What is your English language pet peeve?

I don't think they teach proper English in school anymore and haven't for quite awhile. And let's face it, teenagers slaughters the English language. Their speech matches their pants hanging down around their knees.....

 

I'da known = I would have known

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Like DUDE...Chill...like...OMG!

 

working in IT, I am just happy when people speak well enough English that I can understand it

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in the world of texts and email, blogs, ect.... people have learned to adapt and understand what people mean even when they do not use perfect English

 

Then it's wrong, and as King, I can't allow it.

 

Yes, I had a French friend who insisted English was the most difficult language. He was completely baffled by the pronunciation of the letters "ough" in a word.
Rough = "uff"
Through = "ooo"
Cough = "off"
Bough = "ow"

One day he used the word, "zorruffly" which I finally figured out was "thoroughly".
Very Inspector Clouseau.

 

I used to laugh at people who said "pacific" when they meant "specific", or "expresso" rather than "espresso".

Breffast anyone?


A peeve:
Use of "was" instead of "were" in the subjunctive mood: "If I were president" is correct. "If I was president" is incorrect.

Another peeve that is not grammatical but lacks courtesy:
Instead of a clerk saying "please sign here" she says:
"I need you to sign here, I need you to initial there." It sounds bossy and disrespectful.
It would be much nicer to hear a simple "please" and "thank you".

Or, "no problem" instead of "you're welcome".

 

I hear ya!!!

 

I have also heard 'no worries'....'it's all good'....I dunno I kinda like those.

 

Not completely on topic, but I have a relative who grew up speaking Chinese and she comes up with some howlers: "Would you like a seizure salad?"

"Name brand drugs are expensive, so I buy genetic."

"I have a nice cantaloupe. You want to cut one?"

 

"I done seen a truck coming" was standard English in my home town. Once I heard two people talking who both talked that way, and their exchange elicited a requirement to use the past perfect tense. This is what I heard:

"I done loaded it yesterdy."

"Where?"

"Right ov'ar."

"I thought you said you was in Tyler."

"I was, but I had done dood it ... I mean done did it, before I left."

 

That reminded me that the BBC has a reporter named . . . wait for it - Julia Caesar.

 

That's all Hillbillyese isn't it?

 

Me hate it when people ain't no gots good grammar.

 

Ooh ooh ooh What about "I like these ones"?

Ever hear anyone say "I like these twos"? No. So how about just saying "I like these"?

Can you imagine the difficulty of a foreigner who is trying to learn our English confronting the conjugation of "am"?
I am
You are
He, she, it is
We were
You were
They were.


But "as it were". "If it were true..."
"it were"? HUH?

 

I've always had a problem with 'was' and 'were', as in 'Where were you?' and 'Where was you?' Is the former to a group, and the latter to an individual?And what about bloody 'up' after everything? park up, wait up, check up, listen up, hurry up, etc. I get a bit wound up by it!

 

'first up'?

 

And proof, if proof were needed, this is copied from a post on another thread: 'that some people, both black, white and asian'.

 

Please let me remind you that people from all walks of life and many non English speaking countries are posting here. While it is ok to discuss your pet peeves, please keep in mind that you are to post within the forum rules and not flame bait or insult.

Thank you for your attention

Shangrila
Moderator

 

People should of stopped using the word 'of' when they mean 'have' in casual speech.

 

This is coming from a place where parler, parlai, parlé, and parlez are all spelt differently but are pronounced the same way. French verb conjugation is hellish for non-native speakers.

 

As Spanish is? But I have no problem with Spanish.

 

It has since occurred to me that it's an easy word to spell, too. And there's another one I've thought of - sod it, I've forgotten what it is. I'll get back to you . . .

(and when I thought of it, I also thought of a mnemonic so I wouldn't forget it. )

Update - 10 minutes later! 'deterioration' when it's pronounced 'deteriation', and often by journalists . . . which brings me to the point of this post: how do those who pronounce those two words wrongly spell them? Hold that thought!

 

People who correct someone who says "I could care less."

They tell the person... You're wrong, it's supposed to be "I couldn't care less."

Well, how do they know that? Maybe there are things the person could care less about.

For example you tell me that you're going to clip your toenails and I say "I could care less." That's not incorrect because I could in fact CARE LESS. If you said you were going to go pee, that's something I'd care even less about than you clipping your toenails.

So stop correcting people when you don't know what they care about. I could care less about your opinion of my grammar. I care less about fruit flies for example.

 

Quote .and the fact that Americans think there is only one adjective, "amazing". Can you believe Americans think there is only one adjective..

No, there are two, AWESOME!! Proceeded with ABSOLUTELY as if Awesome needed to be reinforced. Oh my God.

 

When a superlative - take 'huge' for example - becomes so overused that it loses its impact there's only one thing to do - double up on it. 'huge-heeoooooge'.