Share your spelling pet peeves

[Alex Bridges]

Lose, as in, "Here are the car keys. Don't lose them."

Loose, as in, "I took the dog to the park and let him run loose."

[rusty pins]

I am not a good speller myself, however I do try and use spell checker when I type on line.  That has also helped me learn correct spelling for many words I have spelled wrong over the years.  I do get ticked off by words that may not be technically spelled wrong but are in fact spelled wrong based on their meaning.  People here say, "I diapered my but".  You can say, "But for the fact...." or, "I want to go to the movie but I can't".  When you are talking about the part of your body you sit on, it's spelled butt, with two T's.  Other words that are spelled different based on their meaning.  Right, write, wright.  Hear and here.  There and their. Wear, where and ware.  Break and brake.  Bear and bare.  There are many who don't use proper spelling for the meaning of the word along with those who simply don't bother to use spell checker or proof read their message after writing before sending it.

My other big pet peeve concerns grammar.  I am not the greatest when it comes to labels, such as Dangling Participial, Preposition, Conjunction and other terms, however I believe I can at least speak and write with proper grammar.  One thing that really bothers me is when people start their sentence with the word "So".  That sounds horrid!  There is normally no reason at all to start your sentence with the word "So", especially when you are responding to a question you have been asked.  Watch Jeopardy sometime when Alex Trebeck is interviewing contestants.  See just how many respond to his question by starting with the word "So,..."  Alex:  "I hear you like to travel".  Contestant:  "So, yes I like to go to Europe every summer".  All that needs to be said in reply is, "Yes, I like to go to Europe every summer".  "Yes" is your acknowledgment that you heard the question properly and you are responding to it.  There is no need to add the word "So," to start the sentence.  To me it sounds somewhat confrontational as if you are saying, "Why are you bothering me with this question?"

My other pet peeve on grammar is when someone says, "Me and him" (went to the store, movie, etc.).  It's "He and I went to the store".  You always put the other person first in your sentence, not yourself.  If you can't figure out if the word to use is "him" or "he", "me" or "I", "she" or "her", remove the other person.  You wouldn't say, "Me went to the store", you would say, "I went to the store."  You wouldn't say, "Him went to the movie", you would say, "He went to the movie".  It's very simple yet people say it wrong all the time.  It pains me to hear college graduates speak like this and use very poor grammar and sentence structure.  If I were interviewing them for a job, especially a position working with customers and clients, I would not hire them based on poor grammar.  It's a habit that people get into over the years, probably from listening to their friend's poor grammar.  That doesn't mean they need to pick it up and start speaking that way themselves.

[Alex Bridges]

5 hours ago, rusty pins said:

I am not a good speller myself, however I do try and use spell checker when I type on line.  That has also helped me learn correct spelling for many words I have spelled wrong over the years.  I do get ticked off by words that may not be technically spelled wrong but are in fact spelled wrong based on their meaning.  People here say, "I diapered my but".  You can say, "But for the fact...." or, "I want to go to the movie but I can't".  When you are talking about the part of your body you sit on, it's spelled butt, with two T's.  Other words that are spelled different based on their meaning.  Right, write, wright.  Hear and here.  There and their. Wear, where and ware.  Break and brake.  Bear and bare.  There are many who don't use proper spelling for the meaning of the word along with those who simply don't bother to use spell checker or proof read their message after writing before sending it.

My other big pet peeve concerns grammar.  I am not the greatest when it comes to labels, such as Dangling Participial, Preposition, Conjunction and other terms, however I believe I can at least speak and write with proper grammar.  One thing that really bothers me is when people start their sentence with the word "So".  That sounds horrid!  There is normally no reason at all to start your sentence with the word "So", especially when you are responding to a question you have been asked.  Watch Jeopardy sometime when Alex Trebeck is interviewing contestants.  See just how many respond to his question by starting with the word "So,..."  Alex:  "I hear you like to travel".  Contestant:  "So, yes I like to go to Europe every summer".  All that needs to be said in reply is, "Yes, I like to go to Europe every summer".  "Yes" is your acknowledgment that you heard the question properly and you are responding to it.  There is no need to add the word "So," to start the sentence.  To me it sounds somewhat confrontational as if you are saying, "Why are you bothering me with this question?"

My other pet peeve on grammar is when someone says, "Me and him" (went to the store, movie, etc.).  It's "He and I went to the store".  You always put the other person first in your sentence, not yourself.  If you can't figure out if the word to use is "him" or "he", "me" or "I", "she" or "her", remove the other person.  You wouldn't say, "Me went to the store", you would say, "I went to the store."  You wouldn't say, "Him went to the movie", you would say, "He went to the movie".  It's very simple yet people say it wrong all the time.  It pains me to hear college graduates speak like this and use very poor grammar and sentence structure.  If I were interviewing them for a job, especially a position working with customers and clients, I would not hire them based on poor grammar.  It's a habit that people get into over the years, probably from listening to their friend's poor grammar.  That doesn't mean they need to pick it up and start speaking that way themselves.

