Grammatical & spoken errors that reveal idiocy

has the mail came?

My God! What common milieu do you frequent?

" I should have went...."

"Between he and I"

"I ate three taco's."

" You're such a looser."

" The dog wagged it's tail."

When people pronounce the T in often. It really hurts my ears. I hear it more and more.

r2 Marry me.

"What enrages you?"

Rage queens.

Ask him to learn how to use punctuation on his phone without the extra spaces first, r4, before you go picking out china patterns.

Casted or broadcasted. People who use either term should be thrown into a manure pit that is set on fire.

Any time someone says they or another actor was 'casted' in a project.

'Conversate' still baffles me.

People who use draw for drawer. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THEM?

Old white queers obsessed with grammar. Empty holes, empty lives.

Myself and her went to...

It's one of them things...

Short of published materials, I'm mostly forgiving of written errors that could as easily be attributed to auto-correct/auto-suggest errors: its/its (why can Google's skills at predictive patterns fall so short with this?), or a possessive apostrophe where a plural was intended (though it takes a second to think of a sentence that might use taco's in the possessive.)

[quote] When people pronounce the T in often. It really hurts my ears. I hear it more and more.

That’s like nails on a chalkboard. When you hear it in a movie, you wonder why the director didn’t make them reshoot the scene. It takes you right out of the moment.

Misuse of reflexive pronouns invariably reveals the speaker to be a self-important idiot.

“If you have any questions, talk to myself or any member of the management team after the meeting.”

*its/it's (to demonstrate my own point unknowingly)

[quote] I think Joan like the two Steven's.

OP is suffering from a severe case of OCD and should see a psychiatrist ASAP. One can be amused or annoyed, but to feel intense rage??? You are sick, OP.

If she ever goes to India or Singapore and listens to the natives talking in English, she will simply gag and die right at the scene!

I respect black idioms, but it's "library and "asked."

Just in case one cares.

orientate irregardless "I could care less"

Seek therapy

"pet" for "petted."

Conjugations of Pet:

I/we pet: first person singular and plural present You pet: second person singular and plural present He/she/it pets: third person singular present They pet: third person plural present Petted: simple past Petting: Present participle

Oh, dear. Here is it, properly formatted:

[quote]Conjugations of Pet:

[quote] I/we pet: first person singular and plural present

[quote] You pet: second person singular and plural present

[quote] He/she/it pets: third person singular present

[quote] They pet: third person plural present

[quote] Petted: simple past

[quote] Petting: Present participle

[quote]Since it is a regular verb, there are no real surprises.

R18, I love that you said 'irregardless' instead of 'regardless'.

I mean, look, I have a degree in English language and literature and one thing you really learn from doing that is how constantly changing and evolving the English language is. Old English is hugely different to Chaucer's English, which is very different to Shakespeare's English, which is very different to Victorian English, and so on. That's why I wonder what is really up with the psychology of extreme grammar Nazis. On the one hand I think that knowing basic spelling and grammar is a good thing for communication and to signal that you do have a basic education but at some points there's so much inflexibility with these people at times that you realise that they aren't very educated or intelligent people if they don't get that the English language is a constantly evolving and creative beast. The dictionary adds new words every year. New ways of using the language are invented; many of them perfectly practical and congruent with changing times e.g. using 'they' and 'them' instead of specifying gender.

I believe it's called language drift. What sounds functionally illiterate today will be the accepted norm in ten years.

All those "discrete" individuals placing personal ads!

I wish I was... If I was you...

Dangling participles make me most want to get out my red pencil.

[quote]Looking around the yard, dandelions sprouted in every corner.

[quote]Running after the school bus, the backpack bounced from side to side.

[quote]Oozing slowly across the floor, Marvin watched the salad dressing.

[quote]Coming out of the market, the bananas fell on the pavement.

I'll admit though that the one thing that bugs me is people who capitalise random words in the middle of a sentence. Especially 'University' when they are talking about having gone to university and that's because it usually indicates to me that they don't read much. If you read books regularly you tend to pick up how things are written down, and if you went to university you're supposed to have read books. So I kind of judge that.

Who's is that, you asking? It's mines.

discrete for discreet

As in I have a very discreet peen.

In the US, r27, we use "college" as the generic term for post-secondary education, so if I type "University," it's to mention a specific university.

[quote] Who's is that, you asking? It's mines.

Wolves and otters. Theys my favorites.

[quote] Coming out of the market, the bananas fell on the pavement.

It's tough to walk without any feet!

I have a longtime close friend (retired interior designer) who mispronounces "supposedly" as "supposably." I've never said anything to him about it.

R30, I am British, so I'm pretty much talking about Brits who don't use 'college'. I agree that if they are mentioning a specific university that it should be capitalised. For example, you'd say 'Manchester University' but when it's an unspecified university, you don't capitalise it.

I've seen this many time recently. Using "casted" instead of "cast."

Example "Vivian Leigh was casted in Gone With the Wind."

I hate “supposably”…lay down / lie down.

Using "I" all the time, under any circumstance.

E.g., the boss gave a Christmas bonus to Jack and I. Ugh.

All kinds of people do this, even people that seem very educated.

r35, see r7 and r8.

What sort of friend are you, R33? Correcting him is so worth it even if it ruins the friendship.

Lay down and lie down is an interesting one R36. Layed vs. laid. It’s an example of language drift where the correct thing fades as the more used version becomes the standard norm.

“Show me how that looks like”.

It’s either “Show me how that looks” or “Show me what that looks like”

I corrected a friend once and I think she was angry. She's a dental hygienist. We were eating pasta at a restaurant and she said "al dante" (instead of "al dente"). The only reason I said anything is because she's in the dental business.

[quote]"I text John Doe" instead of "I TEXTED John Doe".

LOL - I "texted" John Doe.

OP is like one of those people who complain about poor table manners because someone wasn't using a fork and knife to a hamburger at a picnic.

Who goes around correcting poor grammar with equally poor grammar under the pretense of fixing an error.

R38 Well, for years, people seemed to say it correctly. Recently, EVERYONE is saying "casted." Why??

He done it! I seen him!

It's fine to pronounce the t in often. It's now become commonly done.

DL has a “casted troll” who likes to use it posts in order to annoy other posters.

I didn’t know where he was at, but he had went to the store.

Agreed, R41. A similar error is made by foreign people whose videos I've watched online, but I don't blame them for it. Obviously, these fine points are very difficult to learn as a second language. But when you're a native speaker and immersed in English your entire life, you should glean proper usage.

Anyway, the error I mean is showing some object and saying it looks "like so." "So" is an adverb, used to describe a process or action.

I don't fully buy the "language is evolving" excuse. These "evolutions" degrade the meanings, usage, and utility of our language into something far more inexact. And unnecessarily so.

This verse that.

I can't believe the number of people that think "I's" is word, as in "Charlie and I's favorite food is pizza." I don't recall seeing it written, but I hear it all the time.

"Where do you live at?"

R49, how else do you explain how drastically different Old English is to Shakespeare's English, to the English of today? I recommend this book which is from a former pedant.

Who all!

r44, "casted" occurred in another thread and the person who used it said that English was not their first language and wanted to know what the error was. However, in my real life, I've heard people actually say "casted" and I probably became their enemy because I corrected them.

I was going to write what R47 wrote. I would have used "cast" for the past tense there, but I so see the rationale for "casted": we're not using the verb "cast" = "throw," whose irregular past tense is "cast." We're using a verb derived from a noun "cast" = "dramatis personae," so it should be a weak verb with a regular past-tense form.

My peeves are ofTen, "between you and I," and also the much-abused "short-lived" with a short i, as if it were from the verb "to live," when it's from the noun "life" (analogous to short-tailed, short-haired, etc.) and so should have a long i.

And I'm with R49 on the "language evolves" nonsense. Obviously language evolves, but the people who make that excuse have no idea how languages actually evolve; they're just making excuses for their ignorant choices.

Using "there is" when talking about a plural subject. I hear it everywhere and so often, like in Youtube videos, that I'm afraid the rules will change one day and make it okay. It's not!

[quote] I can't believe the number of people that think "I's" is word, as in "Charlie and I's favorite food is pizza." I don't recall seeing it written, but I hear it all the time.

That sounds so fucking stupid! (Jerry and I's house.)

R52 Come sit by me

I get annoyed at expressions that have changed due to ignorance.

"Set foot in" has become "step foot in," which makes no sense.

"Buck naked" has become "butt naked."

"Button-down shirt" used to refer only to a shirt that has a button-down collar (like an Oxford shirt.) Now it has come to mean any shirt that buttons down the front.

I’m allergic to impact as a verb and the inappropriate use of apostrophes.

Today on "The People's Court" when talking about Marilyn meeting her husband, John, at a Happy Hour, she turned to him and said "between you and I." Judge Judy continues to say she feels "badly."

[quote] I would have used "cast" for the past tense there, but I so see the rationale for "casted": we're not using the verb "cast" = "throw," whose irregular past tense is "cast." We're using a verb derived from a noun "cast" = "dramatis personae," so it should be a weak verb with a regular past-tense form.

Except that the word "cast" -- meaning "dramatis personae" -- does originate from the verb "cast" -- "to throw", or rather the noun of that verb, "cast" -- "a throw":

The sense of "a throw" carried an idea of "the form the thing takes after it has been thrown," which led to widespread and varied meanings, such as "group of actors in a play" (1630s).

