That one always bugs me!

That being said, my pet peeve is may/might. I use "may" as permissive and "might" as speculative.

Last week I was looking at a business card for a taxi company, it said, "We are your alterative transportation source." ARGH!

Lisa

1. Oops' we goofed (on a coupon).
2. Donats (some sort of doughnut sale)
3. Bargin Day (as opposed to more expensive gin?)

And each of these signs went to all the stores in the chain. One day I spoke with a cashier at the store on NW 23rd and she said the donat sign drove her crazy. I can't blame her. She didn't catch the bargin and oops'.

"Plural words DON'T have an apostrophe!!!"

They do if they're possessive.

"It is "I couldn't care less" not "I could care less.""

Both are perfectly correct and appropriate usages. They mean just two different things.

"It's most properly pronounced "fort",[sic, the comma goes inside the double quote], but nearly everyone says "for-tay".[sic, the period does, too]

Actually, the first accepted pronunciation is "for-tay."

"I use "may" as permissive and "might" as speculative."

May is correct in either circumstance:

aux.v. Past tense might
1. To be allowed or permitted to: May I take a swim? Yes, you may.
2. Used to indicate a certain measure of likelihood or possibility: It may rain this afternoon.

The one that has been bothering me is "walla" instead of "voila."

Mostly I don't care though. It's not like this is any kind of formal communication medium. It's not as bad as instant messaging either. :)

I like some people's version of voila : VIOLA! It seems appropriate here. I have my pet peeves, too, but I'll save them for editing hubby's stories. I know if I said anything here, it would come back to bite me. It IS informal, thank goodness! When you are sitting and chatting with good friends, you don't correct their grammar!

Catching typos in signs, ads and newspapers can be fun. One of our local classified ads papers carries a note that goes something like this:

"We aim to please everyone. Some people love to find mistakes. So, please consider any errors our way of keeping them happy, too." That's not exact at all, but I couldn't find it in this week's paper. I thought it was cute, especially since I am always noticing typos. It made me stop and think!

Another interesting thing to me is that the way I write/type is nothing like the way I speak, let alone think. They are entirely different languages! I assume we adjust our speech subconsciously to fit in with those around us. It's fascinating (but I would never say it that way). :o)

Oh, okay, just one... huge is not spelled "Hugh", that is a fellow's name! Sorry... now the karma kicks in...

Friends of the Pubic Library

Usually printed on flyers announcing a book sale, or signups for the group. Gives me a little giggle every time.

I am always noticing typos. It made me stop and think!

I have a funny story along those lines, singingcrk. I'm an American history buff and two years ago I picked up a Lewis and Clark book while on a fishing trip in Montana. The authors and publisher were all local residents of the area of Montana that I visit at least once annually.

While reading the book I noticed several type errors. I was also dismayed to find a pretty significant text drop in one of the more interesting passages of the book that incorporated Nez Perce Indian oral history and insights on the expedition. I also noticed the book was only in its first printing and several others by the same authors and publisher have gone into several printings. I resolved to inform the publisher of the errors and drop off so that subsequent printings could be improved.

When the time came, I dutifully called and reported my findings to a nice elderly lady who had answered the phone. After a long pregnant pause, she gathered her wits and politely informed me she would let the authors know and that the publisher would be "mortified". I explained embarrasmment was not my goal and that I was actually just calling to assist in improving the next printings. I also asked whether someone could provide the missing text from the drop off in the book, gave her my address, and the call came to an end.

Well you know the rest ... I still await a response, and in retrospect I am thinking I must have provided quite a good laugh for the office staff that day.

From what I have heard (I may be wrong), most editing has to be done by the authors, now, and errors may never get caught on the way to the printer. There should be a volunteer program! I'd sign up. Then I could read without feeling guilty for "wasting my time" - I'm workin', here! :o)

I've never been to Montana. It's on my very long "someday" list, though...

Other general peeves:

there, their(thier) and they're
to and too
than for then
then for than
post as plural
post for thread
congradulations
tomatoe

I really wish they'd fix all of the spelling/grammar problems in both the FAQ's and the rules here on GW. Those bug me because people are referencing them all of the time. Everywhere you go you find an error. "Trading is done at users' discretion. GardenWeb has no control or resposibility over trades arranged here."

W is pronounced double-you on the air.

There's tons more, but I have changed professions and don't remember them all. I didn't know anyone competent or valuable enought to pen or ink anything in radio. It was drafting copy only. No siggies required.

Do you use the word "fun" as an adjective? It seems to sound all right when you say something like, "That was a fun game." And when you say, "That was fun", it could still be a noun, although I think most people mean it as an adjective.

