Just heard that today is National Grammar Day. Only problem is they were not too specific on which nation so I’m claiming it.
One of my pettest peeves has to be when people use the word “loose” when they are intending to mean the word “lose” – that always makes me just want to loose it.
[where “it” is a fire-breathing dragon that will rain down burning molten lava upon the unsuspecting person who butchered the english language, but in a metaphorical non-burny way]
i am probably a bit of an ironic hypocriticalist when it comes to grammar, to be honest, because i did pretty well in English in school and so i, for the most part, know what is supposed to go where, but for me i largely have chosen to bite my thumb at a lot of grammatical conventions all in the name of being different, or getting a jump start on earning the “eccentric” moniker.
for example, i don’t use a lot of CAPS – i tend to save them for God or God related things or sometimes proper nouns, but generally choose to bring all things down to a level playing field when it comes to those – drives people batty when i don’t start sentences with CAPS but that’s just a personal style thing. my biggest fear is that it will only be seen as fun and quirky after i’m dead.
i also refer to the Grammar Police [usually on Facebook cos let’s be honest, that’s where 90% of all grammar deaths happen, right?] as the Grandma Police in the hope that it blunts a little bit the fact that i am about to tell you you got something horribly wrong. the teacher in me struggles to sit idly by while ‘their’ becomes ‘there’ and ‘they’re’ is totally avoided altogether, but i do hope that people receive the spelling correction while chuckling that, ‘Ha, Ha, he said Grandma and not Grammar’ and so it becomes more of a fun thing than a judgement. i also intentionally choose ‘Police’ over ‘nazi’ because i try and avoid the usage of the word ‘nazi’ outside of its actual meant meaning as it feels like too big a thing for me to take flippantly.
as you can see, i do take writing quite seriously and think about some of these things way to much.
so Loose=Lose is one of my biggest and i will try to think of some others that really bug me. in the meantime i would love to hear from you in the comments if there is a particular grammar error that really gets your back up.
i think the big everyone-who-knows-better one tends to be ‘their’, ‘there’ and ‘they’re’ and if you are one of the unfortunate ones who needs help with that, i have a chart for you:
i found these fun ecards in an article titled, 10 Heartfelt Sentiments for National Grammar Day, which alerted me to the fact that its nationalness was today [pity we don’t get the day of, right? i guess that’s another one i don’t particularly enjoy!]
and this one is probably my favourite of the lot:
especially because it sums up internet trolls so nicely…
in fact, now that i think about it, there is definitely a better one but i may have to go searching to find it [as the examples in that article are too much of rude – quick scurry as people head to article to confirm!]
there are a number of varieties, but the grandma one has always been my favourite and i would definitely wear this shirt if someone bought it for me:
and more:
and more – its and it’s seems to be another one that really gets to some people. John and me vs. John and i feels like an easy one to get right.
and i’m sure there are others i will think of later.
but to close off, let’s celebrate those who got it wrong even worse than you did:
and lastly, you should probably take note:
but share with us some of your worst examples of Grandma gone bad?
My pet peeve is your and you’re.. People here in the UK actually say your instead of you’re (like people pronounce it in SA).. I’m not surprised they don’t know which one to spell is they both sound the same.. The ironic thing is when they actually use you’re, they get it wrong.. So sad.. It also irritates me when people have the SIN in raiSINs as CAPS, because I happen to like raisins.. But that is another story.. 😉
i kinda feel like SIN in raiSINs is an international standard warning…
Alot instead of a lot
Less when you mean fewer (you can’t have less people – you have less sugar – unless the people are all ground up, but then I think it would be less people mash anyway)
One funny thing I saw on a grammar site was the fact that ALOT of people don’t know how to write diabetes and end up writing die of beaties LOL 🙂
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F04%2Falot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html&ei=67YgU9jtCcL1oASo1oCgAg&usg=AFQjCNEIpi5UPYKcwqX7SKtE92PY3ldMOw&sig2=OGwXpEYLP9VQOeIWuZba6w&bvm=bv.62922401,d.cGU
This is a funny article about grammar focused on the Mythical ALOT
ah, love that article!
I USUALLY know what goes where. But I’m focussed so much on what I’m trying to say that I can guarantee that I’ve got Loose and Lose mixed up. And all the other one’s you mentioned. And more. I try and go over things, but: A) Everybody almost always knows what you mean with or without the relevant apostrophe/spelling, and B) Life is too short. Well, it is for me. I’ve only got one life time though. 😉
Note: A QUICK edit of this got me changing a “no” to the more accurate “know”. But I think this is a personal itch on your part Brett, and not one which you really need to be putting onto other people, even in a mildly self-deprecating way. Not everybody who murders language is a murderer. I know some extremely nice people who really do MURDER language. They will NEVER get it right. I don’t care. And I am arrogant enough to suggest that you shouldn’t either.
Love and much prayer for you’re Anti-BadGrammatical Soul.
David
i actually disagree with you on this [WHAT? Never!] – i really don’t mind as much as you think i do and the post is more a tongue-in-cheek from me because i know a lot of people who really do mind and the minding i probably find as funny as the getting it wrong… and yes for sure, meaning over correct usage – if i minded as much as you thort i did, would i continue to butcher the alleged english language so aggressively as i do?
just thort this would be a fun post.
I think you guys have covered most of the culprit words/phrases that i would sneak a correction comment about. I’m also not actually too affected by incorrect grammar and am probably guilty of a couple of catastrophic mistakes myself (more in my verbal conversations than in my writing, methinks), but I seem to always notice when others fall prey to Grandma and subsequently i am forced to say something.
Anyway, one or two of the more uncommonly-said things I absolutely HAVE to comment on:
1.) When somebody corrects my “pronounciation”!
2.) When I say “Sleven was looking for me and John” and someone says “No, ‘John and I’!”
3.) When someone tries to be funny and says “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?” while looking for someone. (Wherefore = ‘why’ ; not ‘where’!!!)
great additions Steve – have never come across that last one but that is great! ha ha.
OK. You got me. I misunderstood (Never!) You’re too ironic for me sometimes! 🙂
“loose it”! Haha! This whole article just made me laugh and laugh!
I hate jus, typing “t” is so difficult. I also hate “cos”, the word is because.
life is too short to type out the whole word that can be shortened to ‘cos’
i used to find for some reason that i would often type an extra ‘R’ when signing off a letter or a text and so finish off a message to someone with ‘lover Brett’ – i hope i caught it in time every time and removed it but one can never be too sure… [eek!]
Gilty