So the past tense of cast remains cast.

There are six surviving signatures written by Shakespeare himself and he spelt them all differently. He was a real creative who would have driven the grammar and spelling Nazis here insane. Yet he's considered one of the greatest writers and innovators in the English language:

Willm Shakp

William Shaksper

Wm Shakspe

William Shakspere

Willm Shakspere

By me William Shakspeare

If people use the word "literally" when it's not needed, you've got proof they are an idiot.

We had went

[quote]Except that the word "cast" -- meaning "dramatis personae" -- does originate from the verb "cast" -- "to throw", or rather the noun of that verb, "cast" -- "a throw"

"Rather from the noun of that verb" is the key detail. Being a denominative verb, it's a weak verb and so has a regular past tense form. So past tense "cast" is technically incorrect (in this sense), the result of a confusion between the two verbs (in *some* ways analogous to the notorious lie-lay confusion).

R63 Very instructive.

I'm (insert a verb).

[X] is goals.

Any error about subject-verb agreement. I tend to hear that more frequently these days.

I went to the store.

She went to the store.

She and I went to the store. (NOT me and her!)

The fountain sprayed me with water.

The fountain sprayed him with water.

The fountain sprayed him and me with water. (NOT him and I)

The New York accent and way of talking sounds stupid. The woman next door to me told me she was going to drive her cah to Tamper.

[quote] "Button-down shirt" used to refer only to a shirt that has a button-down collar (like an Oxford shirt.) Now it has come to mean any shirt that buttons down the front.

I didn't realize that all buttoned shirts are now "button-down" shirts.

[quote] Any error about subject-verb agreement. I tend to hear that more frequently these days.

Me, too. I did go to Catholic school, though, and learned to diagram sentences. The UK way of speaking must drive you nuts with all of the nouns that are treated as plural rather than singular. ("The family were on holiday.")

A common subject-verb error: the number of Covid cases are rising. Drives me nuts.

Department of redundancy: the reason why is because…

And of course, "is is that".

YouTube comments have some of the worst errors. I remember someone describing a certain guy's skin color as café olé.

I cringe when a weather or traffic reporter says "Further North." When describing physical distance, it's "farther." Easy to remember, begins with "far." Harold could walk no farther, and refused to discuss it further.

Supposably it's not okay to say I took a roast out of the freezer to unthaw it.

R46, "Commonly done" by people who don't know. I was corrected by a teacher who said "If you can say soften, you can often." Never made the mistake again.

I'm going to be honest and say that 'farther' seems like some kind of archaic pedantic nonsense. I would naturally say 'further'.

A friend says Vunerable for Vulnerable.

Too many people seem to think that both male and female animals can be "spayed". "After I had my dog spayed, he kept licking himself where his nuts used to be."

My sister-in-law's family pronounce "urn" as "urine". Do we put Grandpa's ashes in the urine or do we?

R80, pedantic to you, but not to people who speak correctly. Broadcasters should maintain the standard.

Overuse of "different." Recently saw a story saying "we have eight different locations." If you dropped, "different," you would still have eight locations.

The past tenses of words like "sink," "rang" "stink," "sing," etc. all seem to have disappeared in favor of their past participles.

[quote]Too many people seem to think that both male and female animals can be "spayed". "After I had my dog spayed, he kept licking himself where his nuts used to be."

So would you consider that as bad as the use of "spaded" in lieu of "spayed?" I hear that one all the time.

"This coming Sunday." Why not just say "this Sunday"?

"Begrudgingly" is just awful. Begrudge and grudgingly are two good words, why combine them?

Disinterested is not the same as uninterested.

Anyways.

Vunnerable is British, no?

[quote]Disinterested is not the same as uninterested.

Indeed, disinterested folks can be interested at the same time!

Mistaking "of" for "have" where contractions are concerned (e.g. "would of", or "could of"). I think it's sheer laziness moreso than outright ignorance. But really, it's both.

I also detest the misuse of the apostrophe. Most commonly, people mistake the possessive form of a word for the plural. And sometimes, people just throw it in for absolutely no logical reason whatsoever.

Now available in the Datalounge Gift Shoppe!

I never ever made the mistake of putting apostrophes in plurals until I started reading the internet.

R84, not if it's become the new normal. Because unlike you I recognise that the English language changes over time.

"I like a [bold]dominate[/bold] type."

"[bold]Supposably[/bold], he got arrested for public lewdness."

"Do you have any [bold]assessories[/bold] that go with this dress?"

"I [bold]axed[/bold] you a question."

I've heard people speak this way. I assume they all grew up in trailer parks.

R37, agree. I found it very distracting especially when the perpetrator is an educated native speaker. Though English is my fluent language, I learned it in school and not at home. And many years into adulthood, I still sometimes question my understanding of a grammar point. When someone uses "pronoun and I" incorrectly, I distract myself trying to figure out if they are wrong or it's me? I stop listening to whatever they say. I actually go over the exercise of removing the pronoun and ask would that sentence work with only "I" or "me".

Only once have I heard the song title said correctly "The Man Who Got Away."

You people are insufferable!

Did I say that right?

"drug" instead of "dragged"

[quote] I cringe when a weather or traffic reporter says "Further North."

Is the reporter from North?

R96 It's likely that they were never formally taught when to use 'I' or 'me'. I would just try to remember that. I myself never was.

When people drop the g from recognize and say "reckonized." I have heard this so often (silent T) that I started to wonder if the g became silent in recent years!

Radio guest who works for a city agency said "We service men, women and children." Service relates to objects.. cars, air conditioners and refrigerators. When you provide a serve to people you "serve" them.

I myself could hardly say some of these words, much less spell em.

I’m with R91, could of and should of. And I’ve heard some educated people use this terminology. Could of punched them in the face when they said it, but I would not… of?

I've serviced whole families, R103.

Heh heh, R103. "We service men" has quite a different meaning.

“I seen.” “Birfday.”

R108, I hate "seen" being used that way too.

[quote]"After I had my dog spayed, he kept licking himself where his nuts used to be."

Like all the old queens on this thread.

Trump supporters seem to revel in their misspellings and grammar errors, although their errors can at least be partly a result of lack of education. Even if they could avoid them, they would probably still use misspellings and bad grammar to “own the libs” and show they don’t have to follow “their rules”.

[quote] You were an inspiration to me and many American’s

[quote] Radio guest who works for a city agency said "We service men, women and children." Service relates to objects.. cars, air conditioners and refrigerators. When you provide a serve to people you "serve" them.

It’s…it’s a cookbook!

I hate to get my pitcher taken.

R25 — few people will know what you mean. But I do…

R97, changing the song title to "The Man Who Got Away" would be wrong. Ira Gershwin wrote "The Man That Got Away" purposely based on the phrase "the one that got away."

I hate hearing "based off of" instead of "based on."

I've been an editor for 20 years. I have learned the hard way that language errors like these do not necessarily reveal stupidity. They reveal that a person is not well educated in language.

A lot of very highly educated people I've worked with have absolutely butchered language. I went as far as to ask the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for the dissertation of one person because I couldn't believe she could have written ("written") a dissertation accepted by a doctoral committee, but indeed she did.

A lot of very intelligent and poorly educated I've worked with are poor writers and insecure about it.

Some people with English, communications and philosophy bachelor's and graduate degrees I've worked with are about as apt as I would expect a high school senior to college freshman to be at writing.

A hell of a lot of decent writers I know are abysmal editors.

I always performed well in English classes and at writing, and I never even thought about it. I took for granted that any halfway intelligent person has a decent sense of usage, spelling, forming organized written thoughts. Nope. Not at all. I got my first office job at 19 because I was given a spelling test riddled with errors and I corrected the errors as I went along, unsure of whether they were intentional or not. (They weren't.) My family, teachers and professors and my bosses all encouraged me to pursue writing because of my writing and editing skills, and it wasn't until I had worked for many years as a professional editor that I (mostly) let go of my harsh judgment and accepted that writing and editing are both specialized skills that many people don't grasp, just as I never was able to grasp calculus. I agree that it should be a lot more fundamental than that and that everyone should be highly adept with their native language, but that just is not reality.

Really, R114? "Were" isn't quite obsolete yet, is it?

[quote] Were" isn't quite obsolete yet, is it?

You are obsolete!

OP thank you for starting this thread!

I’m not happy if I can’t put block someone each day!

"should of" or "would of" (instead of "should have" or "would have")

"bias" as an adjective instead of "biased" ("He is so bias!")

[quote] I hate hearing "based off of" instead of "based on."

Also "based out of" instead of "based in".

The counterfactual subjunctive seems to be dead. Were it not so!

Positive anymore.

Easter Sunday, Easter is always on Sunday.

I believe it's to distinguish from Easter Monday. But there's nothing wrong with a little pleonasm among friends.

Moving on, "moreso" is not a word. If you want to express "even more so," then say it that way. Otherwise, just say "more."

"Everyday" is an adjective. "Every day" means every day.

The clunky "if I would have known" instead of the elegant "had I known."

truly, what doesn't enrage you?

r22 Yes, the English language is constantly evolving. The Grammar Nazis, however, are fighting against the language devolving. There is a difference. Also, using 'they' and 'them' instead of specifying gender is not a new thing. It's been around a long time.

Sidenote: the people obsessed with pronouns probably had no idea what a pronoun was until it became fashionable. Most people don't know the parts of speech. I think that's a shame.

