Viewing 40 posts - 41 through 80 (of 150 total)
  • Incorrect uses of the English language – what really gets under your skin?
  • Dibbs
    Free Member

    Adding the last word of an acronym into a sentence ie The GMT time is

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Oooh, oh, I’ve another.

    Principle / principal. We have Principal Engineers at work. Except, according to about half the emails I get, we actually have Principle Engineers. Presumably they look after the network’s moral fibre.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Adding the last word of an acronym into a sentence ie The GMT time is

    PIN number. PAC code. Get in the sack.

    j_me
    Free Member

    Incorrect use s of the English language

    That’s better.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Except/accept if we’re including malapropisms.

    Affect / effect is another. Two wildly different words that I’ve never, ever had a problem with confusing, or even known that anyone else did, up until the Internet; I’ve now read it incorrectly so many gods damned times that now *I’m* starting to get it wrong and having to watch out for it. FFS. You really can catch stupidity.

    deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    Like me, for instance

    Nah, I luvs ya really 😛

    Actually, wot cynic-al said about “of” instead of “have”. I have, horror of horrors, heard reporters on 5Live (yes, actual BBC reporters) using “of” instead of “have”. I was going to text in and then thought, nah, it’s ok, masty fanny will do it for me 🙂

    Honest question: Has “their” become accepted now when saying something like “Everybody has their reasons” instead of the clumsy sounding “Everybody has his or her reasons” which I say? Or should one just say “Everybody has his reasons” – is this sexist? 8)

    I’m not keen on the over-use of adverbs either. They are for the grammatically disadvantaged.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    J_me >

    Incorrect use s usage of the English language

    Now it is.

    deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    Principle / principal.

    I know what you mean…but surely this is a spelling rather than usage question isn’t it? There are similar issues with the -ice and -ise suffixes.

    Oh and it’s “us” with an “s” not “Uzz” 🙂
    (That’s not at Cougar)

    plumber
    Free Member

    pacific/specific
    except/accept
    effect/affect
    could of/could have

    ****,s teh lots ov ‘um

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Has “their” become accepted now

    Dunno about accepted, but it’s what I’d use by choice. The alternatives are clumsy (his/her), sexist (his) or an abomination (zer).

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    J_me >

    Incorrect use s usage of the English language
    Now it is.
    8)
    I shouldn’t have rushed the OP now should I?

    j_me
    Free Member

    Cougar – I think either are acceptable.

    TheBrick
    Free Member

    Presumably they look after the network’s moral fibre

    Thy stop terrorists, porn, and bingo getting on to your network.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    this is a spelling rather than usage question isn’t it?

    Only in so far as all the others examples here are; they’re different words just as accept / except and there / their are.

    Oh and it’s “us” with an “s” not “Uzz”
    (That’s not at Cougar)

    Sorry, I’ll take exception to that, us oop north frequently catch buzzes.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    I think either are acceptable.

    you might be right, I was just being awkward. (-:

    SkillWill
    Free Member

    Adding the last word of an acronym into a sentence ie The GMT time is

    I believe your example is, more accurately, called an initialism, not acronym. 🙂

    Although the term acronym is widely used to describe any abbreviation formed from initial letters,[3] most dictionaries define acronym to mean “a word” in its original sense,[4][5][6] while some include a secondary indication of usage, attributing to acronym the same meaning as that of initialism.[7][8][9] According to the primary definition found in most dictionaries, examples of acronyms are NATO (pronounced /?ne?to?/), scuba (/?sku?b?/), and radar (/?re?d?r/), while examples of initialisms are FBI (/??f?bi??a?/) and HTML (/?e?t??ti???m??l/).[4][8][10]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym_and_initialism

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Thy stop terrorists, porn, and bingo getting on to your network.

    So long as they don’t start sniffing my packets.

    deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    buzzes

    😛

    ****, I knew there was another one!

    ocrider
    Full Member

    “Could I get a….”

    I heard A WOMAN IN HER 50’s announce this at the counter for her americaaaarnow at Dublin airport a few weeks ago. Repulsive behaviour indeed.