Here's where it gets me, though - "Yeah, that was so fun!" I keep automatically correcting to "so MUCH fun", or "such fun", as in, it's a noun. I know this is some weird glitch in my brain, but I can't remember ever reading anything when I was a kid, where it was used in that way! In the dictionary that I checked, there was an adjective listing from at least the early 1900's, can't remember now. Could someone PLEASE cure me of this apparently false notion?!? I've even said it myself (but then again, I say, "It don't matter" all the time, so that tells me nothing!)

Well, thanks for listening!
Wanders off, mumbling..."Having fun in the fun house...isn't that funny...fun, fun, fun..."

I thought "different" was an adjective and the preposition used with it should be "from". Whenever I see "different than", I kinda think it is incorrect. ??????

=====

"Usage Note: Different from and different than are both common in British and American English. The construction different to is chiefly British. Since the 18th century, language critics have singled out different than as incorrect, though it is well attested in the works of reputable writers. According to traditional guidelines, from is used when the comparison is between two persons or things: My book is different from (not than) yours. Different than is more acceptably used, particularly in American usage, where the object of comparison is expressed by a full clause: The campus is different than it was 20 years ago. Different from may be used with a clause if the clause starts with a conjunction and so functions as a noun: The campus is different from how it was 20 years ago.�Sometimes people interpret a simple noun phrase following different than as elliptical for a clause, which allows for a subtle distinction in meaning between the two constructions. How different this seems from Paris suggests that the object of comparison is the city of Paris itself, whereas How different this seems than Paris suggests that the object of comparison is something like "the way things were in Paris" or "what happened in Paris.""

Mistakes in advertisements are quite comical. I enjoy when Jay Leno or Dave Letterman show ad mistakes on their shows.

Mistakes in tv commercials bother me most of all simply because there are so few clever tv commercials out there. It bothers me when furniture stores advertise sales on "Bedroom Suits" (rather than suites pronounced "sweets") and when people on tv say "foy-ER" to describe a front hallway or the BIG ONE "nuke-U-lar"! Would someone kindly inform George Dub'ya that the word is pronouced "NUKE-lee-ar". Is there a "u" in that word? No, no there isn't. Please stop saying it with a "u" in the middle. ;o)

*wipes sweat from brow* There... I feel much better now. And nobody complain about my "...'s" because I have no idea why I use them on forums except to express a longer than normal pause between words in my sentences. ;o)

Barb

Barb, the bedroom suite thing has always had me stumped, too. Now, foyer just needs to be changed. Around here, that's just too much - "Oh, do please meet me in the foy-ay, won't you, dear?"

Here is another one for you gardeners - "herbs"!!!!!

I grew up hearing teachers correct people for pronouncing the "h", "Herb is a man's name, not a plant!" Over and over, I heard this.

Years later, I realize that in England, one DOES pronounce the "h" (I think?). One day, a few years ago, I see Martha Stewart on television, talking to someone in a garden, and she keeps DELIBERATELY enunciating the word with an h. Almost PAUSING in her speech to point this out, or something. From that point on, I have heard it more and more this way on gardening shows. Was Martha trying to educate us, the inferior, non-h pronouncing idiots? Or is everyone going nuts?!?

Along the same lines, "Halley's Comet" - in the 80's, God forbid you pronounce that with a short A. The last time around, it was the long A. Arrgh.

Speaking of signs, did anyone get the email picture going around years ago (don't know if it was real or edited), of a Taco Bell sign that read,
"NOW HIRING
ALL SHIFTS"
only they had left out the "f" in shifts? :o)

I use FireFox for my browser, and I have an extension called Dictionary Tooltip. I can highlight a word, right click it and select "View Definition," and up pops a dialog box with definitions, usage notes, audible pronunciations and synonyms. Very handy.

Singingcrk... is "foyer" too hoity-toity for KY?

There was a tv show about 5 or 6 months ago that was really neat. It was about the english language and how different it can be only miles away from where you live. It showed people being asked what "such and such" is and their replies depending on where they lived. It also talked about where certain words came from and how they evolved and it talked about where slang words come from and how they become popular nation-wide. It was really interesting but I don't remember what show it was on.

Barb

All of these in one place:

Barb, I always liked "alright", but I was taught later that "all right" is correct. I don't know if you can believe anything you're "taught" about English, though, since the language does change! This may be a stupid question, but I'm curious: do you know if there are grammar rules that are different/accepted in Canada?

Haha, I have heard people say foy-er around here, so I guess not...
I would have loved to have seen that show. I did see one about the dialect/language in a particular region of North or South Carolina, but I can't remember the name of it, either! It seems my memory has left, a little bit with each kid I've had...I guess I've focused so much on them, that there isn't as much room in my brain for other things!

Anyway, I think it's fascinating to listen to people from different areas. It will also be interesting to see how popular speech changes in, say, 10 or 20 years. With people moving around the country more, and especially television/radio, I wonder how much more the dialects and accents will have blurred.