The loss of the correct verb forms in a conjunctive statement or question.

[quote]"Everyday" is an adjective. "Every day" means every day.

Similarly, "what ever" vs. "whatever." But it seems the battle has been lost. The only place I ever see "what ever" (which should be used in a question) is in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" Otherwise, "whatever" has taken over.

[quote] The only place I ever see "what ever" (which should be used in a question) is in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"

So you see it every day.

It still astounds me how many people confuse lose with loose on the internet. It's a distinction one learns in first grade.

"Bake off," instead of just "bake" ("I'm gonna bake off my turkey necks") sounds dumb to me, for some reason. I'm not even that sex-minded, but I always thing of "suck off" (as in blow job) whenever I hear "bake off."

r133 Dat's da suck job!

He deserted the squadron in the dessert to eat desert. Unfortunately, his pants were no longer loose and he would have to lose weight. It wasn't the pant's fault.

Cripes. The *pants'* fault. Blew my own joke.

And I really fucked up R135 all the way around. Let's try that again.

He deserted the squadron in the desert to eat dessert. Unfortunately, his pants were no longer loose and he had to lose weight. It was not the pants' fault.

Jesus Christ English sucks.

Blame it on autocorrect, R135/R136/R137.

My gov't covid-19 website survey has the question "do you just receive first dose or second dose?" I mentioned in the constructive feedback text-field that sounding out questions to fluent English speakers can prevent errors like this.

Did he get his just deserts, R137?

My stupid-ass boss repeatedly says, "eckcetera," instead of "et cetera."

Does he also say "asterisk"?

How is "asterisk" not correct?

R142 The pronunciation is exactly as it's spelled. I'll assume you are misinformed, since you also do not understand punctuation.

Sorry, that was meant to be asterick!

For New Yorkers:

The Port of Authority

The Statute of Liberty

[quote] I weight 221 lbs

[quote] Just in case one cares.

[quote] One can be amused or annoyed, but to feel intense rage???

Strained, awkward use of "one" in casual written prose. You see this a lot in British Royal Family threads. Yes, "one" is correct in the sense that it is what you learned in school in 1950, but "you" is used interchangeably with "one" today and sounds so much more natural.

fuck the fuck off you old queer grammer trolls. you make dicks soft and bore everyone. aint rite.

There, they're, their.

Boy oh boy, you fellas sure do love this topic!

[quote] I feel intense rage when someone says "I text John Doe" instead of "I TEXTED John Doe". I also hate when people ask "has the mail came?" and "where is it at?". Don't even get me started on this preferred pronoun bullshit and how it butchers the English language. What enrages you?

“What enrages you” - literally everything

[quote]The Statute of Liberty

Don't forget me!

Prostrate cancer - apparently you get it from lying down.

Anti-climatic - against the weather?

I see those two all the time.

"That's so cringe."

Who came up with this? It's positively cringeworthy.

I've seen "lightning" misspelled as "lightening" at least seven or eight times in the past week or two here on DL. (Of course spellcheck doesn't help with that one since both are valid words.)

Here’s a current DL thread title: “Floridians with COVID are literally laying on the floor of makeshift clinic at public library.”

Now this is probably some 22 year old Bolshevik typing this out in St. Petersburg (note the lack of articles) but the lay/lie misuse really tags the writer as an idiot.

I seen

People who say ky-oat instead of ky-oa-tee should all be thrown into a grease fire. Every single person I've ever heard who says, "ky-oat" is a idiot rube.

Monday's are my least favorite days.

Tuesday's are slightly better.

Wednesday's are Humo Day.

Thursday's are ok.

TGIF's

[quote]changing the song title to "The Man Who Got Away"

This. Using 'that' instead of 'who/whom' when referring to a person.

The ultimate sin is not the horrific grammar/spelling which no adult should be forced to endure, it's the petulant justification for continued use of said horrific grammar/spelling, citing casual versus formal conversations/venues. I'd give the illiterate morons far more credit if they'd just admit that they're lazy fucks who can't be bothered.

"Expecially" or "expresso" for especially or espresso.

[quote] Here’s a current DL thread title: “Floridians with COVID are literally laying on the floor of makeshift clinic at public library.” [T]he lay/lie misuse really tags the writer as an idiot.

I saw those photos. The Floridians were, literally on the floor. (I.e., accurate use of "literally.")

The person I've seen who is misspelling "lightning" is doing it repeatedly and I'm almost positive it's bait.

[quote]Iguana bites lady on the beach

On what part of the body is the beach?

I see "voting block" a lot on DL when it should be "bloc." I think most people aren't even aware of the word "bloc."

cock "bloc"

Part of the problem is that people don't really read now. How many generations of Americans have grown up without having a newspaper in the house, or shelves full of books? What they read is on a screen and how much of that has been edited for grammar, spelling, and punctuation? For them, reading isn't second nature and it isn't done for pleasure, slowly at leisure. Communication in some form continues to occur (though we don't seem to understand each other any better than ever) but use of the language has suffered.

I've even heard university professors say: Let me axe you this question? Mind you theys black. But still!

r157 St. Petersburg, Russia or St. Petersburg, FL?

r167 I used closed captioning when watching TV and I've found the number of really egregious spelling and transcription errors shockingly high. I'm not sure if it can be attributed to ignorance, carelessness, or the fact that no one really gives a damn about accuracy in closed captioning.

"Here, here!"

I always think where, where?

R150, oh my god, yes. I first started noticing this back in 2018, and I thought it was just another stupid thing people on the internet were doing, like when people started substituting babe with bae. Nope, now it seems like people genuinely do not know the difference between there, their and they're.

That, and apostrophes in relation to decades. Global TV had a story several months ago, and the headline onscreen read: "Police searching for man in his 20's." I almost threw socks at the TV. (Smart) people would not write "man in his twentie's," so I don't know why anyone other than a fucking moron would look at "man in his 20's" and think, "Yeah, that looks right." (Don't even get me started on things like "the 90's." Ugh, fuck off!)

I must say, being in this thread gives me life, to know that others are enraged (thanks, OP!) about the things that make me want to reach through screens and slap people. I know I'm certainly not an expert, but some of these things are just... there are no words. Like would of instead of would have. (But, if I have made any grammatical errors... blame the vodka double I just had. Language is always evolving!)

Also: my high school geometry teacher used "heighth" instead of "height". Okay. She wasn't an English teacher, but fuck I hated that. Otherwise, I thought she was fine. But that's the one thing that still stands out to me, twenty-something years later.

“She done already done had herses.”

Mute point instead of moot.

Wreck havoc instead of wreak.

Just desserts instead of deserts. (The noun for something you deserve. It might be cake but probably not.)

[quote] Also: my high school geometry teacher used "heighth" instead of "height".

Where does “heighth” even come from? People don’t say “weighth” for “weight.”

“I’m born in the Bronx.”

But they say "width," "breadth," and "length," r176, which is where the mistake comes from.

Spotted recently on Reddit and Twitter:

‘payed’

‘buyed’

r178 and "width."

R162, the problem is "laying" instead of "lying."

"I'm waiting on my boyfriend." Unless you're in a service industry, you don't wait "on," anyone. You wait "for" your boyfriend

R167, Closed Captioning is no longer done by typists, they use Voice Recognition which often misspells, especially with personal names and names of locations.

[quote] but some of these things are just... there are no words.

There are, just not the correct ones.

[quote]"I'm waiting on my boyfriend." Unless you're in a service industry, you don't wait "on," anyone. You wait "for" your boyfriend

While I agree with you, there are a slew or regional variations that are common, such as:

Wait in line vs. wait on line.

Got an "A" vs. made an "A"

“I’m shook”

[quote] “I’m shook”

He was shook and then he passed. Mayhap the shooking done made him pass.

Using words that are over someone's head, as shown either by clear misuse or mispronunciation. Or words that don't exist. Examples:

--"This option is not pa-LATE-able."

--"It's not rocket scientry."

R188 = Condoleezza Rice

[quote] I feel intense rage when someone says "I text John Doe" instead of "I TEXTED John Doe". I also hate when people ask "has the mail came?" and "where is it at?". Don't even get me started on this preferred pronoun bullshit and how it butchers the English language. What enrages you?

When people don't use a commas

I heard character in a '50s movie pronounce "precedence" as pruh-SEE-dense. Was that even an alternate pronunciation? It kind of makes sense in a way -- it would eliminate the confusion with the word "presidents."

Long sentences, yes, but I don't see where commas are glaringly needed at R190.

[quote] I heard character in a '50s movie pronounce "precedence" as pruh-SEE-dense. Was that even an alternate pronunciation? I

It is an antiquated pronunciation. In The Queen, the 2006 Helen Mirren film, Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) makes some sort of snide remark to his assistant because one of the Queen’s aides uses the antiquated pronunciation.

R185 Yes, that one. It was only a few years earlier had I discovered that "wait on line" is another variation used by NYers.

Clique rhymes with pique. It DOES NOT rhyme which pick.

With*

R149 can't make it to his MAGA meeting and is grouchy.

R191, are you sure you heard “precedents” pronounced that way and not the adjective “precedent”, which has two pronunciations: one with the stress on the first syllable, and another with the stress on the second, with a long “ee” sound.

Sometimes hear people pronounce "Reese's" peanut butter cups as "REE-SEES." Sounds really dumb to me. If you just look at the package, you can understand the pronunciation.