I'll agree with you on grammar to a point. Formulations like "He and I" versus "Me and him" are grounded in custom, not in the structure of the language. Both phrases communicate the same information, so both are okay (in my opinion - I live by the maxim communication over style, and style over form. I just made that up.)

A lot of those customs became "rules" in the 18th century when aristocrats in England took it upon themselves to start writing dictionaries and etiquette guides. The classic example is the supposed rule against ending a sentence with a preposition, which requires abandoning perfectly good sentences like "That's a thing I got a problem with" in favor of tortured formulations like "That is a thing with which I have a problem."

Dead English aristocrats don't get to set the rules for the language. In fact, no one does. Languages set their own rules as they evolve.

As for "so," I do that frequently, and especially when writing dialogue in my stories. It's the interjection form of the word. Serves a similar purpose as "well." https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/so#Interjection

What I'd like to see change in the English language is spelling. It should be more phonetic (the spelling of "enough" is an abomination). But until then, people should spell the way things are "supposed" to be, if only because doing so facilitates clear communication.

I also believe that most people speak in free-verse poetry but write in prose, as the latter requires more structure to pass on meaning since writing lacks tools such as intonation, emphasis, lilt, facial expression, and body language. Where I think people run into trouble is not being able to switch from poetry to prose.

I also believe grammar needs to be taught as functional rather than formal. Seems to me a lot of people unconsciously refuse to learn good grammar because they think it's just stupid rules and never learn that it's just a set of tools to make it easier for people to understand one another.

But there's still a lot of subjectivity and always will be. For instance:

• Seems to me a lot of people...
• Seems to me, a lot of people...
• It seems to me, a lot of people

All three of those are correct. Some people will insist on the comma. Others will say the first two are not complete sentence because the subject is implied and not written.

 

[WillDL]

Given the web forums & that everyone is an author, often with little care given to grammar and usage, I have become inured.  It doesn't faze me anymore.

[beallucanb]

As long as I can understand what the OP is trying to communicate, it doesn't bother me how they spell or misspell words or how they use them. 

This isn't a school room, no one comes here for you to correct their homework.

[Greybird]

The fact is that English is a beautiful language. One can make it more interesting by learning the rules both of grammar and spelling, but also the usage of a correct or different word. One can hold the readers attention, or convey a more complete picture of a situation through our language. 

I absolutely agree with Rusty Pins and Alex in that there are obvious mistakes that either change the meaning of a sentence, or make no sense at all. Although, if I may just pick you up with one correction, with apologies, you use 'different', and it should read 'differently', well, I did go to an English public school! My pet peeves are 'your' and 'you're', also 'different to ...' no, no ,no, 'different from' and similar to'. This is an instance where, like driving and many other things in life, learn the rules (yes, even the historic ones) and they will become subliminal in ones writing.

The biggest peeve, however, is that people don't read what they have written before posting it. Similarly, how many times have you written an email to discover that the recipient has only read the first line?  Grrrrrr

[maly]

This is one i see on DD a lot.

Private. adj. For the use of one person or group only. etc

Privete. n. Bushy evergreen shrub used for hedges.

The later is used a lot in the role play sub forum where it should be the former, obviously.

Maly.

[Cute_Kitten]

One of my biggest pet peeves is when words are randomly capitalized in the middle of a sentence. 

[littleTomás]

Anytime spellcheck or auto-correct leads me astray. Microsoft, I want a better AI algorithm that proofreads my work thank you very much!

[ozziebee]

Probably my biggest spelling peeve is “woman” versus “women”. You read that right. 

I often see “The women touched her toes”. 

That should actually be “The woman touched her toes”. 

Second one is literal spelling “She waz speling da werd”. I see that on Facebook all the time n it drives me crasy...

[dlinmsp]

We may not correct their homework but it is ok to copy off of someone's paper who does it correctly.

[rusty pins]

I'm sorry but even though it convey's the same meaning, I will never accept "Me and him" instead of "He and I".

[vvp39]

Some people seem unaware of the difference between discreet and discrete. They are different words with different meanings.
I try to make sure that my own posts show correct grammar and spelling. I don't pay a lot of attention to those factors in other peoples' posts unless the mistakes in a post make it difficult to extract its meaning. And yes, "me and him" as the subject of a sentence counts as a mistake.

[le Hollandais]

There, their, and they're

There she is, over there. They're having a good time.

Anytime an apostrophe is used to indicate a plural noun annoys me very much. An apostrophe appended to a noun indicates possession, not plural thus:

I like wearing diapers  Never: I like wearing diaper's

In some parts of the country, from what I can gather from frequent misspellings these words have identical pronunciation:  were, and we're; whether, and weather. Either that, or too many people rely on spell check.

Eye always real eye on spell check, don't yew?

[robert3996]

Dont have any

[WetDad]

Too many to list. Part of my life is being a professional proof-reader. 

There/they're/their is only a beginning. Then there is the Oxford Comma... 

