the world would be so dull.

 

But you (and anyone else) have your right to get nitpicky and keep your doubts or disdain to my views too.  ;)

[Amira]

Bias used as an adjective. And yes, that is a grammar issue. :)

 

ETA Unless you're talking about sewing instead of prejudice.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Amira

[ThursdayNext]

It has an 'e' in British English, so maybe that's the confusion. Maybe someone has been reading a lot of British literature.

That's why I want to spell it that way! I'm usually a good speller, but have trouble with that word. I also got "colour" marked wrong on my 4th grade spelling test.

[theelfqueen]

I can't spell "gray" ...it always comes out "grey."

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Jaybee]

"All the sudden" instead of "all of a sudden"

 

The more recent and becoming more popular use of "gift" as a verb, as in "It was gifted to me," and other such forms. I heard it overseas, and assumed it was more a dialect difference. But when we returned home, I am now hearing it here.

 

Living in a country where British English was the basis for the local English has messed up some of my spelling and added some new phraseology. Added to that, sometimes my kids, especially, use phrases and sayings in a tongue-in-cheek way. Throw in spell-check, unnoticed errors on the screen (which are easier to make than on paper, imho), and we're (almost) all a mess!

[lanalouwho]

Neither the OP nor many other posters specified that these were grammar mistakes. They are simply mistakes that bother us.

Like using quite instead of quiet. I see this online all the time.

 

Or when people say 'the specific ocean' instead of Pacific. I always want to ask, "Which one, specifically?"

 

 

 

Sent from my HTCD200LVW using Tapatalk

[Rosie_0801]

It's "where is he?" NOT "Where's he at?"

 

Funny. Those two are not synonymous to me.

[QueenCat]

A couple of these are accents or at least a product of where you live.  Warshroom is very common in places Georgia and Maryland.  Same with nuclear pronounced differently.  Not mistakes,  just regional dialect.

 

I grew up in Maryland. Warshroom wasn't something I heard there, ever. I did hear it in parts of Georgia and Alabama (other places I've lived).

[Jennay]

Using conscious instead of conscience.

As in, "It bothered my conscious."

Drives me batty.

[Bambam]

I saw this one recently " soapbox durby" - ??? Oh, derby. I get it.

 

Or duel credit. I love it. I have visions of continual duels. May the best one win!

[Lady Florida.]

 

 

Or duel credit. I love it. I have visions of continual duels. May the best one win!

 

I've seen duel enrollment. Did they enroll in dueling classes? 

[gardenmom5]

 

When people say this, and eventually get pinned down with examples, I usually find that they are, in fact, examples of regional dialect. Sometimes they're examples where the complainer's usage diverges from Standard English. Occasionally they're examples of sociolects.

 

 

Nonsense. If I say it, and you understand it, then how is it not a word? Of course it's a word. What a silly thing to say!

 

 

very gracious of you wanting to give the speaker the benefit of the doubt that it was "merely" a dialect. (plus, she was an english major who had supposedly been instructed in proper english usage.)  I would suggest you also give me the benefit of the doubt that I can identify a dialect (it wasn't) - and I was there.

 

 

irregardless is a double negative.   both the prefix and the suffix modify "regard" to negative  status.   so, if there are two negative modifiers to the base word.. does that make it a positive? 

 

Neither the OP nor many other posters specified that these were grammar mistakes. They are simply mistakes that bother us.

Like using quite instead of quiet. I see this online all the time.

 

Or when people say 'the specific ocean' instead of Pacific. I always want to ask, "Which one, specifically?"

 

 

 

Sent from my HTCD200LVW using Tapatalk

the grammar program I originally  used with dudeling went into many many basic spelling and pronunciation rules.  some, I wish they'd covered when I was in school.  would have helped me immensely.

like:  english has five reasons for a silent final "e". . . . such as, to make the vowel say it's name.  would have helped me remember cloth and clothe or breathe and breath when I was a struggling speller.

 

 

that reminds me.  something I have refrained from commenting when people say "it" .. . (but I can't help thinking 'it'.)

I'm having/went to __ *for* dinner. ..  really?  baked, broiled, or fried?    (the place/people should be: went TO dinner, having TO, etc. what we're eating is what we're having FOR dinner.)