R199, do those people have witch chins?

Niche mispronounced. It's "neesh."

Actually, R201, "nitch" is an alternate pronunciation. I was riding in a car with my cousin and her boyfriend and she said "nitch." I don't really like cousin that much, but I liked her boyfriend even less (pretentious, BMW was his car). He corrected her and said, "It's neesh." So, being me, I looked it up and "nitch" is an alternate pronunciation.

If you're going by the dictionary--which records all common pronunciations (as "also") without judgment--then the "clique" guy needs correction, too.

Really great teachers out there huh ?

Yeah, it's like telling Americans (and the British) that we're pronouncing "Paris" wrong because we don't pronounce it as the French do. When words get adopted into another language, the pronunciation (in the new language) will be different, esp. if the new language doesn't contain certain sounds.

Hard on the ears to those in the know? Maybe and probably.

[quote] I liked her boyfriend even less (pretentious, BMW was his car). He corrected her and said, "It's neesh." So, being me, I looked it up and "nitch" is an alternate pronunciation.

And you seem like a “bitch” (no alternate pronunciation needed).

From CNN.com today:

[quote] Biden said he could relate to the families loss

They do this sort of thing even when news is not breaking. Use your proofreaders.

Don't blame it on the teachers. Do you blame your bad diet on your doctor? Everyone can learn the right way to speak and write. It's not that difficult if you try.

Do or do not. There is no “try”.

R204: Oh no you didn't! Yes, there are plenty of substandard teachers out there (as there are substandard individuals in every profession) but the rampant stupidity we're talking about here cannot be laid at the feet of teachers. Would that all students paid so much attention to their teachers that such a thing could possibly be true!

R142/R145: Actually, the stupid boss is a she, not a he. Not that it makes any difference in terms of being a pretentious asshole who can't pronounce "et cetera," but it's interesting that you assumed it was a man. No judgement, of course; I might have done the same thing.

R210, are you R122?

R185, Standing "on line" is attributed to Ellis Island. When immigrants arrived colored lines were painted on floors. Guards said "Stand on line." This phrase is heard in Metropolitan New York, where most immigrants settled and passed the it on to their children. Correct term is "In Line" meaning one-behind-the other. Think of those skates.

R211 there is no "e" in judgment.

Literally.

There is so rarely a need to use 'literally" in today's writing or spoken conversation, yet people do it literally every day. Like literally.

Okay. Last week I went to the mall. Don't ask.

Anyway, it was a high end department store. I asked if Perfume Boy at the men's cologne counter where men's formal wear was. He directed me around the corner. After looking for ten minutes later, we found out they didn't carry any. On the way out, he saw us and asked if I found what I was looking for. Mind you, he works in that department. But I wasn't a bitch. He goes on to tell me that there's a store that has Joseph Abboud clothing. He pronounces the last name a-BOWED, rhymes with LOUD.

me: Joseph Abboud (rhymes with "dude") him: No, it's a-BOWED me: No, it's Abboud him: I KNOW it's a-BOWED! The first thing that occurs to me is to say, "what do you know, you're just a shop girl?" But I didn't because I didn't want to sound like a bitchy shop-bottom.

People who start paragraphs with "okay" as one-word sentences.

[quote]People who start paragraphs with "okay" as one-word sentences.

It's grammatically correct.

[quote] Judgement is the accepted spelling in British English. ... In American English, “judgment” vastly predominates. “Judgement” is listed in dictionaries (see, e.g., the American Heritage Dictionary), but “judgment” has been more than 10 times more common in recent years.

Is it sad that I don't quite recognize every example as a problem?

The who/that when it comes to people does annoy me. I hear "that" instead of "who" so often that, again, I question if I'm the one who is in the wrong.

R218 It reveals idiocy

R216 Something tells me he's got about 100 IQ points on you.

Language rules are fluid. Nothing says small dick sign than pointing out to someone that they just ended a sentence with a preposition or split an infinitive. Really, just stop.

I was a soda jerk in an inner-city dairy store when I was a teen about 50 years ago.

If I had a nickel for every time someone - an adult - came in and asked

[quote]How much is a quarter cone?

I'd have had enough nickels to fill a sock so I could hit them with it.

"It's lightening!"

Gurl, that's your hair, not the weather. LIGHTNING.

[quote] How much is a quarter cone?

How many were in the Dirty Dozen or the Magnificent Seven?

R91 describes my number one pet peeve. It’s such a shockingly common error in online comments (could of/should of/would of ); it seems usually to be a sign of someone who never reads books and/or mostly spells phonetically?

^ shalking!!^

Two I see a lot:

"Per say" instead of "Per se"

and

"Wallah!" instead of "Voila!"

Ugh.

"ROD iron" instead of "WROUGHT iron".

I actually read that in a newspaper article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution once.

So, both the writer and editor are idiots.

One example of language drift: "To boldly go" from Star Trek original in the 60s. At the time people went mad and insisted that an infinitive must not be split.

Well, those people should have lived long enough to see today's kids using English on twitter.

Spit infinitives are tasty.

Does "YAAAAAAS KWEEEEN" count?

Where you at? Between the A and the T.

“I seen it.”

“I seen it.”

I seen it twice, R235/R236.

Try ending sentences without prepositions and they become torturous. Some nerdy asshole probably came up with the rule against them. As well as the no split infinitives rule.

[quote] Try ending sentences without prepositions and they become torturous. Some nerdy asshole probably came up with the rule against them. As well as the no split infinitives rule.

Those are some statements I have to definitely agree with.

[quote][R191], are you sure you heard “precedents” pronounced that way and not the adjective “precedent”, which has two pronunciations: one with the stress on the first syllable, and another with the stress on the second, with a long “ee” sound.

Neither. As I said in my original post, the word was PRECEDENCE (as in "this takes precedence ...")--not "precedent" or "precedents."

Then/than.

Speaking of regionalisms--I (an American) have been watching a lot of British TV shows lately, and while I can deal with most of the slang and regionalisms ("nowt," "summat," "khazi," "shtum," etc.), one that drives me berserk is the use of the third person plural pronouns (we/us) when referring to one person. Sometimes it's irrelevant and one can determine what the speaker means, but many times it's ridiculously confusing trying to figure out if he or she is talking about just him/herself or him/herself and one or more other parties.

That, and the use of "were" instead of "was" ("he were going to the store") are the most offensive to my ears.

I meant FIRST PERSON PLURAL, not third person.

None of this is important. We're all going to be dead within two years. Uphold your personal standards - if being a prissy old fag is so important to you. PLEASE stop bitching about others who are younger ✅ happier✅ otherwise adroit✅ and for sure, more sexually fulfilled ✅ than y'all. Plus all y'all. Engage with life. Or just shut the fuck up.💋

DL is the most literate forum that is also entertaining. I can't stand the graffitti-like illiterate postings across the web, no capital letters, no punctuation, no correct spelling, nocoherance, not to mention no logic/sense. On DL posters get called out for all but the last two!

^ ^ no proofreading

Regarding the "quarter cone." That one's not necessarily obvious. Dollar stores now sell things for more than a dollar. Lumber stores sell 2 by 4s, etc., that do not measure 2x4, etc.

My 6 x 9 is still the truth.

When something Divides, it's dy-VY-sive, not divissive !!

:What time is Midnight Mass?"

[quote] I can't stand the graffitti-like illiterate postings across the web, no capital letters, no punctuation, no correct spelling, nocoherance, not to mention no logic/sense.

R245, I have a neighbor who learned to text from her granddaughter and now her e-mails to me are full of gibberish and little pictures that are often ambiguous. I have to translate her messages as if she were writing in a language I don't speak plus hieroglyphics -- "gud 2 c b4 lunch 🤨". It can be done, but why should I have to? She's 80 years old and literate!

OP, your just jellus coz we know we know language is our forté irregardless of what you think. I just need to get that off of my mind. I could of kept it to myself instead of telling my husbear but I needed to conversaste about this and have a healthy discussion between he and I.

"Be best"?? WTF does that even mean?

OP here- Grammar Nazi's unite!

r252- LOL. Exactly.

"K". There's no way someone is so busy they can't type a "o" in front of the "k".

My dear cousin and her daughter, who I am close to, both (incredibly) have stage 4 breast cancer. I talk with them frequently. The are country people at heart but are navigating the complexities of treatment well.

But in every conversation I hear about their latest experiences with their on-a-cologists.

And my tongue is now sore from biting it for so long.

A small thing, considering their situations.

But.

Jury. It's JEWELRY.

Tau. Greek. It's TAW, not TOW (like cow).

[quote]"Be best"?? WTF does that even mean?

It probably sounded better in the original Slovene.

[quote]OP here- Grammar Nazi's unite!

Oh, dear.

[quote]Jury. It's JEWELRY.

Don't forget JOO-lah-ree.

And REE-la-tor.

AM-buh-lance

IN-shoor-ince

[quote]while I can deal with most of the slang and regionalisms ("shtum,"

Shtum (שטום) is from Yiddish. Means dumb, as in someone who cannot speak. Clueless how it became slang in Brit English.

This entire thread is [italic] LITERAL VIOLENCE [/italic]. But you know what? You do you.

r219, I love the "judgment"/"judgement" brawl, and I'm pro-"judgment" (although a practising Antipodean English user, most probably because I was brought up in Queensland, the most conservative of Australian states, where we were still being taught a form of copperplate when I was in primary school thousands of years ago). According to Google's Ngram viewer, "judgment" is still predominant in British English, though "judgement" seems to be slowly making headway.

