This one also drives me nuts...........call on the phone and ask to speak to Nancy or whoever and the person on the other line says.......this is her.......

don't get me started...

Next on my list is "I seen" Oh my Gawd way to many people say "I seen".

I am trying to break myself of saying, "Yeah." I didn't grow up saying that. How did it sneak in?

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

I'd like our DGS to learn the difference between 'can' and 'may'. He needs to ask, "Grandma, MAY I have a cookie?" (We know all too well that he CAN eat one!)

Increasingly I'm reading and hearing, "The man THAT ran the red light," instead of, "The man WHO ran the red light." People aren't 'things'. That difference is also often missed when using these: 'lie' and 'lay'. (The patient LIES in bed. The dog LAYS on the floor.)

Chisue--I'm right with you on who/that.

As a follow up to her/she--what about the common mistake of misuse of she/her; he/him; I/me in this situation: Harry has more books than 'me'. It should be Harry has more books than I (have books). In that case, you need to ADD the rest of the sentence to understand which is right.

And while we're on the subject of comparisons. My biggest annoyance these days is seeing and hearing people misuse than and then. THAN is a comparison (Harry has more books than I). THEN has to do with the timing of things. First I went to the store, THEN I went to the library.

I agree with all of those.
Also... Bring and take!
LOOSE and LOSE.
It's not I losed it. I LOST it. It's not...
"I hope you don't loose your mind", it's "I hope you
don't LOSE your mind."

And don't 'cha know? I BE perfect! ahahahahahahahahah

All of the above drive me nuts too. "She gave them to Tom and I"..WRONG!! Would you say she gave them to I?

My DS used to work with a guy that always said 'mines' as in~~Do not touch that it is mines~~drove him crazy.

I really do not mind most of those it is~~I seen it or I seen her at the mall that makes me nuts!

I agree with all the grammatical errors mentioned in the above posts. Another one which really bugs me is ending a sentence with "at", as in, "Where's it at?", when "Where is it?" would do perfectly well.

(No way am I a grammar whiz, but some things have stuck in my brain over the years.)

Those definitely make your ears prick up when you hear them.

The one type that bothers me - and I don't know if it's a regionalism or exactly what..... "the floor needs cleaned", "the dog needs walked", etc.

Verbs are handy devices - especially forms of "to be". (as in "the floor needs TO BE cleaned"; or elsewise, "the floor needs a cleaning".)

Ain't drives me crazy. My mother always said there is no such word.

All of the above and a few more- lol

The new way people are using the word "gifted" drives me nuts. "He gifted it to me" or "I was just gifted a new blouse"- ACK! What's wrong with gave or given? I think people think that "gifted" sounds more intelligent or classy or something, but I have to disagree.

Hate the over-usage of "myself", hate it so much that I go out of my way to never say it if I can help it. It used to be the word "basically" but people have finally stopped using that one so much.

I don't understand the confusion of "accept or except", "then and than", "supposably" instead of "supposedly", (that one is pretty regional I think) and the pronunciation of "short-lived" with a soft I instead of a long I. Oh, and your, you're.

Woody and I both correct people on TV and movies all the time. I can overlook people who are on TV doing live reports, but if it's a script, like a TV show or a movie, you'd think someone would catch all the grammatical mistakes before they shot the final scene.

One that gets me is a newscaster saying things like "she went missing" sounds like they volunteered to be killed or kidnapped.

"The child went missing around 9pm" argh.... sure they did. On purpose.

Just heard it on TV again - Her and I went to the store. ARGHHH!

And also just heard "Me and Julie went ....". ARGHHH again! How about "Julie and I went ...."???

I know - I'm not a grammar cop. But I was taught correctly and it makes me crazy to hear some of these obviously simple errors. Is it truly the dumbing-down of America?

Thank you Mwheel for posting the latest one that drives me nuts. "Where is it at?", instead of "Where is it?". Never end a sentence with a preposition. Also the folks who don't know the difference between to, too and two.
When I was a child, my mom always corrected my grammar. I will always remember that she said "people lie, hens lay".

cwnev, that is the one phrase that really grates on my nerves. It doesn't sound grammatically correct, either. It would sound much better if they said, "XXX was reported missing at 9:00".

my personal thing is city names...it takes just a couple of minutes to check...

I don't understand the "went missing" thing and all of the reporters seem to use it......How can that be right?

All of the above ...

... especially the "myself" one - that seems to crawl out from under a rock at least a half dozen times a day.

ole joyful

How about "my bad"????

I'm another one whose ears ache from hearing some of these words.

The best way to remember the difference between lie and lay is that "chickens lay eggs, people don't." And yet we taught our children "now I lay me down to sleep."

I remember back in grade school "Where is my coat at?" Teacher would say, right between the A and the T.

