Funny/annoying grammatical mistakes and odd neologisms

ladelfina

ladelfina

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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Oct 18, 2005
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I love languages, and don't mind other people being pedants or being a pedant myself at times.

Harley hates the exchange of "exasperate" for "exacerbate".

Recently I've seen the classic "Marshall Law", and this new one: "X will be the deathnail of Z". I thought that was quite inventive!

What are your pet peeves?

What funny errors have you seen or heard?
Let's start a collection...
 
ladelfina said:
What funny errors have you seen or heard?
Let's start a collection...
Click to expand...

An ex-military buddy of mine keeps saying "landblast" ipo "lambaste".

I gently tried pointing this out to him, but he said he prefers to say landblast.

omni
 
not sure if this qualifies...

but if i hear one more person say "Git 'er done", i'm going to take all my pet peeves and release them from their cages.
 
my pet peeves have more to do with someone's intention than with their application and in that their language is revealing.

as a child the sound of a word meant more to me than the meaning so that often i misused words because, for me, sound was meaning. in learning meaning, i found myself attracted to alliteration, poetry and short prose which highly value each word in meaning, placement, rhythm and vocalization.

as to funny, misuse & odd usage has been turned into entire comedy routines...

YouTube - Best of the Bowery Boys

"that was a very feline remark"
 
Guy at work is very fond of the phrase "mute point"
I cringe when I open his email, since he (mis)uses it often.
 
growing_older said:
Guy at work is very fond of the phrase "mute point"
I cringe when I open his email, since he (mis)uses it often.
Click to expand...

Some people would be better off if they made a mute point. :D
 
Years ago I worked with a guy who was "coasting into retirement." Never hesitated to let us know he thought the job was beneath his abilities. He constantly talked behind the back of several people there criticizing them for saying, "I'll keep a eye on it." What annoyed me was that what he was really doing was a racist comment on their dialect.
 
The high quantity of posts on this board that confuse the use of "your" with "you're"...

No names... only avatar photos ;):duh:

[Edit - attachments deleted: okay I won't call out the offenders]
 
It's not a pet peeve, it's more of an entertainment. "Let me axe you a question."

I do cringe at the "mute point." A perfect example of why spellcheckers are not much use.

And as a recent refugee from the suburbs of our nation's capital, I was amazed at how many people lived or worked in "Warshington."
 
Definitely entertainment for me.

"Warshington" is sometimes considered local dialect in Pittsburgh and other places.

My wife's supervisor at the factory used to say "we have to follow the floor mat.."(format). I don't think he knew the difference.

Some people just make up their own words and are comfortable using them.
Maybe it's genetic.

Free to canoe
 
Sitting in the "mezzoline".


Not amusing: the rampant use of the apostrophe to indicate a non-possessive plural, e.g. " 2 sausage biscuit's/99c".

Ditto "your"/"you're", "there"/"they're"/"their", etc.

Any business that puts up an ungrammatical or misspelled sign should have their (its?) license revoked.
 
slouch said:
The high quantity of posts on this board that confuse the use of "your" with "you're"...
Click to expand...

i don't know why anyone would confuse that. you're and yer don't even sound alike. on second thought, i can just use yer for either as in "yer gonna regret saying that" or "is that yers?"

harley said:
A perfect example of why spellcheckers are not much use.
Click to expand...

sorry harley, it's spell-checkers.
 
buddy thinks a beacon light is a deacon. cant get through to him
 
slouch said:
The high quantity of posts on this board that confuse the use of "your" with "you're"...

No names... only avatar photos ;):duh:

[Edit - attachments deleted: okay I won't call out the offenders]
Click to expand...

I agree. Also "lose" vs. "loose"...drives me up the wall.The kennel where we leave our dog when we go on vacation has these cute fridge magnets..at least I thought they were cute until I read the saying: "A resort so exclusive it doesn't EXCEPT people". Thankfully, they've since clued in and changed it to "accept".
 
I absolutely cringe when I read a post of mine where I have misused your/you're, their/there/they're, it's/its, etc. because I really do know their correct usage. A not uncommon typing mistake for me is, for unknown reasons, leaving the "r" off your. Both are probably a case of fingers engaged, but brain is not.
 
BOBOT said:
Sitting in the "mezzoline"....
Click to expand...
-
As kids, we laughingly called it the "mesentery" because we thought the real word was pretentious. Still laugh about it when we get together.:D

The following appeared in an online class discussion. I'm not gonna look over this student's shoulder, nor am I tempted to correct her, but, man, I'd like to hear some of that illicit conversation, not to mention the illicit appreciation.

"The significance of the decorative arts is that they give our everyday objects, such as the
chair we sit in or the doorways we walk through beauty and because they illicit
conversation and appreciation."
 
Last edited:
BOBOT said:
Sitting in the "mezzoline".


Not amusing: the rampant use of the apostrophe to indicate a non-possessive plural, e.g. " 2 sausage biscuit's/99c".
Click to expand...

I think this is one of the perversions that is becoming standard, such that if you don't use it you are considered ignorant.

Ha
 
...a local bistro had this one a few months back...

"SPECIAL - Mescaline Salad with Balsamic Vinagrette"

on their white markup board.

I talked to the owner, and told her that while Jerry Garcia may have approved, she might want to change that to "Mesclun". it took her a minute to register. she ran right over to wipe the board off and redo the spelling. we had a good laugh over that one. :D
 
My high school principle is not of high moral principals.
 
I am also amazed at how many people say the highway "medium" when they mean "median".

The spoken addition of "r" as in "Warshington" and "warsh the dishes" harkens from the W. Virginia area, I've been told.

In Michigan, they pronounce the word "asphalt" as "ash-fault".

I'm so used to hearing "that's a mute point" that I'm starting to wonder if that's the correct usage? :rolleyes:

omni
 
People saying 'tax return' when they are referring to a 'tax refund'.
 
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