Pet Peeves

[Dodger Thirteen]

Of all the grammatical errors people tend to perform, what is the one that digs under your skin the most?

For me, it's the "its/it's" confusion. Makes my eye twitch, in a bad way.

[rayyychul]

Lately, it has been "between you and I." I've been hearing it everywhere, especially in songs where "between you and me" would have worked just fine (and been perfectly grammatically correct!).

Also, misused punctuation.

[cyanea]

When people use "txtspeech" in places that aren't texts. I don't mind the occasional LOLs or whatever, but when people use it in emails or IMs when they're in front of a full keyboard just drive me crazy.

[Epif]

When someone doesn't use a Serial Comma, I end up thinking that their list is over with, so I read on as I normally would. Of course, re-reading things because of something that can be fixed with one extra character really grinds my gears.

[Olive]

"I seen." As in, "I seen him at the store yesterday."
I'm pretty sure I visibly cringe whenever I hear that.

[beanie]

Then/than. I'd never noticed people mixing them up until recently, and now it seems to be everywhere!

[Gina]

Oh my. I have many pet peeves of grammar.
I absolutely hate the misuse of their/they're/there, your/you're, to/too/two. It seems to be an epidemic at my school.
My best friend will sometimes text me saying "Me to" and when I try to correct her, she has the audacity to argue it with me. I've just learned to not respond whenever she says "Me too" or "Your stupid".

[embonpoint]

Then/than.
'[Someone] and I' when it should be 'and me'.
When people use 'went' when it should be 'gone' e.g "I should've went!" - that one gets me the most, I think. Except perhaps when people say "more better" or "most stupidest" etc.

[mrodigga]

I was waiting for this thread would show up.

• Misuses of the word ironic. A lot of my friends say I should let this one go, but there's no word in the English language that quite describes what "ironic" describes, so I'm not willing to give up on it yet. I try not to be a dick about this one, though; rather than just going "THAT'S WRONG GRAH!" when people misuse it, I'll contort my face as if I'm really giving it thought and then say, "Hm, I think that's more poetically appropriate/amusingly coincidental/whatever than ironic." And don't even get me started on Alanis Morissette.
  
• People who use "literally" for emphasis, rather than to mean "without metaphor or allegory". I cringe every time I see someone respond to a post on Tumblr with "I literally died." As that Armadillo picture a while back said, I'm willing to bet that you didn't.
  
• Dangling prepositions. I know well enough to know that not every proposition that ends a sentence is evil, but if the preposition could be dropped and the sentence's meaning would not change, it should be dropped. Example: "Where are you at?" Yeesh.
  
• The phrase "have got". Unless it is being used in the sense of "have obtained", it's redundant (just drop the "got"), and I'm starting to notice it EVERYWHERE, especially in music. This is one of those things that shouldn't annoy me nearly as much as it does, but it just gets under my skin like nothing else. Well, not quite nothing else...
  
• "Could care less." As that particular Armadillo picture once said, "That tells me nothing." I will always call out my friends on this one, because it just makes no sense. Do people even listen to the things they say anymore? To quote the Nostalgia Chick, "Think with your brain-words, people!"
  

Well, that was therapeutic.

[embonpoint]

May 30, 2011 10:42:59 GMT -5 mrodigga said:

[/li][li]Dangling prepositions. I know well enough to know that not every proposition that ends a sentence is evil, but if the preposition could be dropped and the sentence's meaning would not change, it should be dropped. Example: "Where are you at?" Yeesh.
[/quote]

My old English teacher/head of English at my college who has a PhD always said "where we're at" and I'm like, seriously? Did she just say that, again?

[Lizzie]

As someone who uses text speech constantly on tumblr because of livejournal, I can't really complain about that. It's just not something that bothers me when I'm in a relaxed environment and I've never had trouble with it seeping over into my formal papers. However, when the writing is formal, your/you're is probably my biggest pet peeve.

[Zeffy]

The thing that bothers me the most is misuse of the phrase "might as well." I've seen "mine as well," "minus well," and "might is swell."

[Dodger Thirteen]

May 30, 2011 9:32:09 GMT -5 beanie said:

Then/than. I'd never noticed people mixing them up until recently, and now it seems to be everywhere!

That's a common one. I had to explain it to my friend with his Master's very recently. *sighs*

Best way to remember it is this: "then" has an "e" in it, like "when." Both are used for writing about time.

[Zeffy]

May 30, 2011 13:27:37 GMT -5 Eternal Lobster said:

Good vs. well is one of them. I mess up sometimes but hearing others say it makes me cringe.

As an alternate question, do you correct the grammar of other people? I know it can be rude, but sometimes I just can't stop myself!

I only do it to people I know will get upset about it. I'm just a vindictive bastard like that.

[alyoshka]

misuse of semicolon. /gag