Another example we see here so often is "Here is a picture of XX and I." Groan.

Who and that is one of my pet peeves. So is like, as in She was wearing a like green coat. No,no. Was it green, or like green?

Ain't is actually in the dictionary now.

One non-word that I've only seen on the web is prolly, meaning probably.

Recently I heard a very young news announcer talking about the Chol-era epidemic. Not her fault; probably never heard of that before. Why didn't they let her do a read-through before she went on air?

I wouldn't consider "my bad" as bad grammar. It is just another current fad word, like basically was and like is.

I guess I'll never understand how (spelling?) needs to ever show up in a post. Every browser has spell check I believe.

And so it goes, on and on, ad infinitum.

Sue

And how about "If I WAS you..." rather than "If I WERE you...", the subjunctive which is used for implying the impossible. Impossible, since I CAN'T be you. I'm loving it or I'm wanting it... Something wrong with "I love" or "I want?"

And, of course, in writing, complement vs. compliment--homonyms with completely different meanings.

I'm an Okie and I could easily say outloud, "Her and her husband" in a quick convo with someone. It's basically slang.

But on paper I'd never say it. lol I met an old high school friend on FaceBook, and he keeps saying "I seen.." and it drives me up the wall!

To clear up the difference between lie and lay.

Harry lies on the bed. The dog lies on the sofa. The hen lies in her nest. All are lying down on something. It has nothing to do with human or non-human.

Harry lays the book on the table. The dog lays his bone on the floor. The hen lays her eggs in the nest. All put something on or in something else.

Grammatically: Lie is an intransitive verb - it cannot take a direct object. Lay is a transitive verb - it takes a direct object, e.g. in the sentences above, book, bone, eggs.

As to "her and me went to the movies". That's actually a pretty bad mistake, at least according to the national language tests given by the Departments of State and Defense. These tests are graded from zero (absolutely no knowledge of the language) to five (the language of an educated native speaker, e.g. a Ph.D. dissertation). The "her and me" as subject instead of "she and I" would net the speaker at best a 2 (the lowest possible passing grade) and possibly a 1+ (a fail). Placement of pronouns ranks just below correct use of verbs and singular/plural in measuring language ability. The lie-lay confusion is low on the scale. You could score between a 3 and 4 even if sometimes confusing them.

Apologies for the lecture! Part of my job was to test speaking ability for the DOD. We testers had rigorous training at first, and then annual week-long refresher courses.

The one that really irritates me is when people are introducing their spouse or family member and they attach an adjective to the persons title, as in; "This is my lovely wife XXX".

Whenever I hear that I am left wondering, if this is their lovely wife, I wonder where they parked the ugly one?

Sometimes things get under another's skin, but frankly in the big picture of life, it doesn't matter to me. I find it more important that the person share their thoughts, friendship and support from their hearts. No matter if it is grammatically correct or not.

Although it's not really a matter of grammar, the word that makes me smirk is "conversating" when the speaker means "conversing".

I don't think they even try to teach grammar in schools today.

J

Manners exist for a reason; Grammar, too! We may slip up on either, but a gentle correction should be accepted as helpful.

I'm accepting the "lie" v "lay" clarification with appreciation!

Proper use of the English language identifies how one has been raised and the level/quality of their education education.

Many people don't realize that incorrect grammer can be a job killer in an interview, for example.

Public schools, in their quest to leave all children behind, don't stress proper grammar, lest the parents take offense at their children being "singled out".

BTW, ain't is now acknowledged as a contraction of "are not".

I appreciate the lie/lay explanation, too. :)

Another one I don't like is the misuse of the word "orientated". It has a very narrow correct usage but I hear it used all the time when "orientation" would be the correct usage.

I recently heard a tv reporter say "hisself." Made me cringe!!

That orientate thing bothers me, too. Actually, there is no such word as orientate. The correct word is orient. "Mary's house is oriented from east to west." Or, "The orientation of Mary's house is..." Another one that is just strange is the constant use of "utilize". You hear it on HGTV and the Food Channel all the time. "Mary utilized granite in her kitchen." "Harry is utilizing four eggs in the omelet." It sounds so pompous! Why not just "use"? I googled this one to learn more. "Utilize" means to use something in place of something else when that something else ism't available - "I utilized a paper clip because there were no more ornament hangers." But you could also just use "use". Plain speech is good speech! And Mary and Harry just used granite and eggs!

Going off with DH to see "The King's Speech" now. Very appropriate!

Sable, "orientate" is in the Webster's Ninth Collegiate Dictionary and it means "to turn to or face east". That's what I meant about it having such a narrow usage.

And I agree completely about "utilize", also.

Thanks again for lie/lay. I need to copy that down.

