Most annoying (written) grammatical error (or crime, when intentional)

[Bossy Monkey]

Poll question: Most annoying (written) grammatical error (or crime, when intentional)

In this instance, I'm doing them on purpose, so it's a crime.:P

This person is even more anal-retentive than myself:
http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/commonerrorsinenglish.html
I think she may be more anal-retentive than anyone. (On the other hand, I caught a grammatical error less than halfway through her screed, so maybe I'm still the champ.)

I'll fill out the poll within the hour if y'all offer further suggestions. At the very least I'll add an Other reply.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

1. I can't get annoyed by grammatical/spelling errors.

It's not worth the expended energy.

I'd much rather be annoyed by rethuglicans.

[Bossy Monkey]

8. I put in Response 9 just for you n/t

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. Thanks...

I don't mind if you want to get annoyed, though. :D

[imenja]

2. each other / one another

As far as I can tell, only two people in the entire county know the rules for this.

[Bossy Monkey]

5. I'll add it if I can figure out how to word it

Maybe you could give some examples.

Edit: Apparently the rule is neither hard nor fast: http://www.bartleby.com/61/8/E0000800.html
so it's kind of hard to get annoyed by people misusing it.

Edit and a half: County (snerf!) Not making fun of you but of the typo; we all make them, all the time.

[imenja]

6. mistaking one another for each other

that is usually how people do it.

[IntravenousDemilo]

15. And apparently...

...only one in my country.

[bobbieinok]

3. 'between you and I'

[Bossy Monkey]

4. I'll add it

[redqueen]

7. It all drives me nuts.

Can't possibly pick the most annoying one... they're all equally annoying, IMO.

[Stop_the_War]

9. When people spell the word "lose" as "loose"

[trof]

10. All of the above.

I can't help it.
I was a journalism major.
They all bug the hell out of me.

[Midlodemocrat]

12. As a copywriter and proofreader, as well as former teacher

the errors do catch my eye, but I don't care enough to insult someone by bringing it to their attention.

[redqueen]

16. Oh yes, I would never point it out

unless it was done somewhere that mattered - text for an ad, a resume, etc.

It still drives me up a wall every time I see it, though.

I say "though" too much... that bugs me, too.

[RebelOne]

49. Yes, I know what you mean.

I am a copy editor. Of course, my job is to correct writers' spelling, punctuation and grammar. I find it really difficult to restrain myself from calling attention to the errors I see here.

[GreenPartyVoter]

56. Yep. But I only point errors out to people who ask me to do so.

[IntravenousDemilo]

13. All of them

I really do get an unpleasant, tense physical sensation in my back and and a throbbing behind my eyes whenever I come across any of these, especially when they come from the pen (or mouth) of someone with an education, who should know better.

[redqueen]

17. Hmmmm....

Have you had a massage lately?

:hi:

[IntravenousDemilo]

20. No, [sigh]...

I'll have to wait another couple of weeks for terrya to come up here.

[redqueen]

24. Are you... ?

If so, SO nice to meet you!

:hi:

[IntravenousDemilo]

28. Am I...what?

Terry's BF? Canadian? Gay? Frighteningly gifted?

I blush, but -- GUILTY! I guess Terry's pretty popular around here, for obvious reasons, which is probably why it's nice to meet me. Any friend of Terry's is a friend of yours.

Nice to meet you too. Are you one of the people Terry's met at Chicagoland DU meet-ups?

[Bunny]

29. So you're Terry's guy?

Well how do you do!!! We adore Terry here, so if you're his guy, we'll have to adore you as well! Welcome to DU :hi:

[redqueen]

33. Yes!

Terry's boyfriend!

No, regrettably I haven't met Terry... I live in Godforsaken Texas.

Welcome to DU! I've noticed your posts, glad to have you here. :)

[IntravenousDemilo]

60. Godforsaken?

Is that anywhere near Bountiful?

[Speck Tater]

14. If people insist on writing "a lot" as "alot"...

why don't they write "a few" as "afew" or "a whole bunch" as "awholebunch"?
The is no such word as "alot"! AAARRRGGGHHH!

[cynatnite]

19. I broke myself from that one a few years ago

It just didn't click that it wasn't a word until I started brushing up on my writing skills.

On edit: Latest mistake and someone brought it to my attention today. I typed 'balled' when I meant 'bawled'.

[Debi]

18. Rather than fucking grammer nazi

how about fucking grammer elitist?

Must feel great being better than us grammer low classers :cry:

(you probably hate emoticons too):P

[IntravenousDemilo]

21. Kelsey Grammer is Republican

It doesn't necessarily make him a Nazi.

What? Oh, you mean grammar... Never mind.

[Debi]

23. You're doing it AGAIN

:cry:

[IntravenousDemilo]

25. What? Criticize your grammar? No...

This time it was spelling. :evilgrin:

[Debi]

32. I can't take it no more

I'm goin back to my trailer and do a boilermaker. That'll make it all go away :beer:

[Bossy Monkey]

40. I'm not an elitist; I'm an elidist

Irunthingstogetherallthetime! :P

[johnnie]

22. Those are rules man!

I don't do rules. Rules are for suckers!

[Beaverhausen]

26. Misspelling "chick" as "chic"

[Bossy Monkey]

39. Back in the 70s, there was a brand of jeans called Chic

which I'm reasonably sure they were pronouncing "Chick." I may be mistaken of course, or perhaps it was only pronounced that way down here (where "suite" is invariably pronounced "suit.")