[willnotwill]

The misunderstanding of effect vs. affect and the general substitution of the wrong but sound-alike words for things.

[robert3996]

Dont care. Unless I cant read it lol

[dlinmsp]

24/7 is 24 hours a day/7 days a week not I wore diapers 24/7 over the weekend.

[Brandiaper]

lol...it'd be easier for me to list the spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes that don't bother me! I'm such a prude when it comes to that stuff. It seems like no one in my generation (millennials) cares about any of it either, so my texts always look stupid next to everyone else's. I don't even know why I bother anymore, haha!

[Shotgun Diplomat]

I think that it is a symptom of my country, but I have a serious issue when people drop the "U's" in words. For example: Honour, Colour, and Neighbour.

[dlsafrica]

Prolly drives me bonkers -- it's spelt probably

[Abi]

On 7/7/2019 at 5:35 PM, Author_Alex said:

I'll agree with you on grammar to a point. Formulations like "He and I" versus "Me and him" are grounded in custom, not in the structure of the language. Both phrases communicate the same information, so both are okay (in my opinion - I live by the maxim communication over style, and style over form. I just made that up.)

A lot of those customs became "rules" in the 18th century when aristocrats in England took it upon themselves to start writing dictionaries and etiquette guides. The classic example is the supposed rule against ending a sentence with a preposition, which requires abandoning perfectly good sentences like "That's a thing I got a problem with" in favor of tortured formulations like "That is a thing with which I have a problem."

Dead English aristocrats don't get to set the rules for the language. In fact, no one does. Languages set their own rules as they evolve.

As for "so," I do that frequently, and especially when writing dialogue in my stories. It's the interjection form of the word. Serves a similar purpose as "well." https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/so#Interjection

What I'd like to see change in the English language is spelling. It should be more phonetic (the spelling of "enough" is an abomination). But until then, people should spell the way things are "supposed" to be, if only because doing so facilitates clear communication.

I also believe that most people speak in free-verse poetry but write in prose, as the latter requires more structure to pass on meaning since writing lacks tools such as intonation, emphasis, lilt, facial expression, and body language. Where I think people run into trouble is not being able to switch from poetry to prose.

I also believe grammar needs to be taught as functional rather than formal. Seems to me a lot of people unconsciously refuse to learn good grammar because they think it's just stupid rules and never learn that it's just a set of tools to make it easier for people to understand one another.

But there's still a lot of subjectivity and always will be. For instance:

• Seems to me a lot of people...
• Seems to me, a lot of people...
• It seems to me, a lot of people

All three of those are correct. Some people will insist on the comma. Others will say the first two are not complete sentence because the subject is implied and not written.

 

 

I'm so with you, Alex, on this one.

The purpose of language is communication. If you have communicated effectively ... that is to say, taken an idea or notion which is present in your head and planted that very same idea or notion in somebody else's head ... then your use of language is just fine. If you haven't, then it is not.

The principal enemies in this quest for effective communication are ambiguity and obscurity; and some of the principles (I never call them "rules") of grammar and punctuation help to eliminate ambiguity and/or obscurity. To the extent that they do this then they are good principles, and worth trying to observe if you can. But a lot of the so-called rules don't assist in any way to avoid ambiguity or obscurity. So what is the point of them.

Take, for instance, the distinction between "less" and "fewer" which some people get so wound up about (it's "less" if you are referring to a continuous metric, and "fewer" if you are referring to a discrete metric, apparently). What purpose does this distinction actually serve? How does it assist or enhance communication? The short answer is ... it doesn't. I already know that the length of a piece of string is a continuous metric and the number of pieces of string in my string drawer is a discrete metric, so why do I need to have different ways of referring to them to help me to remember them?

Split infinitives are a rather more interesting one. It has been pointed out that some sentences with split infinitives really don't work if you try not to split the infinitive. But this is usually the result of some other structural defect in the sentence: cure that defect, and the need to split the infinitive usually disappears. But ... does it matter? I mean, really and truly? When I find myself splitting an infinitive, I normally ask myself "what's wrong with this sentence that I need to do this?" ... but only as a means of checking that I haven't created ambiguity or obscurity. If I have, then I set about rectifying THAT ... and maybe the need for the split infinitive disappears. On the other hand, if I have created no ambiguity or obscurity, then there is no reason whatever to not let it go.

[rusty pins]

I know people often don't use punctuation and some always claim they are on their smart phone when sending their message.  Evidently you can't use commas, periods or capital letters when using a smart phone.  Lack of punctuation is one of my grammar pet peeves.  If people don't think punctuation is important, think of this situation.  "Let's eat, Grandma".  Then without punctuation you have, "Lets eat Grandma".  In the first situation you are having a conversation with your relative.  In the second situation, same exact words, your talking about engaging in an act of cannibalism.  Run on sentences really irritate me as well when no punctuation or capital letters are used.

[Danni]

Me to 

Instead of 

Me too.

It drives me nuts how often I see this on social media.