This thread really hits home!
Thank you for the opportunity to use my soap box!
As I step up, the first category I will address is pronunciation. The symbol is *; spelling is a-s-t-e-r-i-s-k; syllables are as-ter-isk... When did people decide to omit the second "s"...it isn't silent!

I'm sure I will step up again, soon! There are soooo many that make me want to run, screaming, from the room.

Hearing "asterick" instead of asterisk, is probably the one that makes me craziest.

Wow, what a great way to learn more about the English language for those of us, that use it as a second language.

:)

Thanks

Moni

All the above, plus this one.

The incorrect use of "less" and "fewer" drives me up the wall. If it is quantifiable "fewer" is correct.

I HATE ads bleating "LESS fat, LESS calories!" No. Just no. It's "LESS fat, FEWER calories". I've actually written to a few companies, but they seem to think consumers would be confused by two different words. Snort!

i don't know why Mandarin is considered the most difficult language to learn when the english language has... their/there/they're, lay/lie/laid, then/than etc...

I have always LOVED grammer & sentence structure. I still have my Little & Brown Manual from high school that I recently brought down from my house in Chicago because I often wanted to reference it LOL. I completely agree with Monica's point except the part on "ain't", to me that is NOT a word!

I can't tell you how many people in Orlando have commented on my language & writing skills and professionalism in the 13 years I have lived here. It is sad really but not surprising since Orlando and FL in general were recently ranked near the bottom intellectually in a national poll :-/ I have noticed a big difference between Chicago & Orlando in that respect. Christmas day we went to a friends' house where we had a discussion with several people who were from all over the world on this very topic LOL. The consensus was the difference in skills is due in part to education and in part to society & culture where most of us text & email all day especially for work. I know for a fact that my own grammer suffers because of texting and emailing that needs to be brief and to the point with as few characters as possible. ~ liz

Oh my gosh - Mary_C, you hit one that is also "sticking in my craw" (what IS a craw, anyway?!?!?) lately. Less vs fewer. It seems that everyone is using "less" now. No, you didn't eat less calories, you ate fewer calories. No, you didn't have less people than expected to your house to dinner, you had fewer. And on and on.

And the orientate one, too ... oh my oh my.

Wow, these are all so true.

Sometimes I post dont'cha, just for kicks to be casual and light.
I don't do it on purpose to bug anyone, and I don't use it in daily writing. I do it the same way I say "who'da thunk?" Just for kicks. I'll try not to do it anymore.

What irks me big-time, is "my bad" what's that all about?
and the way young kids throw "Whatever" around. It's very rude and condescending.

My biggie is "which" vs. "that." Too often people use which when they should be be using that. I'm starting to see this mistake on billboards and in magazine advertising, so I suppose it's only a matter of time before it's come to be regarded as correct. Grrrr.........

In fact, two of the posts above do this. I'll forgive you both for doing it if you forgive me for calling you on it. LOL

haha when I hear My Bad....my first thought is "you are an idiot".

Definitely agree on the use of less and fewer.

And another one is "healthy" foods. Are some of the foods we eat actually sick?

Jasdip, you have my permission (like the matters) to use don'tcha and who'dathunk anytime you want to. Those terms are used to just add a little humor, which we need more of.

Sue

Would of, should of, could of, instead of would have, should have, could have. And the use of "sum" instead of "some" drives me up the wall. :o)

This may be cutting it too fine, but I prefer to hear someone speak of his *elder* or *eldest* brother, not his *older* or *oldest* brother. I think it's because the modifier refers to a person. (Is there a better modifier when the relationship is to a *younger* relative? "Junior" That sounds antique!))

How do YOU pronounce "sophomore"? I glide over the second "o", but DH makes it a three-syllable word.

And then there is "flusterated" instead of flustered or frustrated, they combine both words into one. The saw and seen choice is the worst one for me to hear, and I just want to correct them right on the spot.

Even Obama, a highly educated man, slips up. He used "with him and I" and "with Senator Edwards and I" several times in a talk recently. It's all over the internet. It must be a regionalism because I never heard it until I moved to Minnesota: the word "drug" for the past tense of "to drag," such as "I drug the mattress into the living room." It sounds so backwoods ignorant that it makes my blood boil! I also can't stand people that don't know the difference between "its" and "it's."

"Drug" is used here in northeast PA, too. I never heard it in NYC, and it never sounds right to me.

I also can't stand people that don't know the difference between "its" and "it's."

Boy, Marita, you're tough! :-)

I think that's a very common typing error. I know the difference very well, but I sometimes type it's when I mean its. Just as I sometimes type to when I mean too. If I read it over, I catch it. But most of the time I don't read it over.

(I don't know why the quotation marks ended up looking like that.)

On the other thread, I mentioned how it makes me crazy to hear people say, "I done that". I couldn't remember what the other phrase was. I ditto this:

Next on my list is "I seen" Oh my Gawd way to many people say "I seen".