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Pedants' corner

Let's start a blitz on bad grammar - nationwide

(270 Posts)
Despairing Thu 05-May-11 16:46:18

commencing with obliterating the dreaded and entirely unnecessary use of the word 'up', eg.listen up, park up, first up, next up and the most hideous - meet up.

What I ask is wrong with the correct versions: listen, park, first, next, meet.

Over to you....
'Despairing'
PS Tomorrow the siXth May, listen to most of the TV presenters saying SITH!

adaunas Sun 15-May-11 10:21:20

Joan said
My pet hate is 'between you and I'. They seem to be scared of using 'me' because of they way some people incorrectly say 'so and so and me did something'.

How do you explain why it is wrong though, when they have no idea what a preposition is, or what the subject or object of a sentence is?
We were taught to take out the other person and see what sounds right.

e.g. You and me went to the park. Take out the 'you' and it's clear that it should be I not me.

Joyce44 Mon 16-May-11 11:02:14

Quantum leap. Do they understand how small a quantum leap really is? As for 'going viral' words fail me.

proudgrandma2005 Mon 16-May-11 16:47:00

On the subject of misused and made up words...along with bad grammar

would 'of' ' and some'think'. really bug me ,and confuse our five year old grandson .

GranCentral Mon 16-May-11 17:52:58

I hate "issues around..." instead of "problems with...". It's particularly beloved of politicians, presumably because as long as they are skirting "around" an "issue" they don't have to actually deal with it.

NannaAnna Mon 16-May-11 22:37:58

My mother in law, now aged 88, has always said and written "would of" instead of "would have". Hate it, but it's certainly not a new grammatical error!

whitevanmand Tue 17-May-11 11:35:54

One that really annoys me is 'comprises of'!

shysal Wed 18-May-11 10:15:59

What about 'the proof is in the pudding' instead of 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating' ? This is often used on television cookery programmes.

Should forehead be pronounced as it is spelt or , as I was taught, sounding like 'forred' ?

It is fun to see so many of my pet hates mentioned.

supernana Wed 18-May-11 11:01:18

...sounding like 'forred', methinks.

twizzle Wed 18-May-11 12:52:41

One that really annoys me is 'at the end of the day' which tends to pop up in almost every conversation.

When someone says this I feel like replying 'is the night' but haven't ......yet !!

supernana Wed 18-May-11 12:55:00

...and, 'I, myself, personally...'

clover Thu 19-May-11 14:15:31

Oh Hazel, I couldn't agree with you more. "Haitch" is my pet hate too, especially when people with an aitch in their surnames are spelling their names to someone over the telephone and why is it that other people tend to copy them ? My other pet hate is "think" as in anythink, somethink, nothink !!!

Mamie Thu 19-May-11 14:18:30

I am liking it (usually on TV house search programmes) and deceiving instead of deceptive.

shysal Sat 21-May-11 13:20:13

I have always been a 'hot' person, never feeling the cold, so when hot flushes came I was streaming with sweat every half hour! After 10 years I only experience this a few times a day, but always on getting into bed, despite sleeping with only a sheet for covering. I do use cotton sheets and use lovely crisp starch, so there is always a cool spot to find for my feet.
For getting to sleep on waking at 4 am I think of a category and go through the alphabet for words starting with each letter. I usually fall asleep before I reach the difficult ones such as 'X'.

shysal Sat 21-May-11 13:23:59

Sorry, my computer did a hiccup and posted this in the previous thread I was reading instead of the menopause one!

elderflower1 Sat 21-May-11 14:21:22

When did people become individuals? I thought I would add my pet hate to the list.

littlemo Sat 21-May-11 15:13:49

I've just spent a happy half hour reading the comments and I'm so glad I am not alone in finding so many irritating errors in the use of language. One of my pet hates is when someone says 'I seen'. I once overheard a mother chastising her little boy for some misdeed that she had witnessed. I still cringe when I recall her saying loudly, 'I seen you do it! You were saw!'
I also must confess that when I pass a local fruit stall and see the stalholder's chalkboard with an apostrophe in front of every word ending in 's'. I can't resist quickly rubbing them out with my finger when I know no one is looking.

Wheniwasyourage Sat 21-May-11 15:40:50

Oh how wonderful! I'm so glad I've joined Gransnet!! Yes, yes, the apostrophe - today I noticed "scoop's" of icecream but "flavours" on a price list and I do think if you're going to add apostrophes where they are not needed, you should at least be consistent. The less/fewer problem is one that drives me mad and I have been hounding my sons-in-law about it for as long as I have known them, with good results, I'm pleased to say.

When I am World President nobody under the age of 30 is going to be allowed to use the word "like" at all, except with permission (applied for in advance) for the occasional use where the word "love" would be too strong.

littlemo Sat 21-May-11 15:47:53

Sorry, I meant to say 'apostrophe in front of the 's' in every word ending in 's' in my above post. They say pride goes before a fall. I know I'm not perfect and have forgotten much of the good grammar I was taught at school. My only excuse is that I left school nearly 40 years ago and my memory is not as good as it was then. hmm

Wheniwasyourage Sat 21-May-11 15:59:54

Just read the 6 pages I missed in my delight at finding this thread. Yes, yes again! Train station is horrible but railway station is where you catch the train. What about the nasty "meet with" instead of "meet"? I work with medical notes and there is an amazing number of doctors and medical secretaries (and therefore proof-reading doctors, one would suppose) who write about "loosing" rather than "losing" weight. Always knew I was a pedant but it is very encouraging to find that there are so many more of you!

supernana Sat 21-May-11 16:48:34

Wheniwasyourage...welcome to the club!

em Sun 22-May-11 09:13:11

Becoming more prevalent - 'There is lots of reasons for.......'
Noone seems to use 'There are.....' even when the subject is plural!

nainnainnain Sun 22-May-11 19:07:52

Marigold - at last! I thought I was the only person in the world who had noticed people nowadays - even mature BBC presenters - saying "thuh end of thuh afternoon" and "tuh ask you tuh apply" etc, instead of "thee end" and "too ask.." Using "tuh" before a vowel necessitates using the glottal stop, which seems to me much more awkward than sliding from vowel to vowel with a slight "y" or "w" sound. What can this portend? ( It can't be good for the singing voice, for a start!)
Gosh, one does have to mind one's Ps and Qs (I mean punctuation and grammar) when posting on this thread! Have I done alright? And before someone says it should be "all right", G.B.Shaw used "alright", (I suppose by analogy with "almost, already, etc.) so I reckon it's alright!
Phew!

gma Wed 25-May-11 22:25:08

I cringe when I hear sports reporters say "He showed good skill" GOOD SKILL!!!!!! Have you seen bad skill? No neither have I confused

gma Wed 25-May-11 22:29:19

Just thought of something else. When TV hosts say "and we will see you next week" !!!!! NO you will not see me, but I will see you, I could be sitting in my pjs, drinking a beer and eating crisps, so I would not want you to see me!!!!!!

supernana Thu 26-May-11 12:22:26

gma...I concur!