[quote] Lumber stores sell 2 by 4s, etc., that do not measure 2x4, etc.

Then why do they persist in calling them that? Why not just request a piece of wood that meets your measurement requirements?

R214: I was absolutely conscious of my spelling. Your facile rebuff says more about your character than your knowledge.

More following the lead of R219 and R263, from Merriam-Webster:

"Judgment can also be spelled "judgement," and usage experts have long disagreed over which spelling is the preferred one. Henry Fowler asserted, "The OED [Oxford English Dictionary] prefers the older and more reasonable spelling. 'Judgement' is therefore here recommended." William Safire held an opposite opinion, writing, "My judgment is that Fowler is not to be followed." "Judgement" is in fact the older spelling, but it dropped from favor and for centuries "judgment" was the only spelling to appear in dictionaries. That changed when the OED (Fowler's source) was published showing "judgement" as an equal variant. Today, "judgment" is more popular in the U.S., whereas both spellings make a good showing in Britain."

[quote] And REE-la-tor.

I hate that one. Sounds dumb.

R259- Dammit. You got me.

"Hold down the fork!" "I need to get motorvated" (vroom vroom!)

R239-There is a traditional view, as set forth by the 17th-century poet and dramatist John Dryden, that it is incorrect to put a preposition at the end of a sentence, as in where do you come from? or she's not a writer I've ever come across. The rule was formulated on the basis that, since in Latin a preposition cannot come after the word it governs or is linked with, the same should be true of English. What this rule fails to take into account is that English is not like Latin in this respect, and in many cases (particularly in questions and with phrasal verbs) the attempt to move the preposition produces awkward, unnatural-sounding results. Winston Churchill famously objected to the rule, saying “This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.” In standard English the placing of a preposition at the end of a sentence is widely accepted, provided the use sounds natural and the meaning is clear.

R248- What on earth does that mean?

CASE QUARTER. Ugh.

In high school I got into an argument (with an English teacher of all people)

About the possessive plural use of BOYS

1 boy - "The boy's boat is sinking in the water."

2 or more boys - "The boys' boat is sinking in the water "

The teacher insisted that it's spelled "boys's" an pronounced "Boy-zez" when I told her I thought she was wrong she looked like she wanted to slap me.

I don't know, maybe it's a generational thing.

It means r248 is no match for E.J., r270.

R2 taco's is grammatically correct if used as a possessive.

"This taco's meat tastes funny."

Ambulance.

White trash persist in pronouncing it am-bleh-lance.

Aunt/ant. Lower socioeconomic range says ant. The rest of us say ahnt.

R273- Who's EJ?

Is R273 Chambo?

EJ is a character on Days of Our Lives, r276. Many of us believe he was out, gay Will Horton's real first love. They hired a new actor this year. The original EJ, James Scott (seen below), lives on in DL mythology as being the possessor of a 13" x 9.5" penis. Plus he's so good-looking. How could Will not have fallen for him? Oh, because he was married to Will's mother. That's why not.

Iz hawt, indeed!

R279 = Shapo

[quote] "Hold down the fork!"

Who the hell says that?

[quote] Aunt/ant. Lower socioeconomic range says ant. The rest of us say ahnt.

That's regional (US).

R216 Listen Mary, you are NOT the Nan Kempner of flyoverstan, sadly. Abboud is Arabic origin - Abbud, and is pronounced closer to the shopbottom's "loud" than your abomination of aspirational dipshitting "make it sound frenchy".

[quote] "Hold down the fork!" Who the hell says that?

I wanna know, too! Is it being used as some sort of emergency lever(age)?

R250, midnight Mass isn't always at midnight.

R260, in British English, it's spelled "jewellery" and pronounced accordingly.

R256 I'm hoping your writing skills are better in a forum less casual than this. You've got little room to judge their mispronunciation, if not.

But.

[quote][R248]- What on earth does that mean?

It means he has a micropeen if he lives in a country that uses the metric system.

Wait, what? How ambulance and insurance are supposed to be pronounced? I googled and they literally (yes literally) are pronounced "am-" and "in-".

Explain. R260

The stress is on the second syllable in "insurance".

in-SHO-rance.

SHO???

In-SURE-ance

AM-bya/bew-lunce (l'nce)

A woman I worked with recommended Tylenoy and used perfume from Charlie De Ritz and Ester Loud-ee.

"Between you and I..."

The mispronunciation of "X" in "Xavier." "X" should be pronounced as "Z."

I'm learning a second language now and I gained a new respect for anyone who attempts to be fluent in another language. I'm more forgiving of grammatical errors. I've read academic papers that reveal a stunning lack of intelligence and common sense and enlightening pieces written in broken English.

[quote] Vivian Leigh was casted in Gone With the Wind."

Are you pulling our leg? Or dyslexic?

A bit off topic but I do appreciate the age of email and texting in a certain way as it has become much easier/faster to determine who is hopelessly illiterate!

Does Ebonics have Grammatical & spoken errors?

[quote]Does Ebonics have Grammatical & spoken errors?

There's always the unconjugable verb "be."

R17, I live in the Deep South, and you would be surprised by the large numbers of white people who say "liberry" and "axed."

That is, they do when they're not saying "ast" (what the actual Fuck?).

And "He's done passed" instead of "He died."

[quote]The mispronunciation of "X" in "Xavier." "X" should be pronounced as "Z."

In Spanish, it's pronounced the same as Javier (it's the same name.) So hah-vee-AIR.

[quote] live in the Deep South, and you would be surprised by the large numbers of white people who say "liberry" and "axed."

Well I never in all my life!

I just saw someone here misuse "pallet" when they meant "palette." Of course, they could also have misused "palate." That seems to be a common error too.

[quote] "Hold down the fork!" Who the hell says that?

Europeans who dine with their fork in their left hand (tines down) and knives in their right hand.

"Dinner was supposed to be at 8:00, but it was pushed back to 7:00."

NO!! If it had been "pushed back" it would have been later, not earlier.

You pronounce the x and then a z in Xavier.

No one doesn't, R305. See posts above.

Cannot pronounce them correctly:

liberry

joolery

febuary

reelator

nuculur family (I do say nuclear war)

[Quote]In Spanish, it's pronounced the same as Javier (it's the same name.) So hah-vee-AIR.

Some Spanish speakers also pronounce it with the S sound (sah-vee-AIR).

When my nephew introduced his girlfriend to me, he said, "Me and her are goin' to the same college. We're hopin' to be teachers."

I wanted to cry...not for them, but for the children they are "hopin'" to teach.

A woman before Judge Judge said she was a Real-uh-tor. Judy said "No, your not." Woman didn't know what she meant. Proceeded to tell her her it's two syllables --- Real-tor.

[quote] Judy said "No, your not."

Oh, dear.

The dog is pronounced Saint ber-NARD, Benediction saint is BER-nid, like George.

Saint Augustine in Florida is au-gu-STEEN. The saint is au-GUS-tin.

R310 here. I typed too quickly, it was Judge JUDY.

Lay / lie seems to be pretty much a lost cause by this point. "He was laying down" is pretty much normalized, it seems.

Brizbayn, California

Brisbin, Qld

R313 You had a more glaring problem in that post.

YOU'RE not YOUR

If I would have known.

Actually, hearing any mistake with any of the conditionals makes me cringe and feel that I'm dealing with an idiot.

"Will of been" instead of "will have been," as in "I will of been living here two years in May."

Drives me nuts.

R292 that is so charming. I'm calling it "Ester Loud-ee" from now on!

R317: I am a fan of "Had I but known" but was told that's archaic.

[quote] Alls I know...

[quote]If you're going by the dictionary--which records all common pronunciations (as "also") without judgment--then the "clique" guy needs correction, too.

Clique is French. MystIQUE is not pronounced like mystic. If you pronounce clIQUE like click or antIQUE like antic or pIQUE like pick or niche (ALSO FRENCH SPELLING) like nitch then you're a moron.

[Quote] "Dinner was supposed to be at 8:00, but it was pushed back to 7:00."

[Quote] NO!! If it had been "pushed back" it would have been later, not earlier.

Can you point to the rule? If you see time as linear, moving a scheduled event from 8pm to 7pm would indeed be "pushing it back" in time.

I'm not sure if this is a regionalism or an error, but I've heard southern, well-educated people say "might could".

Pushed back means pushed further back in the line of scheduled events. It means something has been scheduled later than it was originally.

When a release for a game or movie is pushed back it means happens later.

It always means later.

If dinner was scheduled for 8:00, then changed to 7:00, it was pushed UP to 7:00.

Morons who start sentences with "So."

So. Okay. We were like, waiting and stuff.

Except, r327, you didn't start a sentence with your "so."

When you move the time (or date) to something that happens sooner, then I say you "advanced" the date / time.

For example: Trial was scheduled to start October 1. Now, it's starting on September 15. Trial date was "advanced."

There are some acclaimed authors who admit that they are poor spellers. Margaret Atwood for one. So I love the “oh, dear” snark as much as anyone else on Datalounge, I even play myself. But occasionally misusing grammar and/or misspelling words is not a big deal.