[maize]

Bias used as an adjective. And yes, that is a grammar issue. :)

 

ETA Unless you're talking about sewing instead of prejudice.

If people use it as an adjective it becomes an adjective.

 

English is very amenable to words taking on new grammatical functions.

[maize]

I can't spell "gray" ...it always comes out "grey."

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I prefer the British spelling of grey as well, though I sometimes make an effort to use gray when writing for an American audience.

[Amira]

If people use it as an adjective it becomes an adjective.

 

English is very amenable to words taking on new grammatical functions.

Sure. I'm a descriptivist. But since I can't be perfect, that one still bugs me.

[bibiche]

Incidentally, on the subject of the word "grammar", I am constantly amused by the fact that grammar and glamour are cognates, along with grimoire.

Now that I knew, but I had no idea "grimoire" was also a word in English! Thanks for the lesson. :)

[Tanaqui]

very gracious of you wanting to give the speaker the benefit of the doubt that it was "merely" a dialect. (plus, she was an english major who had supposedly been instructed in proper english usage.)  I would suggest you also give me the benefit of the doubt that I can identify a dialect (it wasn't) - and I was there.

 

 

Okay, so give some examples. What did this person say that you object to? I find it difficult to believe that you are conversant in every single one of the hundreds of dialects* that collectively comprise the English language - and the fact that you seem to think that this is plausible certainly doesn't give me much incentive to give you the benefit of the doubt.

 

* and sociolects, ethnolects, etc.

 

 

irregardless is a double negative. both the prefix and the suffix modify "regard" to negative  status. so, if there are two negative modifiers to the base word.. does that make it a positive?

 

Oh, dear.

 

1. Many varieties of English show negative concord.

 

2. No varieties of English, despite jokes, actually use math rules for "double negatives".

 

3. Irregardless is a word, and everybody here knows what it means. The fact that you're trying this argument proves that. If you sincerely were confused about the meaning of it, you wouldn't feel the need to explain your logic.

 

4. Language doesn't work the way you think, and you're stumbling directly into the etymological fallacy. There are a great many words which have strange, redundant etymologies. Consider "prepare" - paro already means "prepare", so prepare logically should mean something more like "pre-prep"... but it doesn't. Both "luke" and "warm" mean "warm", but "lukewarm" doesn't mean "warmwarm". The -iterate part of "reiterate" already means "to do again", but that doesn't mean you have to have already done it twice to "reiterate" an action. The Sahara and Gobi deserts are both "logically" the "desert desert", but you're getting very silly if you try that argument on a cartographer. (And there are even more words that are homophones with their antonym - cleave/cleave, sanction/sanction, dust/dust. If you're trying to apply logic to language or etymology, you're really stretching.)

 

The fact is, you are not the arbiter of what is and is not a word. (Neither is Merriam-Webster, but if you go that route, they list irregardless. So do many dictionaries.) Irregardless is a word, and has been one for nearly a century. Not a word is not an argument. If I can say it, and you understand it, then it's a word - whether you like it or not. It's a nonstandard word, yes - and you're well advised to avoid it in many situations (just like you avoid a great many shorter words) - but it's still a word.

[gardenmom5]

Okay, so give some examples. What did this person say that you object to? I find it difficult to believe that you are conversant in every single one of the hundreds of dialects* that collectively comprise the English language - and the fact that you seem to think that this is plausible certainly doesn't give me much incentive to give you the benefit of the doubt.

 

* and sociolects, ethnolects, etc.

 

 

 

it has been more than 10 years - I can't recall the specifics.  since you are being such a stickler for the differences between grammar and vocabulary -  you would call it vocabulary as opposed to grammar.   she needed a good dictionary.  she was misusing words (arguments about whether a word is a word or not is irrelevant  - becasue they were actual words she was misusing.  either out of context, or didn't mean what she thought it meant.  on multiple occasions.   not mispronouncing, not mixing pronouns, not using non-standard word order, etc.)    we were speaking in person - so confusing homonyms is irrelevant. 

 

I would not have cared as much if she'd been teaching a non-language class. but this was english!

 

this is the one and only teacher who ever accused ds of PLAGIARISM because of his word choices in his papers.  (she eventually apologized.)