[Wat_Tyler]

27. 'rediculous'

[Bok_Tukalo]

30. What should be used for emphasis when italics aren't available?

<eom>

[Bossy Monkey]

36. Underlining. If underlining isn't available, this is the time for all-caps

[Bunny]

31. OMG!!!! I'm loosing it! This is HUGH! I'm series!!!

Sorry, those are a few of DU's treasured freeperisms. They crack me up every time!:D

Let's see, what are my grammar sins? Hmmm... Okay, I'll cop to being sometimes confused by plurals and possessives. I know how to use *apostrophe s*, but I do get confused at times when other uses rear their ugly heads. Like, when is *s apostrophe* appropriate?

I overuse quotes to denote emphasis. "Big time".

I'm a pretty good speller, and I think I nearly always use words in their correct context.

I've been confused lately too about the word reactionary. I always understood it to mean wanting to go back in time, to the bad old days, as it were. I'm seeing it used here frequently to denote when someone is overreacting to something. Is this correct usage?

My number one annoyance these days is when people say "mute" point, instead of "moot" point. Is the point unable to speak?

Alright, that's enough of my true confessions.

[Debi]

34. elitist

:P

[Bunny]

35. That's right honey!

Glad to see you spelled it correctly!! :D

:hi: Debi!

[Bossy Monkey]

41. Your understanding of the word "reactionary" is correct

One who overreacts is usually called "sensitive," or a variety of less complimentary words indicating the speaker's belief that only his concerns (it's always a he, isn't it?) are vital and that anyone else's issues are trivial. This is where the brilliant (excuse sarcasm) concept of accusing anyone with whom one disagrees with pushing political correctness came from.

No doubt you know all this stuff already; forgive rant.

[candle_bright]

43. The freepers

do those on purpose, though. I don't get it, but it seems to be some kind of inside joke.

I really can't stand apostrophes used for plurals either. The worst is when it's in a store or somewhere on a sign. "Apple's" or "Ticket's for sale."

[KG]

37. it can also be amusing - like the time i saw a poster declare

'i am a genious', a genious!!'

[Cuban_Liberal]

38. Lose/loose.

I'm not a grammar Nazi, but that particular one makes me want to SCREAM!

:argh:

[Technowitch]

42. When someone says "I'm going to try and (verb)"

As in, "I'm going to try and find it." Or, "Try and get some sleep."

I know it's silly, but it makes me want to yell, "It's 'try TO do it', not 'try and', ya moron!"

(rant off)

[RebelOne]

44. I can't vote on just one. It's all of the above and more. n/t

[humanriteswritlarge]

45. How about this one?

It makes me nuts when someone types or says "I wish I would OF done ..." And the people who spell words that end with a "y" with "ie" instead. It's like when we were in junior high and liked to dot our "i"s with little bubbles. Example: u r so funnie

[William Bloode]

46. None of them bother me.

Some people may not be very well educated. I know i am not, and i do not feel the need to demean them because of their lack of education. Sometimes people are doing the best they can, and thats really all you can ask. It's just so trivial a matter to get worked up over. People should be bigger than that.

How does such meaningless negative energy reflect on someone who is maybe lower class, or possibly learning disabled. Or maybe you think people of this sort have no business voicing their opinion?

[lpbk2713]

47. To .... too .... two

How the Hell can such a small word be used so inapropriately so fuggen often?

[IntravenousDemilo]

48. We need a new word in English: "tu",

for no other reason than to be able to write the sentence, "What spelling of tu did you mean?" I mean, you can say it and people will know what you mean immediately, but if you write it, then you have to decide whether to use "to", "too", or "two", none of which would be exactly correct, since "to" isn't a spelling of "too" or of "two".

We could also use the new word "ther" for the same reason.

[nytemare]

57. I drive myself nuts in typos using to instead of too

I think my fingers are more used to "to" and stop short of adding another o. I could bop myself on the head when I spell check and see that.

[Magrittes Pipe]

50. All of the above.

Well, not so much the spelling errors, but I despise misusage.

People can cry "grammar Nazi" all they want; but honestly, why should I bother? Why should I bother to read something when the writer didn't care enough to use the language properly? Why should I take the extra time and effort to try to figure out just what in the hell someone is trying to say, when he or she simply could have used the proper syntax?

The its/it's, your/you're, their/they're, and to/too/two misuses are among the worst -- THEY'RE DIFFERENT WORDS, fer Chrissakes! One wouldn't say "pig did shave around a car" when one wants to convey the message "I am going to the store." Well, that's what people do all the damn time.

[Redstone]

51. This one fries my grits...

"everyday" instead of "every day."

And, though not related to grammar, but related to the above complaint, people who say "on a daily basis" instead of just saying "every day."

Redstone

[DelawareValleyDem]

52. 'Irregardless', if we haven't mentioned that yet

or "I could care less" when the speaker means "I COULDN'T care less", or the senseless phrase from my childhood game-playing days, 'out of balance' instead of 'out of bounds'

[kslib]

53. I marked "other"

for ALL OF THEM! Especially your and you're. My nursing instructor does this on our notes. It drives me CRAZY! :nuke:

[tishaLA]

54. It's minor but

I hate when people write "Everyone did their best to..." When did "everyone" become plural? I warn my students about this. In fact, I have a whole list of things that make me absolutely ape shit.

One more peeve just for fun: when people split infinitives to make a negative, as in "to never swim" or "to not belong." I am really laid back about many things, but some grammar issues just make me want to pull out my fucking hair (note that I avoided the dangling preposition).

[Bossy Monkey]

55. How about compound infinitives? LAPD: To Protect And Serve

(except the English language)

[GOPBasher]

58. In the interest of sounding totally arrogant, I never make any of those

mistakes. ;-) However, I suck as spelling, so that's the area in which I make my mistakes.

[nytemare]

59. "for all intensive purposes"

That one drives me batso. Usually, when somebody uses it, they are trying to sound intelligent.

It's intents and purposes, dingbat!