R73 I'm not certain, as I'm not originally an American, (but I live here) yet I've heard the same pronunciation across New England. I don't believe it is expressly that which connotes a "New York" accent. I've met some from New Hampshire as well as Vermont and Maine who sound identical. A subtle nuance may however be lost on me.

I'm actually quite surprised no one has made mention of Americans using that to refer to people. There are many mistakes made equally by Brits and Americans, however this isn't one of those. In fact it's so commonplace amongst educated Americans, I once thought that perhaps it was considered acceptable informal usage here. One sees it in print quite often as well. i.e. People that... Doctors that... Catholics that... and so on. Sounds very wrong to the ear.

[quote] I'm actually quite surprised no one has made mention of Americans using that to refer to people.

See R97.

R332 Right. Got it. I don't know how I missed that post. It could be possible the reason is that I had to refresh this thread three times to get beyond R87, R144, and R174. Many threads will not completely download for me in the first attempt.

I shall correct myself however, as my last sentence isn't really correct without beginning with "It".

R332, a recent contestant on "Jeopardy" answered questions with people's names using "that." He was criticized in the media.

I now see signs on doors of businesses "Opening Hours." To me "Opening" is the exact time customers can come in, not the next nine-hours.

R108 so what! Perhaps it was INTENTIONALLY spelt phonetically to imagine someone speaking with an accent or a non-standard pronunciation for literary effect!

R336, spelt is a grain. The past tense of "to spell" is "spelled".

The past tense of Dive isn't Dove. "I dived into the pool," not "dove into. And "snuck" is no excuse for "sneaked in"

R338 never heard Dizzy Dean describe a runner who slud into third!

"Transwomen are women"

R340 what term is used for what the public refers to as a "Chick With a Dick?"

Every time one of my best friends says one of these I lose track of the conversation: "Nowaday people are so ignorant." "I literally blew up when she said that." "There must have been, literally, hundreds of people there." (Under a photo of him and someone else) "Me and Burt Bacharach at the Emmy's" "It happened at Tom and I's."

^ Sorry, I intended for those to be on different lines.

r337 Please read up on British English before making such comments.

Well, I guess that shows me, R344!

Well I didn't know that spelt was the British past tense of spell. As well as a grain. Thank you.

R50, I was going to mention that. Twenty years ago, I took a temp job and sat between two young gamers who kept saying things like "I versed him" or "Let's verse each other." I finally had enough and said, "Verse is not a verb!"

What was their response, R347?

R347, did they ask "What's a verb?"

R347, They just stared at me blankly, turned to each other and gave these "Who is this guy?" looks, then carried on with their conversation. I didn't care. One of them came in wearing a cloak and hood, and it wasn't Halloween.

^^ Oops, that was me, R347, meant for R348 amd R349.

R347 Such a huge cunt. Yuck.

I have no idea what the gamers meant by verse, but if verse can't be a verb, then where does "well-versed" come from?

r9 Thank you! It's indeed painful.

R342, you made me laugh so hard. "Literally" should be retired, so many people misuse it egregiously.

R353, well-versed is an adjective, meaning someone is exceptionally "versed," another adjective.

Verse can be a verb; scroll down to entry 2:

R357, please use it in a sentence as a verb. But not in the gamer sense.

"We're not exclusively top or bottom, so my partner and I verse each other."

I get so annoyed with people who should know better (i.e., those who have their own shows on Food Network) saying vinegar-ETTE and holla-PEEN-yo.

Versed is an adjective.,

Verse can be a verb. Those gamers were correct. You can verse somebody in something which means to inform or teach.

R361 Also a noun.

R362, they were using "verse" as a verb form for versus; to square off; compete.

So it's part of gamer slang and now in the urban dictionary.

As is verse as a noun referring to a man who is both a top and bottom.

Well I'm learning a lot.

Tee Shirt "I'm Silently Correcting Your Grammar."

In an Italian restaurant the server suggested Peh-NAY as a pasta choice.

R367 Close though for a non-native speaker of Italian. Both 'n's need to be articulated. Did your server recommend the Bru-shetta as well?

R347 were they pale milky white and hot? Big bulges?

[quote]Tee Shirt "I'm Silently Correcting Your Grammar."

What an original thought!

Not just Europeans, R303.

“Okay. So, I…”.

"So" has sort of replaced the endlessly repeated "Like," which used to punctuate spoken speech so awfully. It was an affectation started by hipsters in the 1960s, and moved on to infect the conversation of every dumbass in America for decades.

R322: I would say neesh, but nitch has become too common to be "wrong" these days.

I'm not getting why it's "wrong" for someone who is not a native Italian speaker to pronounce penne or bruschetta the way those terms have been adopted into English. People here need to understand what "loan" words mean. Among English speakers the sentence "I wasn't sure what you wanted exactly, so I just grabbed us a couple of paninis" is correct. Are we [italic]really[/italic] supposed to inquire, "So, how's your panino?"??? Proshoot, however, is indeed non-standard.

^MUCH French was imported directly into English, from the time of the Norman Conquest, 1066. Most all of it is pronounced like "English" today, not in the French way. English is significantly "French."

I don't agree R375, about pro-shoot. It's how Southern Italians pronounce those words, and they are the ones who settled in New England when they immigrated here. I think that Southern Italian pronunciation is sexy as hell, and I'm not the slightest bit Italian.

My point was that most English speakers don't say proshoot, etc.

^They could. Imma start saying that way, now that you mention it.

When did Spanish loan terms change their pronunciation? For example, "rodeo" -- if you watch old movies, you hear them say "roh-DAY-oh" but today its pronounced "ROH-dee-oh" -- the only time I hear the first example today is when referring to Rodeo Dr in Beverly Hills.

The correct pronunciation is roh-DAY-oh. I think people nowadays figure it to be pronounced the same as Romeo?

I don't know anyone who says Roe-day-oh, unless referring to the Beverly Hills shopping district?

I would never answer a personal ad for someone who is "discrete." I would only date someone who is amalgamated.

R302

[quote] I just saw someone here misuse "pallet" when they meant "palette." Of course, they could also have misused "palate."

On a bronze plaque affixed to the front of the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco the word palette is misspelled as palate.

As much as I hate poor grammar, I hate racist, ignorant people like OP even more.

R385 What makes the OP 'racist'?

R338

[quote] The past tense of Dive isn't Dove. "I dived into the pool," not "dove into. And "snuck" is no excuse for "sneaked in"

No. You are wrong. Both dove and dived are acceptable past tenses of dive.

Snuck is less acceptable in written discourse, but in spoken English is certainly acceptable.

And in the 45 years since learning this, I think “snuck in” has become more commonly heard.

My pet peeve are speakers who use drug as the past tense of drag.

[R385] What makes the OP 'racist'?

Past tense verbs are optional in Black English

"Taken back" instead of "taken aback" is something I notice.

"Bold-faced lie" is supposed to be "bald-faced lie."

"In shambles" is supposed to be "in a shambles."

Oh, well. Sigh.

[quote]As much as I hate poor grammar, I hate racist, ignorant people like OP even more.

Excuse me? What exactly is this supposed to mean, r385 and why did you immediately default to a race in your mindi in the first place under a topic about poor grammar?

*mind

Butt naked for buck naked.

[quote] Excuse me? What exactly is this supposed to mean, [R385] and why did you immediately default to a race in your mind in the first place under a topic about poor grammar?

Because I live in the South among a lot of black people and the example the OP gave of present as past tense is natural in black English. Speaking a dialect is not evidence of idiocy.

[quote] Butt naked for buck naked.

And "nip it in the butt" instead of "in the bud"

I seen this thread the last time it was posted.

Cohort to refer to an accomplice, a companion or such. (It properly refers to a group sharing a common characteristic.)

"Notoriety" when you meant "fame."

r393 I [italic]am[/italic] Black and I've never heard anyone Black in my neck of the woods speak like the examples presented in the OP.

I have visited states like Louisiana and heard people of all races that needed subtitles. New Orleans specifically. That's not English. At. All. Lol.

I mean, I'm saying, when I visited New Orleans, our, clearly White guy, waiter in a Quarter restaurant sounded like an old Black, Southern Baptist, church woman. 100%.

Weird how similar that Shrimp Guy's speech is to the hardcore Quebecois accent, R398. Same buzzsaw-like rhythms and cadence, different languages.

I love this thread.

The two worst offenses to my eyes and ears are misuse of ‘myself’ and ‘whomever’. Coming in a close third place is the misuse of ‘worse’ and ‘worst’ (and “if worse comes to worst,” which you can imagine is very difficult for people who don’t know that there are two distinct words, ‘worse’ and ‘worst’ and what they mean).

[quote] I mean, look, I have a degree in English language and literature and one thing you really learn from doing that is how constantly changing and evolving the English language is. Old English is hugely different to Chaucer's English, which is very different to Shakespeare's English, which is very different to Victorian English, and so on. That's why I wonder what is really up with the psychology of extreme grammar Nazis. On the one hand I think that knowing basic spelling and grammar is a good thing for communication and to signal that you do have a basic education but at some points there's so much inflexibility with these people at times that you realise that they aren't very educated or intelligent people if they don't get that the English language is a constantly evolving and creative beast. The dictionary adds new words every year. New ways of using the language are invented; many of them perfectly practical and congruent with changing times e.g. using 'they' and 'them' instead of specifying gender.

^^ This person should be executed by firing squad.

It’s fine for language to evolve as new words come into being, but when illiteracy is at the root of the “evolution,” that’s not a thing that needs to be accommodated by the dictionary.