[hjffkj]

That's why I want to spell it that way! I'm usually a good speller, but have trouble with that word. I also got "colour" marked wrong on my 4th grade spelling test.

My mom lost a spelling bee in her elementary years because she spelled color, colour. She still mentions that anytime anyone brings up spelling.

[gardenmom5]

That's why I want to spell it that way! I'm usually a good speller, but have trouble with that word. I also got "colour" marked wrong on my 4th grade spelling test.

 

do you read a lot of books published in the UK?

 

when I was still in school I did -and would go nuts trying to keep the british and american spellings straight.  now, I may not know where the author is from, when I start reading I can usually tell.  then it's just,  Ok, they're british (they're taught how to write) . . . . .

 

 

 

[luuknam]

Lol. It's not like we sit in the corner with a whistle to call out offenders and a whiteboard to conduct lessons. I mean, in our imaginations, sure. But we can be polite at parties.

 

But sitting in a corner with a whistle and a whiteboard is much more fun.

[theelfqueen]

Our archery coach stole my whistle.

 

I loaned it to her at an event and she never gave it back.

 

(Apparently, I'm bitter.)

Edited October 3, 2016 by theelfqueen

[luuknam]

Martial arts, not marital arts (and yes, I'm sure the person who just posted that in a different thread knows better and just made a typo, but anyway - talking about 10yos taking marital arts classes bugs me a little).

[poppy]

No,  is "will-burra", according to my mom. :lol:

 

Irregardless is an idiom all in one word.

 

[gardenmom5]

Martial arts, not marital arts (and yes, I'm sure the person who just posted that in a different thread knows better and just made a typo, but anyway - talking about 10yos taking marital arts classes bugs me a little).

Speaking of. . .

It's courts MARTIAL ( yes, I'm yelling) not court marshall. . .smh

Edited October 3, 2016 by gardenmom5

[hjffkj]

Martial arts, not marital arts (and yes, I'm sure the person who just posted that in a different thread knows better and just made a typo, but anyway - talking about 10yos taking marital arts classes bugs me a little).

Hehe, I've never heard this and dh is a martial arts instructor. But I get privately annoyed when parents at our school call it karate when in actuality their kids are learning kung fu.

 

 

Edited because apparently my autocorrect like the word an over and.

Edited October 3, 2016 by hjffkj

[luuknam]

Hehe, I've never heard this and dh is a martial arts instructor. But I get privately annoyed when parents at our school call it karate when in actuality their kids are learning kung fu.

 

I've seen it several times, all in different places on the internet.

[trulycrabby]

It's regimen, not regiment, for heaven's sake! I see this one a lot on local facebook posts. :ack2:

[trulycrabby]

Martial arts, not marital arts (and yes, I'm sure the person who just posted that in a different thread knows better and just made a typo, but anyway - talking about 10yos taking marital arts classes bugs me a little).

Marital arts, tee hee. :o :lol:

Edited October 3, 2016 by trulycrabby

[gardenmom5]

It's regimen, not regiment, for heaven's sake! I see this one a lot on local facebook posts. :ack2:

 

depends upon how it is used. . . . .;p

lydia bennet just loved having a regiment full of handsome officers around,

[Lizzie in Ma]

It's gunwhale, not gunnel (my boss is driving me nuts with that one)

[Laura Corin]

It's gunwhale, not gunnel (my boss is driving me nuts with that one)

 

It's pronounced 'gunnel' in Britain and written either gunwale (no 'h') or gunnel.

 

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gunwale

 

ETA: Merriam Webster also give gunnel as a variant spelling:

 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gunwale

Edited October 4, 2016 by Laura Corin

[VaKim]

I just saw on Facebook where someone is looking to buy a "dotson puppy." It isn't the first time I've seen it that way.

[MyLittleBears]

And I'm probably not alone when I say I can't help but notice these things. They jump out and scream at me even though I'm not actually looking for mistakes. I don't call people out but I do notice them. It's a blessing and a curse. ;)

 

Oh, and I don't claim to have perfect grammar (though I'm pretty close to a perfect speller) and I do cringe when I find my own mistakes.

 

 

Yes Yes Yes. They just jump out and drive me batty. I can't help it either. Dh has threatened to get me a Tee shirt that reads "I am silently correcting your grammar"