We moved just one county over, but there are differences. One local thing seems to be using the word "ideal" to mean "idea". Where did that start? The friends I have heard saying it were all raised here. Did one person, way back when, start the trend? Does everyone say it, or just a few? Maybe it started in a school or church, because it's not one family. I would love to know, but it seems rude to ask!

Anyway, so I'm a nut. Love language, even though I'm not that good at using it! I'll quit the babbling... gotta go clean up the potting soil in the kitchen!

Angel

One of the non-words that drives me crazy is when people say "axe" rather than "ask".

For years my husband insisted that "irregardless" was NOT a word and for years it was not in the dictionary. However, if you look in just about any dictionary now a days, you will find it. It's an odd word.

Barb

For example if I talked about "road pizza"... does an explanation even make sense? Maybe the flatness of the pizza I suppose but I guess that would depend on which neighborhood you come from if your pizzas are really all that flat.

If you say "!Vaca Santa!"(literally "Holy Cow!") to a Spanish speaking person they wouldn't have a clue what you mean. Can you explain that english euphemism to someone so that they don't think you are a mental case?

Barb

HOSTRESS WANTED

Shore

Someimes, but for the most part, no. It is even more difficult when you don't live in a country where English is the primary language.
On the other hand, English in England is different from the one spoken in the U.S. or Canada or Australia. Even in the U.S., there is a variance from one region to the next.

I have lived in the U.S. for more than half my life. I read and write English extensively. In fact, my first language is deteriorating while my English is improving, I think. LOL. However, I still don't understand a lot of things. Take humor for instance. For the life of me, I don't see what's so funny about slapping a pie on another person's face. I see it as an insult rather than a funny action. :-(

And I mangle idioms all the time. :-D

Barb

Barb in Ontario

"All doors will not open at this station"

Really? Then how is anyone going to get off the train?

And another:

"Station X, last and final stop"

Just redundant. Earlier they say "Station X, next and final stop" and that makes sense.

knotty,

irregardless is in my 1969 dictionary. It is nonstandard, or slang. It says it is a double negative, which is never acceptable except when the intent is clearly humorous.....or...I think in other words when someone is just wanting to talk and appear stupid.

sue

Barb

Barb, here's an example:
Everyone took their toys and went home. Should be: Everyone took his toys and went home. (I think...gosh, it sounds weird, now...)
Same thing with no one, none, someone, somebody, etc. They're all singular.
Another conversational thing for me, sliding into what I write/type.

Angel

Barb
(who used "But" at the beginning of the sentence ;o))

I often hear people say "priorize" instead of "prioritize". I look it up in my dictionary and it's not there. Then I look on the internet and get over 51,400 hits on the alleged word. IS it a word? I still think not but I'm not sure.

Barb
southern Ontario, CANADA

On a forum, such as this, we have a tendency to use what I will call "conversational grammar", that is, how we would say it...not how we would write it...

Does that make sense??

If I was writing a research paper or other type of report, it would be "fine tooth combed" for errors.

We were talking the other night about the whole 'he/she' issue, and he said he'd recently read something about 'they' becoming acceptable as a singular substitute. If this is true (and I don't know that I trust his source, since it wasn't me, LOL, yeah, right!), then 'their' would have follow along. So you may be right, Barb! Maybe everyone DID take their toys and go home! :o)
I had to look up 'priorize', I had never seen that before. I found a site that talked about it,though. According to them, even 'prioritize' didn't show up until the sixties!

Webkat, you're right, I see the forums as very conversational, like talking to friends, not writing research papers. I don't think this is a mean-spirited thread, I just find language interesting, and love to talk about it with non-stuffy (is that a word?) folks!

Another good one is while in traffic, I always leave a couple car lengths between me and the guy in front. The jerk behind me is on my a**, then he passes me must to get up in front and take my "stopping space".

Or when someone calls your home and it's a wrong number and they just hang up with out an "I'm sorry", especially when it's late.

The biggest pet peeve is when I park my 4x4, (which I'm still very proud of) way out in the parking lot, the very furthest spot I can find. I come out of the store and find a P.O.S parked right up on my door!! Thus 6 door dings!!!!!

So to me, grammar doesn't bother me. It's rude and uncurteous people.

Nancy

Singingcrk...thanks for the link

Seedbandito... I agree! Rude people really irk me too. In my small town I often see kids or teenagers throw huge bags of fast food garbage out the back window of their car but what's worse is that the adults in the front seat seem to think it's no big deal. Our North American culture is sorely lacking in the finer niceties, morals, manners and etiquette that was so stringently taught up until the last century. I'm a working mom myself but it seems that this lack of social teaching/learning seems to coincide with both parents being out of the home and working. It's a shame we can't go back to teaching the simple manners and niceties once again.

Barb

One of my pet peeves is how telemarketers call and address you by your first name, as if they know you. I suppose that's a marketing trick - but it just ticks me off.