[quote] illiteracy is at the root of the “evolution,”

We are descending into gibberish.

Anthony Burgess tried to convey the late 21st century language of stupidity, thuggishness, exclusion and alienation in 'Clockwork Orange'.

r400 It's because of the French influence that's basically the backbone of Cajun and Louisiana Creole culture. My family (elder generation) is from NOLA. My great-great grandmother, according to my grandmother, spoke a mixture of Creole and Louisiana English/broken English. A lot of my cousins who are still in NOLA sound like that. I just nod and smile at family reunions.

[quote] and also the much-abused "short-lived" with a short i, as if it were from the verb "to live," when it's from the noun "life" (analogous to short-tailed, short-haired, etc.) and so should have a long i.

I’ve heard this complaint before, and I can’t get with it 100% because wouldn’t the term be ‘short-lifed’ if it’s derived from the noun ‘life’ and not the verb ‘to live’? It makes sense as ‘short-lifed’ to me.

My huzbund shitteded hiz puntz ageen.

[quote] [R84], not if it's become the new normal. Because unlike you I recognise that the English language changes over time.

You really are awful. You prefer ‘further’ either because you think it sounds more posh than ‘farther’ or because you like the repetition of the ‘ur’ sound. The bottom line is they are two different words with two different meanings. We have different words for different things because it’s generally utilitarian. There is no good reason to do away with ‘farther’.

[quote] I’m with [R91], could of and should of. And I’ve heard some educated people use this terminology. Could of punched them in the face when they said it, but I would not… of?

My favorite is when they say “if I hadn’t of” instead of simply the correct “if I hadn’t.” Not only do they add the unnecessary ‘have’ at the end, they mistake it for ‘of’! Woof!

See it a lot in YouTube comments these days. People be RETARDED.

R401 One of the great things about idioms: they don't have to make literal sense. Yes, they can fly in the face of logic.

And so it is with that fine centuries-old idiom, if worst comes to worst. Let's not let the logical brigade tell us we can now say, if worse comes to worst, and destroy the character of a wonderfully illogical idiom.

Dear R408 you might get a job in advertising but not in a serious, adult profession.

One of the odd quirks of this board: posters who think personal insults are a substitute for a reasoned reply.

Or in plain English, don't just toss mud. Say something substantive and actually contribute to the thread.

[quote]Say something substantive and actually contribute to the thread.

This is not a discussion board. It's a Maoist re-education camp. Whose point is to denigrate, demonize and dismiss anyone who doesn't agree or presents an alternative view. Substantive plays no part.

[quote] [R185], Standing "on line" is attributed to Ellis Island. When immigrants arrived colored lines were painted on floors. Guards said "Stand on line." This phrase is heard in Metropolitan New York, where most immigrants settled and passed the it on to their children. Correct term is "In Line" meaning one-behind-the other. Think of those skates.

I really loathe “on line.” I’ve lived in NYC for 14 years and it still grates. I’ll never use it, except to refer to a computer connected to the Internet. The line that immigrants stood on at Ellis Island is no more. No one is standing *on* a line now. There’s no justification for its continued use even as a ‘regionalism’.

Reminds me of another horror: people who type ‘cue’ as ‘queue’ because they don’t know the difference between the two words. I saw a young woman say it in the comments section under a news article posted on Facebook: “Queue the butthurt Trump supporters who are triggered by this article,” or something like that. Then she and her defenders made tortured arguments for why ‘queue’ was correct and not ‘cue’. Ugh!

[quote] I really loathe “on line.”

I loathe “on point.”

[quote] That changed when the OED (Fowler's source) was published showing "judgement" as an equal variant. Today, "judgment" is more popular in the U.S., whereas both spellings make a good showing in Britain."

Can someone make the case for ‘judgment’? It looks odd without the ‘e’—is there another word containing a ‘-dg’ that similarly drops the ‘e’ that normally follows in that stem? I’m trying to think of one, but can only come up with place names, like “Bridgeport” or “Bridgewater”.

I've met white people from backwoods Mississippi whose English was incomprehensible. I didn't want to appear rude, but I had to ask them to repeat sentences several times to interpret what they were saying.

r410 I've been here 2 months and found that out pretty damn quick. I used to frequent message boards pretty often in my teens and young adult years and, god help me, I found myself having more thought-provoking and meaningful discussions with people at ages 15-19ish.

I'm no internet novice, but I've never seen anything like this outside of 4chan. And most posters there aren't actually serious.

[quote] Can someone make the case for ‘judgment’? It looks odd without the ‘e’—is there another word containing a ‘-dg’ that similarly drops the ‘e’ that normally follows in that stem?

acknowledgment

r415 Apparently, Amazon didn't train its Alexa system to understand Scottish. And that's a multibillion dollar company. So don't feel too bad about that, lol.

I've noticed an uptick in the use of "How" in place of "What"; e.g., 'I've always wanted to know how it feels like to....' The more I hear it, the more it annoys me.

[quote] Clique is French. MystIQUE is not pronounced like mystic. If you pronounce clIQUE like click or antIQUE like antic or pIQUE like pick or niche (ALSO FRENCH SPELLING) like nitch then you're a moron.

All of that sounds perfectly reasonable to me, but I have never once heard anyone in my life pronounce ‘clique’ like ‘mystique’. I’ve only ever heard it as ‘click’.

Actually R385, I was referring to a mid-40's woman I encountered at the hardware store. She's white and from NY. Also- Go fuck yourself.

Using "breath" as the verb when it should be "breathe."

Using "lead" as the past tense verb when it should be "led."

You may want that person executed, R401, but he's still entirely correct.

I love it R403! I do a lot of smiling and nodding here in Quebec as a native English speaker.

R415 I have the same trouble with southern Blacks. Incomprehensible. I've had to ask to speak to someone else because I couldn't understand what they were saying, even after requesting that they repeat what they said.

[quote] So it's part of gamer slang and now in the urban dictionary. As is verse as a noun referring to a man who is both a top and bottom. Well I'm learning a lot.

This is retarded. Gamer slang is for losers. Urban dictionary is not valid. ‘Verse’ is not a verb in the sense those losers were using it. “I versed him.” Jesus fuckin’ Christ.

Also, ‘verse’ is not an acceptable abbreviation for ‘versatile’ in preferred-sexual-position sense. The abbreviation, if a person finds the entire word to be too cumbersome or difficult to spell, is ‘vers.’ with a period at the end to connote its abbreviations. I die when I see someone say they’re ‘verse’—both because they’re semi-illiterate and because they’re a lesser form of man.

R412 Oh, I think people know the difference. But whenever you start to write "queue" you start to fear you're going to misspell it, so you quickly fall back on "cue." Not that that's an excuse, just to say the difficulty of spelling the word does play a role.

[quote] Past tense verbs are optional in Black English

Maybe, but they *do* love them some past perfect verb tenses, especially when using them imperfectly. “I asked him” is invariably “I had asked him” even when the ‘had’ is not necessary. Lots of people have this problem with past perfect tenses, but I notice it’s really prevalent among black Americans. (And yes, whitey fucks up grammar all the time, too—don’t get upset.)

R427 There's no excuse for "fear" or "difficulty". Insert the word into Google's search field and in less than a second, the correct spelling appears, along with definitions, alternative spellings, antonyms, and synonyms.

R429, don't be a cunt.

[quote] [R412] Oh, I think people know the difference. But whenever you start to write "queue" you start to fear you're going to misspell it, so you quickly fall back on "cue." Not that that's an excuse, just to say the difficulty of spelling the word does play a role.

The Facebook girl in my example was not afraid of the word ‘queue’ — she used it and spelled it correctly. The problem was the word she was looking for was ‘cue’—as in, “Cue the peanut gallery…” or some such thing, which is what people say when they anticipate a certain type of comment from a certain group of people in response to something posted on the Internet. Some people don’t realize that ‘cue’ is the correct word, or that the use of it in this manner is derived from theater, so they use ‘queue’ instead and then will justify it in this ridiculous way: “The Trump supporters are lining up to leave their comments in response to this article. A ‘queue’ is a line where you wait your turn. ‘Queue the Trump supporters’ is correct.”

But it’s not correct.

[quote] You may want that person executed, [R401], but he's still entirely correct.

His argument—which included acceptance of ‘they/them’ as singular pronouns meant to accommodate NON-BINARY people (who do not exist, by the way)—essentially boiled down to “we have to accommodate every illiterate fool; that’s how language evolves.” As in, there’s no such thing as misuse or bad grammar because it will eventually be considered acceptable. That’s ridiculous. That’s not evolution, that’s devolution. Where does such a person draw the line? Words and phrases either have specific meaning or they don’t.

Consider the word ‘iconic’—now misused by the vast majority of young Millennials and Gen-Z. If everything and everyone is ‘iconic’ (and everything is, according to them), then we need to find a new word for ‘iconic’. But why should we have to? They’re basically using ‘iconic’ as a synonym for ‘great’, ‘awesome’, ‘memorable’, or ‘indelible’ (they really ought to learn that last one). So now a very specific word like ‘iconic’ has lost its meaning, and we now need to invent an entirely new word for things like Mickey Mouse, the Eiffel Tower, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, the McDonald’s “arches”, and other things and people that, prior to the infestation of these younger generations, were widely understood to be *actually* iconic.

Why bend over and let ourselves be butt-fucked by illiteracy and idiocy?