    Oh, excessive use of block capitals gets my goat too along with foreign uses of apostrophes (sandwiche’s, jean’s, that sort of thing)

    Edit:
    Because pronounced becuzz. Often heard on 5live.

    verses
    Full Member

    My grammar is far from perfect so it somehow seems wrong for me to criticise others – but this is the internet so why the hell not)…

    Another vote for misusing of of/have.
    Similarly I’ve notices a lot of people seem to confuse are/our.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Similarly I’ve notices a lot of people seem to confuse are/our.

    I’ll let your typo ride, just wanted to say that I’ve seen both of those substituted with “or” far too often.

    jojoA1
    Free Member

    Cougar – Member

    I think I’m an uber pedant

    That’s “über-pedant.” Amateur.

    Lack of keyboardage skills actuellement! I pronounce it with the umlaut though… 😉

    jojoA1
    Free Member

    j_me – Member
    Cougar – I think either are acceptable.

    Wouldn’t it be “…either ‘is’ acceptable…”?

    Right, I’ve got to stop posting this thread before I get myself in trouble, or make a fool of myself. 🙂

    goon
    Free Member

    Thank you TheBrick! ‘Alot’ drives me insane but I’m going to adopt the coping strategy in your link and enjoy encountering it from now onwards.

    yunki
    Free Member

    Because pronounced becuzz. Often heard on 5live.

    how are you proposing that we pronounce it..?

    j_me
    Free Member

    Wouldn’t it be “…either ‘is’ acceptable…”?

    Good spot! It should have been “both are”.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Wouldn’t it be “…either ‘is’ acceptable…”?

    Damn, left my petard trailing behind me.

    how are you proposing that we pronounce it..?

    It’s pronounced “throatwobbler-mangrove”

    verses
    Full Member

    I’ll let your typo ride

    You missed my closed bracket that didn’t have an open one 😉

    j_me
    Free Member

    throatwobbler-warbler-mangrove

    🙂

    Cougar
    Full Member

    You missed my closed bracket that didn’t have an open one

    Ah, sorry, I didn’t realise there’d be a test… (-:

    Cougar
    Full Member

    throatwobbler-warbler-mangrove

    Good gravy, is it really? I’ve got that wrong for years.

    See, the Internet can be educayshunal.

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    A pronunciation one here…

    Sandwich…

    Do you say it ‘samwich’, ‘sanwich’ or sandwich’?

    I call them sandwiches but I constantly get pulled up over it.

    finbar
    Free Member

    mastiles_fanylion – Member

    Starting sentences with “And”.

    Sorry but starting a sentence with ‘and’ is perfectly acceptable.

    Agreed. And I would include other conjunctions – such as ‘but’ – in that. But only if deployed with discretion.

    I agree, but equally i think it’s necessary to demonstrate that you know the rules before you break them.

    Cougar
    Full Member
    Cougar
    Full Member

    I call them sandwiches but I constantly get pulled up over it.

    I call them butties, but if I didn’t I’d agree with you. The others are just either regional variations or proof that cousins shouldn’t marry.

    In truth, what I’d say is probably closer to ‘sanwich,’ but that’s down to bein all ey up an sithee lahk. If ah were talkin proper like wot t’ Queen does, ah’d seh ‘sandwich’ lahk a ponce.

    j_me
    Free Member

    I call them butties, but if I didn’t I’d I’ld agree with you.

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    Stupid meaningless americanisms – especially my pet hate ~”fire road”

    We do not have fire roads in the uk. We have all sorts of tracks but none of them are fire roads.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    I call them butties, but if I didn’t I’d I’ld agree with you.

    wut you talkin bout, Willis?

    SkillWill
    Free Member

    We do not have fire roads in the uk. We have all sorts of tracks but none of them are fire roads.

    “None of them IS fire roads” 😉

    j_me
    Free Member

    wut you talkin bout, Willis?

    ….pish apparently

Viewing 40 posts - 41 through 80 (of 150 total)

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