Let's start a blitz on bad grammar - nationwide

I find the use of the word "like' extremely annoying, and the words "You Know" as someone else has mentioned. I am not convinced that this mutilation can be blamed on the Schools. It may be that more emphasis could be put on discouraging or correcting it in the classroom, but if this is the language being used at home it becomes an exercise in futility.

My pet hate at the moment is the word "challenge". Nobody ever seems to want to say "difficult". Everything is "challenging". It drives me bonkers!

While we're having a good moan .... when did "th" morph into "f"? Fink it must have been when fings started to get worse in the language standards' department for the nation. It seems to be accepted pretty widely today, but it still grinds with me - sorry, still frows me off me stride.

Jane is right. My daughter once asked, at school, "May I borrow your book?" To which her teacher retorted "Oooh I... wants to may I". This was shortly followed by "I... may you clean the blackboard?" This to a girl who at five years of age explained, to a lawyer friend, the difference between "may I?" and "can I?" He said he wished he could find a legal secretary who knew the difference.

MrsDjangoDog is also right, of course; but isn't it all part of the "Oh God, I wish they wouldn't say that." issue?

I cant stand the use on tv of of instead of have,
eg "You shouldnt of" its horrible

Treepixie...I hate the term "bored of" and only ever use "bored with"...

Thoughts on the use of "bored of" or "bored with" please. I favour the second but its use seems to have withered on the vine.

Gransnet has indeed brought like-minded people together. My first posting related to whether or not I was being unreasonable to hope that members may enjoy more good manners and less foul language on this site. Would like to hear more of your thoughts on the subject...

... which is why we hear 'you know what I mean' added at the end of so many phrases (even clauses!) which saves the speaker the trouble of thinking of the most appropriate vocabulary to express their message.
Like so much else in these modern times, responsibility is easily passed on to others.

'The Only Way is Gransnet'! This is brill!
- but seriously, I feel I have found a soul mate, some kindred spirits, people with whom I can relate. It is such a delight!
And on the pedantic subject of the English language, could anybody tell me whether it should be: 'I am bored of ..' or 'I am bored with ....'?
Thank you. - Nono

when did it become acceptable to say 'better than' half price! Less than half price Please.

Hello, I've just signed up to 'Gransnet' and this is my first missive.
I get annoyed when people use" different to ".
Surely it's "similar to" and "different from".
Apologies if this subject has been covered previously, I'm just finding my way around this site.

Blame the down fall of education on Grange Hill

GFC me too! I blame Scott Mills!

I cringe every time I hear "off of"

My pet hates are misuse of the apostrophe, I was "sat" instead of I was "sitting", the pen was "broke" instead of "broken". The word "literally" is very much overused - most times it is absolutely the wrong word. My main pet hate however, is definitely the apostrophe. It makes me so cross when it is used with a plural unnecessarily. Grrrr!

The use of an adjective instead of an adverb.

And . kill ometre instead of kilo meters. They are thousands of metres not a storage for kills. as in gas ometer.

Myself - what ever happened to the word 'me'? Drives me bonkers as most of the time when the word is used people think they are being oh so clever and grammatically correct.

What happened to twice - it's two times now !

And what about radio presenters, particularly from BBC4 and The World Service who transpose nearly all vowels into an "ar" sound? A typical example is "This is the BBC Warld Sarvice"

Perhaps there is a certain luxury in discussing how 'the Queen's English' is pronounced.
Every time I hear my grandchildren with their New Jersey accent I am delighted.
'Hiya Grandma'
'How ya doin'?

Brings a smile to my face every time.

I quite agree with most of your pedantic comments - particularly on the subject of 'haitch'. I understand that children are being taught this pronunciation at school.
I don't think anyone has mentioned another pet hate of mine - 'I was sat'/stood'.

Mr Hawkins, my teacher in 1946, deserves a mention. He was strict and fair. The children respected him. I remember one "lesson" when I asked, "Please Sir, can I lend your rubber?" He replied, "No..." and then, after a very long pause, added,"but you may borrow my rubber."

...and "somefink"...whatever happened to th? My school teacher [early 1940s] would have screamed blue murder, and been ready with the ruler!

I agree with so many of the comments here. At the weekend I was glancing through a Next directory and there was a sharp intake of breath from me when I saw "Childrens' bedrooms" at the top of several pages (but not all). I can remember years ago reading my son's marked homework and the teacher has written "alright" in the margin - the exercise book went back to school with "all right" in red ink at the side of the comment. I was also appalled when I discovered quite by accident that he was writing "would of" instead of "would have" in his exercise books - it had never been corrected as far as I could see.

When I complained via e-mail to Sainsbury recently they responded with "till's" instead of "tills" - needless to say I replied and told them where they were going wrong.

I am 63 and I can remember quite vividly been told in English lessons that if we used a proper noun it always had a capital letter - even for things like French doors, Cheddar cheese, etc., - what happened to that?

I do sound like a grump, don't I?