[Closed] Incorrect uses of the English language - what really gets under your skin?

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.

J_me >

Incorrect [s]use[/s] [s]s[/s] [b]usage[/b] of the English language

Now it is.

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)

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

****er,s teh lots ov 'um

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).

J_me >

Incorrect use s usage of the English language
Now it is.

Cougar - I think either are acceptable.

Presumably they look after the network's moral fibre

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

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.

I think either are acceptable.

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

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. 🙂

[i]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][/i]

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

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

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

buzzes

😛

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

"Could I get a...."

I heard A WOMAN IN HER 50's announce this at the counter for her [i]americaaaarnow[/i] 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.

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 [b]of/have[/b].
Similarly I've notices a lot of people seem to confuse [b]are/our[/b].

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.

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... 😉

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. 🙂

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.

Because pronounced becuzz. Often heard on 5live.

how are you proposing that we pronounce it..?

Wouldn't it be "...either 'is' acceptable..."?

Good spot! It should have been "both are".

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"

I'll let your typo ride

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

throat[s]wobbler[/s]-warbler-mangrove

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

Ah, sorry, I didn't realise there'd be a test... (-:

throat[s]wobbler[/s]-warbler-mangrove

Good gravy, is it really? I've got that wrong for [i]years.[/i]

See, the Internet can be educayshunal.

A pronunciation one here...

Sandwich...

Do you say it 'sa[b]m[/b]wich', 'sa[b]n[/b]wich' or san[b]d[/b]wich'?

I call them san[b]d[/b]wiches but I constantly get pulled up over it.

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.

Actually,

The Internet would appear to agree with me.
http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/raymond.htm
http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode22.htm

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.

I call them butties, but if I didn't [s]I'd[/s] [b]I'ld[/b] agree with you.

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.

I call them butties, but if I didn't [s]I'd[/s] I'ld agree with you.

wut you talkin bout, Willis?

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" 😉

wut you talkin bout, Willis?

TJ - fire road is easier to say than 'forestry road'. That's why I use it.

"More that" rather than "more than". It seems to have crept in over the last decade. Is it an Americanism? Makes me grimace every time I see it 😕

1980's instead of 1980s

I read an undergrad essay the other day which referenced the 1984 Minor's strike - annoying, but pretty funny imagining one child trying to resist Thatcher's union breaking.

molgrips - its easier to eat with fingers than cutlery but it doesn't make it right.

You need to all go out and ride your bikes or get laid (or both).

edit: TJ - I take your point but as mountain biking orginated in the USA then you can appreciate why it's an accepted term.

Aye, and where I'm from, they ARE fire breaks which became adopted as roads. So I am allowed to say that.

And moaning about Americanisms is a bit rich from the nation that refers to "semi-detached" houses. Save us... It's half a house. If anything it's "semi-attached".

people using less instead of fewer - is the one i'm usually vocal about

but when people fall fowl of RAS syndrome, or tautology or pleonasm I just tend to cringe

molgrips - its easier to eat with fingers than cutlery but it doesn't make it right

It's not.

And you're just being a buttplug now. Stoppit.

And you're just being a buttplug now.

I think you will find that is a butt plug but 'LOL' nonetheless.
😆

oink - Member
people using less instead of fewer - is the one i'm usually vocal about

but when people fall fowl...

Foul. Fowl has feathers.