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Pedants' corner

If I hear these one more time......

(129 Posts)
Katek Fri 25-Aug-17 22:28:40

It seems that over the tv this evening people have been saying "off of" or "for free"! It's doing my head in as we used to say-I have even started shouting at the screen. I have become my father

oldgaijin Sun 27-Aug-17 15:06:53

Burgundy with an 'a', fewer than/less than and draws, not drawers get me hot under the collar...don't get me started on the apostrophe!

mcem Sun 27-Aug-17 15:36:37

I have 2 daughters. The eldest is Ann and the youngest is Sue. (Is there actually another 3rd daughter lurking in there?)

Diddy1 Sun 27-Aug-17 15:45:06

I am with you all, I loved grammar in School and I am particular with spelling, although sometimes when writing on the computer I hit the wrong key, and if I dont check things before I send, I am mortified when I read it.I am glad there are so many of us left who write correctly.

charliebb Sun 27-Aug-17 16:28:03

What irritates me very much is the increasing use of 'so' to answer a question! Surely it is meaningless and unnecessary.

chickenlegs Sun 27-Aug-17 16:36:09

We have objected to "bored of" for many, many years. In fact, I've heard it so much now that I have to stop and think which is the correct one - bored of or bored with......

gagsy Sun 27-Aug-17 16:37:29

Walk in's! Too awful!

MissAdventure Sun 27-Aug-17 16:49:41

I dislike people saying "so, I turned around and said..." They must be dizzy, some of them.

starbox Sun 27-Aug-17 17:06:49

People who say "I swear down" !!! Yeeugh!

Baggs Sun 27-Aug-17 17:08:10

Perhaps the thing is not to be bored.

Baggs Sun 27-Aug-17 17:08:53

Walk in's what? Do you mean walk ins?

Baggs Sun 27-Aug-17 17:09:23

If one must be bored, what about bored about?

Baggs Sun 27-Aug-17 17:14:21

From Oxford Living Dictionaries:

Which of these expressions should you use: is one of them less acceptable than the others?

Do you ever get bored with eating out all the time?

Delegates were bored by the lectures.

He grew bored of his day job.

The first two constructions, bored with and bored by, are the standard ones. The third, bored of, is more recent than the other two and it’s become extremely common. In fact, the Oxford English Corpus contains almost twice as many instances of bored of than bored by. It represents a perfectly logical development of the language, and was probably formed on the pattern of expressions such as tired of or weary of. Nevertheless, some people dislike it and it’s not fully accepted in standard English. It’s best to avoid using it in formal writing.

How beautifully tolerant ?

Blinko Sun 27-Aug-17 17:22:44

'Let's eat Grandma' has a completely different meaning to 'Let's eat, Grandma'. Punctuation is everything!

BBbevan Sun 27-Aug-17 17:31:20

Did anyone do ' parsing' in English grammar lessons. I loved doing that ?

GrammaH Sun 27-Aug-17 17:32:51

The phrase " on sale" used to mean "in the sale" - of course they are on sale as they're in the shop but are they in the sale? Where has this come from? I too hate "can I get...." instead of "please may I have..." A contestant on Only Connect even asked if he could "get the twisted flax please"!

MissAdventure Sun 27-Aug-17 17:37:57

'Gotten' has slithered into normal use, too.

Caro1954 Sun 27-Aug-17 17:50:37

ALL OF THE ABOVE! Sorry to be shouty. blush

Katek Sun 27-Aug-17 18:09:01

Oh yes BBevan - in primary school as well! I was an odd child I think, I actually enjoyed it!

pollyperkins Sun 27-Aug-17 18:12:03

I have read 'I past the shop' and also 'in the passed' - a lot of confusion there! When I was teaching I lost count of the times I saw 'should of' 'could of' etc. Also rigid spelt as ridged which has quite a different meaning.
I get annoyed by 'very unique' or 'absolutely unique' too - it's either unique or not ie there's only one of the kind. But surely 'almost unique' is ok, ie there are only a few?
'Less' rather than 'fewer' is very common and very irritating. But the one that really drives me mad is 'it looks like it's going to rain' NO! It looks as if it's going to rain.

Katek Sun 27-Aug-17 18:17:13

I wonder how many of us did Latin at school? Is there a correlation between being pedantic English speakers/writers and our subject choices?

chicken Sun 27-Aug-17 18:26:49

Our local council places road signs warning of forthcoming road works. They are all headed "Advanced Warning". Ugh.

Disgruntled Sun 27-Aug-17 18:42:39

Yes, yes, yes! I agree with everything that's been said. There seems to be a trend to ad words: "typing up", "parked up", "pre-recorded", "pre-ordered". I love the English language, grammar and I used to enjoy parsing - we did that when we were 11.

NannaM Sun 27-Aug-17 18:43:13

My absolute worst......"nookewlaar" instead of "nuclear". Heard George W Bush say it, and a couple of North Amercan News presenters.

quizqueen Sun 27-Aug-17 18:47:50

I hate to hear or encounter any or 'all of the above' misdemeanours mentioned in previous comments. Yes, I think taking Latin at school did help' I took it to A level standard.

It especially grates on my nerves when people being interviewed on tv (especially (ex) politicians like Cameron) say 'gonna' instead of going to. How much did their parents pay ( waste) on their education!

Also, I hate incorrect spellings and the misuse of the apostrophe in public spaces and I always point it out to shopkeepers/businesses etc. whether they want to hear it or not. For example 'definitely' misspelt with an 'a' or an apostrophe used for a plural.

At work, (I work in education) I am constantly asking adults and children alike to say 'pardon' if they don't hear what is being said, not 'what' or 'huh'. Also, I hate the phrase, 'Do you want a bit more milk?' when it should be 'a drop'. You cannot have a bit of a liquid.

hallgreenmiss Sun 27-Aug-17 18:58:24

I have seen 'defiantly' used quite frequently where 'definitely' is the intended word. A lot of mistakes are a result of auto-correct and failure to check before posting.