And I have a question: why do so many people use the word "loose" when they mean "lose"??

PV

Barb

But they said that rudeness is a lot like fashion, in that it changes with the times; what was considered rude, say a hundred years ago, may be considered acceptable behavior today.

And that there are periods in history when the feeling that rudeness is pervasive grows more intense:

"Questions tend to come up during periods of change. Periods of immigration, periods where technology transforms the way we live, periods where there's a big population explosion, so there are more people encountering each other on a daily basis. All of those kinds of situations, I think, create a shift and … a reinvestigation of manners and what they are."

They also talked quite a bit about Japan, that most "polite" nation, experiencing a real surge of rudeness, which they attribute to the growing influences of the western world (aka America). And how they are trying to legislate the "rudeness" away.

Bottom line: rudeness seems both dehumanizing and threatening no matter what era; manners are what bind people.

OK, there it is. More than you probably wanted to know.

PV

Barb

Next on the list: fewer v. less

More and more I hear everyone using "less" when they are talking about a NUMBER of items. "Less" is for 'lumps' of things...like mashed potato for instance. "Less" mashed potato, not fewer.

However, if you had a bag of potatoes, and you didn't need that many, you'd want FEWER potatoes, not LESS potatoes.

Then there's noocular, joolery, and febyooary.

The list goes on...

Sam (a grammar and spelling snob who does not always type very well)

Perhaps that is the root of my disdain for the word "orientate". I was a nurse for 20 years, though I haven't practiced for almost two years.

Lea

Oh, my pet peeve~ rambling posts ;) hehe!

gee-dubya

Just my peeve. I'd rather be gardening.
Susan

Has anyone read "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss? Is the koala in a tree or a bar?

singingcrk: I think the dialect in the Carolinas you're thinking of is Gullah, a blend of English and African languages spoken on islands off the coast, and originating with slaves. The isolation of the islands has kept the language alive.

A recent program on my local public radio station had an interview with, among others, the author of "The Atlas of North American English" who says that, contrary to common opinion, accents are actually becoming more pronounced.

One might and may listen online from the archive page. Scroll down to the show titled "Ayuh, Linguistically Speaking" from March 9th.

and "Panties' is plural ???

All Perrineals Half Price

How about "Eat here and get gas" ?

or "We buy junk and sell antiques"

:-)

Advise/Advice.

mao_tse_mom, math has never been my strong point, but I love to have light bulb math moments! Loved algebra, because I like logic and puzzles. And logic puzzles. :o)

Here's one in the spirit of being helpful, and it applies to winter sowing:

Opaque does not mean transparent, they are opposites. (I think we get this one confused because we may remember hearing the definition in school, and it was usually presented at the same time as transparent or translucent.)
I only mention this because sometimes folks talk about using opaque lids 'n' such, when I think they mean a lid that lets light through.

:o)
Angel

Amanda 'romando'

I've learned to read past/through typos on posts on GW or elsewhere, although I do have a handful of pet peeves. It's like talking with friends - their grammar isn't as important as their friendship and what they have to share.

What really gets me, though, are typos in articles on news websites. You'd think that people in the information business would be scrupulous about spell-checking and editing. Typos in books bug me too - sometimes I think I should have been a copy editor instead of a Special Ed teacher (and now home schooling mother - my kids are NOT going to like having me correct their papers someday!).

About ESL (English as a Strange Language!), our son has Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism. One of the characteristics of AS is being very literal-minded and having difficulty understanding euphemisms/figures of speech. We are ALWAYS having to "define" figures of speech for him, because they just make NO SENSE to him at all. The expressions "Cat got your tongue?" and "I have a frog in my throat" really grossed him out until we explained them. Sometimes I feel like I have to be a walking dictionary of American colloquial speech. (And there are several good dictionaries for figures of speech available, some written specifically for people who have AS. Who knew? I've GOT to get one!)

Laurel (who is a transplant from OH to NY, and still occasionally can't figure out whether to say "soda" or "pop" when referring to a soft drink)

Don't stop now, this is great!

Nancy

Okay, here's a pet peeve: saying "surely" when "sure" would do. As in "I surely will." One more peeve is the improper use of the pronouns "I" and "me." (Hope I put the period in the right place!) On one of my favorite gardening programs the host is always saying, "Something something to landscapers Mike, Jay and I."

I really try to not notice grammatical errors on signs or in the newspaper, but I find it impossible to be patient about mistakes in print. I recently checked out Sunbelt Gardening: Success in Hot-Weather Climates (don't know how to make italics, sorry) by Tom Peace, and it was so filled with grammatical errors, I became angry. Hate when that happens!

What they had for sale was field peas. I think it was adorable, and I've never forgotten it.

Mary

They just spelled it exactly the way it sounded to them.

Mary

"Pansys $X.xx"