[quote]we now need to invent an entirely new word for things like Mickey Mouse, the Eiffel Tower

oh no! that sounds worse than the holocaust!

R433 Don't be a cunt.

[quote] holocaust

R433 That's another word with a recently-invented word meaning.

Our grandparents used it describe any forest fire but it has been co-opted by others eager to aggrandise their own issues.

[quote] oh no! that sounds worse than the holocaust!

So nothing should matter, short of the actual killing of 6 million Jews?

Why are some of you so eager to make excuses for illiteracy? Maybe this isn’t the thread for you.

[quote] holocaust

[quote]That's another word with a recently-invented word meaning.

Recent? It was invented in the 13th century from 12th century French from Late Latin and Greek.

"Expresso" makes me want to kill myself. I had a co-worker once who used to use the phrase "the powers to be" instead of "the powers THAT be," which was like nails on a chalkboard to me. I rarely correct people on errors like this, though (especially spoken ones), because I don't want to come across as haughty or rude. I have a Master's degree in English, and if the person in question knows that, it makes it appear like I'm being an asshole, even if I'm simply trying to prevent them from looking stupid in the future. Instead, I've learned to just let them embarrass themselves.

YOU. ARE A. FUCKING IDIOT.

WHO R439. IS THE POSTER. YOU ARE. TALKING ABOUT. WE MUST. KNOW.

[quote] if the person in question knows that, it makes it appear like I'm being an asshole.

Oh, dear.

It makes it appear AS IF you're being an asshole.

[quote] holocaust

🤔 Seriously, what the hell is the difference??

[quote] ... I have never once heard anyone in my life pronounce ‘clique’ like ‘mystique’. I’ve only ever heard it as ‘click’.

R420, you must be a lot younger than I am. I grew up hearing it pronounced properly ("cleek") and only started hearing "click" sometime after college, in the mid-'70s -- and people my parents' age cringed when they heard that.

I've always heard it as cleek. Is click new?

R438 there's a professionally-printed sign in the window of a soon-to-open eatery at 35 Christopher Street in the West Village showing "Expresso" as one of their items.

Macaron cookies are different from macaroon cookies. Pronounced different, too. Macarons are the ones that look like puffy Oreos; macaroons are the ones that look like a mound of shredded coconut.

Anyway, one of my friends asks me why I pronounce "macarons" the way I do. She also asks me why I say "bruschetta" with the K sound. I've already explained why to her. I think it bothers her.

If I would have read this thread from the start I would of understood what it's about.

^^ Sorry, I meant "what its about".

[quote] If I would have read this thread from the start I would of understood what it's about.

"What it's about" was correct.

"Would of understood" should have been "would have understood."

Never begin a sentence with "Me."

[quote] "What it's about" was correct. "Would of understood" should have been "would have understood."

Oh lord.

R25, what about wuz and werewolves?

"Her" and "him" and "them" as a subject. "Between you and I." Oy.

Men who write the word "women" when referring to one "woman."

~ ~ ~

Git yurself a life.

r146 It's fine if you want to pronounce the T in often. You'll just sound uneducated.

Brushetta bothers me.

[quote] You'll just sound uneducated.

R458 I remember being taught that but I'm not sure that it applies anymore. Language is forever changing. The T in often was apparently at first pronounced, then wasn't, now seems to be making a comeback in colloquial usage. Years ago I used to think it sounded uneducated but now I hear it coming from people in the media who are scholarly and extremely well-spoken.

English is my third language and I fuck up its/it's all the time. Datalounge beats me down for it, too, so now I freeze in my tracks before going there.

You do you

R458 Martha Stewart is very careful to enunciate the t in every syllable with a t in it. She must think it's the upper-class thing to do, the stupid woman.

@ R463

'"'Her English is too good,' 'That clearly indicates that she is foreign

A local TV sports announcer just told us that a football player's exploit "costed" the team because the player was injured too badly to continue the season.

“Rediculous”.

“Anymore” when one means “nowadays”.

Stood “on line”. No, you did not.

I often (offen) say something like "there's two of them". And I know I often say it, because a co-worker corrects me every time I do. But it's not that bad, is it?

I haven't seen but a couple of foreigners commenting in this thread. It would certainly make me scared to learn English. Remember in the Cold War days when they talked about Russians learning perfect English, with lots of syntax classes, and then sneaking into the US? This makes me think that isn't really possible.

I had a friend from India who unbelievably spoke PERFECT English. But I finally heard her make a mistake - she said "in-tes-TINES", instead of "in-tes-tins". And yet, by the spelling, she should have been right!

Foyer or foyay?

Axe as in "let me Axe you..." i know it's a cultural thing, but I came from Massachusetts. If i can learn to lose my trashy accent ANYONE CAN.

My hide feels chapped when I must report to a young manager, and they add insult to injury by following up some unwittingly rude act with, "don't take it personal." After all, their goal is just to make things "more better."

The first time I ever heard anyone say “Don’t take it personal” (which… how can you fuck that up and not notice how wrong it sounds?) was when there was that R&B song out: “Just One Of Them Days (Don’t Take It Personal)”. It made my brain hurt.

[quote] “Anymore” when one means “nowadays”.

I think those are two different things.

"Ron and Tom don't play tennis anymore" implies that they used to but won't again. "Ron and Tom don't play tennis nowadays" suggests that they might one day do it again.

That's the way non-Americans (Commonwealth) pronounce it, R470.

Standing "on line" is a New York thing, R467. It's regional, if not less preferred.

Hardly unbelievable, R470 - English is one of the official languages of India and, along with Hindi, is one of the two languages used to transact business at the national level in government, the judiciary, legislature and admin.

Why do you think that for so long companies around the world outsourced their call centres (along with whatever else they could) to India? A huge population of English-speaking graduates who could be paid much less than their non-Indian equivalents. Ditto for the Philippines today.

Cheers R476. It's tiring at times correcting for the incessant miscorrections. As fegards intestines, we normally accent the second syllable, so the long ī makes logical sense.

I read so many here, and it simply proves how very little Americans travel outside their borders. Much of British English is still used even in Canada, or at the very least, it's mutually intelligible there. Many Americans probably don't genture up north either.

Aside from spelling variants, past tense of many verbs is completely foreign to many Americans: i.e., learnt, spelt, misspelt, spoilt, etc. I should think more curious types ought to look it up before miscorrecting other posters. That would most certainly entail humility however, which there is an utter dearth of on the DL!

^ should have been regards, and venture... apologies!

^It's true, we hardly genture anywhere.

Pathetic attempts at having 'fancy' speech: "My friend whom is getting a divorce"

R481 = Mrs Slocum

Text is a noun, queen-OP, and "texted", strictly speaking, is incorrect. Usage is another question, perhaps. But as Fowler is not here to give his verdict, you may wish to use "texted" with extreme prejudice before slaying the King's English.

R483 Fowler was published nearly 100 years ago. Were no new usages to be allowed into English during that 100 years? What do you think the point of addenda added to dictionaries is?

Where is it at, OP?

liberry instead of library

Text can most definitely be verbed!

Another noun that’s been verbified: family, as in doing some activity with your family. Do you family at Thanksgiving? Ugh.

Double ugh from me on that one!

Re India, above: The Times of India newspaper has the best English news writing that I am aware of. It puts the New York Times and all British papers I am aware of, to shame. Not only is the writing top quality, but so is the reporting itself, much sharper and insightful than anything the NYTimes has managed to put out in the past 30, dumbed-down, years.

R485-Check behind the at! ;)

Many Staten Islanders say "I live in Staten Island." They may live IN Tottenville, but they live ON Staten Island.

R483- i just can't stand how it sounds. "I text Sally". Ugh.

R115, if the "one that got away" was a person, Ira should've written "who got away."

Maybe this is just a New York error. On several TV reports about hit-and-runs, bystanders said "she was on the floor." The woman may have been lying on the sidewalk or in the street, not "the floor".

Real-LUH-ter and Joo-LUH-ree.

"Warshinton" D.C.

R494 Extremely good example! "That" is clearly wrong there, and yet we love it, and it seems inevitable. That is, you love it if you're not some sort of ossified pedant.

r495 I hear that all the time from people whose first language is Spanish. I think it's because they use the same word ("piso") for the ground/floor whether it's indoors or outdoors.

Poor verbal aptitude does not necessarily indicate low intelligence. Another thread died for this one.

I'm thinking of starting a thread: Where did your family summer?

[quote] [R495] I hear that all the time from people whose first language is Spanish. I think it's because they use the same word ("piso") for the ground/floor whether it's indoors or outdoors.

I’ve heard a lot of black Americans confuse ground and floor.

Certain regional English dialects and sociolects don't distinguish ground from floor. Ground is supposed to pertain to exterior bottom surfaces, while floor is interior, but then what about ocean floor, sea floor, forest floor?

And then there's the whole ground floor vs first floor debate....

I'm floored that we're even discussing this.

When people conflate prolific with profound. Example: "His poetry moves me, he's so prolific." ARRRRGH!

Pronouncing "aesthetic" like this: "es-tet-ik." I don't know why people don't say the "th" sound and turn it into a hard T sound.

I don't think this is what they actually meant.

People live in Manhattan. They don't live on Manhattan. So they can live in Staten Island.

The use of “of” instead of “have” drives me nuts: I should of gone shopping….

R506 I've never heard anyone say that.