Language pet peeves – do you have any? Boy, do I ever!
With a headline like that, it’s clear that I HAVE some serious pet peeves when it comes to language. Is it because I am the offspring of an English teacher who to this day corrects my grammar? Maybe it’s just because I love words, love language, respect it.
Even though I’ve been goaded about grammar most of my life, I still have a mental block (thanks, mom) and can’t always explain its principles. My writing credo has always been, when in doubt, write it a different way – unless of course I can get my mother on the phone. A part of my approach to language is not dissimilar to my instinct for music. If it sounds right, it probably is. And, if there’s an unmusical quality or awkwardness in the verbiage, it’s likely to be wrong.
Very scientific, I know.
Now, for my pet peeves. The one that bothers me the most and consequently occurs the most often (or is that just selective attention?) is the misspelling of lose. When you lose a game, you don’t LOOSE a game. I even saw that typo in a Huffington Post article today.
Shame.
We lose at sports, we lose our money (especially lately), we lose our minds (at least I do) but we can keep our plans LOOSE, or our belts LOOSE, or our morals,… oh what the heck! So, stop it, you careless misspelling people! Ok? My mother may not be able to hear very well, but she can still read.
Onto the malaise of the media. If I hear a reporter say “on the ground” one more time, I’ll burst. What’s the alternative? In the air? I don’t think much news goes on in the air save a few unfortunate plane mishaps or smog or the migration of Canadian geese. Stop it!
That was mostly a 2007-2008 redundancy. Remember how our troops were “embedded?” I believe that was very 2006. How many times did we endure that expression? I could be getting my dates wrong, but find it annoying nonetheless.
And, what about the liberty we’ve taken in turning nouns into verbs. What gets my goat is how the mere repetition of a bad phrase at some point legitimizes it and hence, makes it acceptable. Why? Isn’t anyone responsible for the preservation of proper English? Like the word “gift” becoming “gifting.” How did that happen? Here in the 21st century, it’s ok to be gifted.
I don’t think so.
I do love the flexibility of humor to humour, rumor to rumour. The Brits really know how to round out a small, boring word. We can peacefully coexist with this difference. I can live with it and often opt for the “our” version just to sound sophisticated.
Over dinner last weekend we debated whether a woman , when responding to a caller, should say, “This is she,” on the phone, or “This is her.” Our ace resident English maven Midge aka mom assured us it was the former phrase. After all, she pointed out, what would happen if you flipped the statement? “Her is this” is clearly wrong while “She is this” rolls off the tongue.
Brava, Midge.
Mind your p’s and q’s, your nouns and your verbs, your cliches and your spelling. Language is as much of an art as anything else. What if musicians took liberties when they played a Bach invention or a Beethoven sonata? Or added or misspelled a word in a Frost poem. The answer is, they just wouldn’t. Out of respect.
Reverence.
We’re text messaging and emailing our way out of proper language all day long and I fear we will be sorry if we don’t pay attention sooner than later. There’s a time and place for slang, for abbreviations, for symbols and doodles. I enjoy all of that myself.
Just don’t let it get away from us.
In this case, “going with the flow” is the sad option. Some things are worth preserving and language is one of them. Let’s add new words, be creative, but not throw the baby out with the bath water.
Scrabble players, crossword junkies, writers, journalists and poets unite.
Let’s hear it for the English language!
Now, tell me your pet peeves. I REALLY want to hear them!
(and do tell me of my grammatical errors)
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Think you’ve heard ‘em all? Check out these Top 40 Vocabulary Pet Peeves, but warning… you may cringe on a few that you have misused.
Okay, here it goes: I can’t abide the phrase “these ones,” talk about nails on a chalkboard! I have never been able to find anyone who can tell me if this is indeed an accurate phrase, so I’m counting on Midge for the answer. It seems redundant because “these” and “ones” are both plural – call me crazy. I never heard this phrase until I moved to California and have come to believe that it’s a regionalism. I EVEN hear news anchor’s use it on the local stations.
My next pet peeve is when the word regime is used when clearly the topic of regimen is being discussed. For example, I hear women talk about their beauty or exercise regime’s as if Hitler is in the bathroom examining their facial washing ritual or Sadam Hussien is forcing them to do jumping jacks!
Lay/Lie Argh! We do NOT “lay out in the sun.” LAY is to put or place. LIE is to rest or recline.
I grit my teeth every time I hear someone – usually a 20-something – say “me and….” or, “her and me”. Even college grads talk this way! Didn’t any teacher (or parent) correct these kids in high school or college?
Lisa do you mean “him” and not “them” unless of course you have two or more husbands and I am pretty sure that is illegal in the states.
You’re a good wife, Lisa. And I’m guessing you’d prefer: “On to the media???”
One more- I hate when people say “supposively” when they mean “supposedly”. My husband did this not 30 seconds ago. I didn’t correct them though, since I’m his wife and not his teacher!
I hate the non-word irregardless. The word is REGARDLESS. Even though irregardless can be found in the dictionary, it is considered non-standard and shouldn’t be used. It contains a double negative, ir and less. Regardless means without regard, so irregardless would mean NOT without regard, but that’s not how it’s used. Anyway, it just annoys me. Someone in my life uses it all the time, incorrectly, and it drives me nuts.
Oh, and you have a typo in this post, Kim! If the post was about another subject, I’d never bring it up! A few paragraphs in you have this sentence: “Onto to the malaise of the media.” Ooops.
Well, let’s just say that you were a well educated single guy looking for, among other characteristics, a strong self reliant woman. You are searching through the miasma of an online dating site. Eureka! There she is! “I am an independant woman.” Swell. Excuse me! As “google” states: “did you mean INDEPENDENT?” Please be independent and your own person, but at least show me that you can use spellcheck.
Hey, Kim, you axed, er, asked….
First I dislike intensely when someone calls and does not announce him or herself first before asking if I’m there.
I prefer “This is he/she.” And “To whom am I speaking?” It is powerful, and puts you square in the drivers seat.
I am irritated by hearing an upward inflection in a sentence that is a statement.
So Jim and I were going for a walk? And later we were thinking we should stop in for a soda? And…
And finally…I’m fatigued from hearing “my bad” and “I know, right?” Not darling at all.
Okay- here’s one. “Hit the ground running” It started out as a military term, became the lingo of business and now women and Obama alike are using it. Tell me, how can we have a better, more peaceful and green world if our language reflects our violence? So would everyone please stop hitting the ground. Thank you.
Signed,
Mother Nature
[...] More Language Pet Peeves For all of you grammar police out there, we’re not the only ones who still care about the decline of the English language: Help Me With My Book
YES! YES! and YES!
As for the phone, I usually say “Speaking.” Gets around the confusion.
What I hate:
When people say, “Bob, Joe, and me went . . .” It’s like nails on a chalkboard. Same Midge rule applies. Would you say, “Me went.” NOOOO. So why can’t people get it right.