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Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

Word Crimes

If you haven't seen the new Weird Al video, you are in for a treat. Watch and then share the word crime that drives you nuts.


What makes my teeth grind: Using "should of". It's "should HAVE"

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Sydne Archambault

9 Years Ago

Ouch....I'm a criminal!

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

Most of us are, Sydne.

 

Mary Bedy

9 Years Ago

Ach, I love that video. Abbie shut down a thread like this a while back, Louise, because people thought we were insulting them while complaining about our pet language peeves.

I will say, I hate texting shorthand. I will use FYI and LOL, but that's it. PLEASE don't text me using "U" for "you" or "UR" for "you are".....I find it absolutely, positively, completely and utterly ANNOYING.

 

Joseph C Hinson

9 Years Ago

ITA, Mary!

 

Menega Sabidussi

9 Years Ago

love that video, thanks for the introduction to it. i have a alot of language peeves but thing is, many people aren't sloppy just not educated well enough. very hard to tell the difference if the person is also intelligent. people probably hate my no caps writing but i've enjoyed writing this way for over 40 years, a long time before the internet made it so unpopular.

 

Abbie Shores

9 Years Ago

i hate it menega, stop it RIGHT now



I will never have a go at people for not spelling properly, or grammar...... I joke about it but not in sincerity. My man has dyslexia and there are FAR more important things in life to give a coconut about. I DID care but then I realised it did not make a person... manners and ethics do

 

Kent Whitaker

9 Years Ago

Using "there" incorrectly :ie, It was there opinion.Should be "It was their opinion".

 

Bill Swartwout

9 Years Ago

In a "former life" I was a public school teacher. I retired early to work in the online world and have actually witnessed the decline of proper usage over the last decade - and it's a shame. I know several articulate and successful business people - that can't write properly. While I never chastise or poke fun at errant writing, I do make some business decisions based on what I see rather than what I hear. (hear, here)

...their, there, they're

...you, your, you're

...me, myself, I

...and a few more...

~ Bill
~ USPictures.com

 

Dan Richards

9 Years Ago

I've had to deal a lot with editors here recently, and I can say this. Sometimes using proper English means it has to be harder to understand. LOL I can write and have one of my clients will have no issues with my work, and yet another one always does. I am more careful of my writing on papers than forums I know, but still. The one that has the complaints when the paper is the way they like it, the comprehension of the paper drops majorly. I believe that writing should be in a way that is understandable, formats are not always a benefit.

 

Roy Erickson

9 Years Ago

You might never believe that once I was a 'proof reader' of technical manuals. The thing is - I often deliberately commit 'word crimes'. It's not always true that "I could care less" is wrong - I could, even though if you could NOT care less - means you are at the bottom of care and there is no further (or is it farther) down to descend - or (should that be go?). and I "cain't" tell is really a bad contraction of "can not" - or - ain't, a contraction of "am not" - as in "I ain't a gonna (is that a word?) do it. Whatever it is.

I don't really mind the texting short cuts - IF I knew what the heck they was - er - were.

 

Allen Beatty

9 Years Ago

My current favorite, so fun instead of so much fun.

This has nothing to do with speaking properly but what about the baseball caps being worn backward and sideways. In addition to looking stupid it is stupid because it defeats the purpose of the cap. Now I feel better.

 

Mary Bedy

9 Years Ago

I, too, used to proofread technical manuals, Roy, in Spanish, French and English. I never minded the technical manuals. What I find distasteful is "corporate speak". It's made up jargon to try and sound "business savvy". A lot of it verges on "art speak" which I also find utterly ridiculous as well.

Ah, well, we all have our peeves. I have several which shall not be mentioned here so as not to offend anyone.

 

Jeffrey Kolker

9 Years Ago

Brilliant! That was fun to watch.

 

Donna Proctor

9 Years Ago

I love it. Almost posted it the other day and thought it would be frowned upon by mods... good to see I was wrong!

 

Patricia Strand

9 Years Ago

Cute vid!! I've got a lot of pet peeves when it comes to language, but I don't want to make people feel uncomfortable. After all, unless one is really dedicated, you'd need to go back to high school to start over, because English is really tough.

It's mostly lack of punctuation that bothers me, because it's hard to understand what someone is really saying without it. That doesn't mean throwing commas around wherever you feel like it -- there are specific rules for it. I mentioned this in another thread here a while ago. "Let's eat Grandma" is one such example. LOL

 

Floyd Snyder

9 Years Ago

"My man has dyslexia and there are FAR more important things in life to give a coconut about."

Right on the money!! There are more people that suffer from dyslexia then the world knows about. In some cases that person that is never diagnosed spends his life being ridiculed by others that think they are superior.

This has been magnified on the Internet because so many snobs think they can tout their "superior" use of language to win debates and arguments by putting the other person's weakness down. It is the ultimate in the ad hominem argument.

Einstein was told to drop out of school at one time because one of his instructors said he had no ability to learn beyond his current level.

Tom Cruise is an extremely poor reader and has to have all of his scripts read to him so he can memorized them.

The list of great achievers with dyslexia is very long and includes some of the great scientists, artist and authors including Warhol, Picasso, Thomas Edison and may others. See for yourself. http://www.dyslexia.com/famous.htm

People that mistake other's intelligence or abilities because of their poor language or usually way off the mark.

Recent studies have actually suggested that evidence that dyslexia is actually a possible indicator of a high intelligence.

"Dyslexic people are highly creative, intuitive, and excel at three-dimensional problem solving and hands-on learning. Our visual and holistic learning style means that we learn best through the creative process, with methods that focus on mastery of the meanings of words and symbols.

The true gift of dyslexia is the gift of mastery. When we use learning methods that fit our thinking style, we can excel in academics and read and write efficiently."

Another gift of dyslexia is that people often underestimate you and your ability to think and that is a huge advantage especially in business negotiations. One I have used several times buying and selling several business over the years.

 

Joseph C Hinson

9 Years Ago

My biggest pet peeve is when people type defiantly when they meant definitely.

As far as baseball caps, I'm 44 and still wear mine backwards sometimes. First, as a photographer, the bill will sometimes get in my way when shooting. Secondly, sometimes it just starts to feel uncomfortable wearing the hat the same way all the time, so I'll turn it backwards. My parents would hate this, which makes me secretly happy.

 

Floyd Snyder

9 Years Ago

Reading, writing and speaking are about ideas and communicating those ideas. It is NOT about crossing T's and dotting I's. Nor is it about i before e and when to and when not to. Nor is it about the difference between to and too or there and they're (especially when speaking).

When ever there is a problem to be solved, I would rather have a poorly written solution from a person that totally slaughters the English language then a perfectly written excuse of why he can not solve the problem.

In the real world that is what counts.

 

Mary Bedy

9 Years Ago

I have great admiration for people with dyslexia (and other learning disabilities) who struggle through and make things work for them. I saw a special on a woman with a masters degree in electrical engineering who had to have people record all her homework for her to get through grad school because she had such trouble reading. That's dedication. That much effort needs to be praised and applauded.

What bothers me is when people with no learning disabilities or who are not speakers of English as a second language are told over and over about something they are either spelling wrong, or some other basic grammar error they are continually making don't make an effort to correct themselves.

Ok, now I'm probably insulting some people so I'll stop now before I get myself in trouble.

 

Dan Richards

9 Years Ago

As far as baseball caps, I turn mine around when I am shooting, because the bill gets in the way of the camera. But other than that, I agree it does look stupid. There are reasons for doing some things, but without reasons, the same act can look bad on you.

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

I am a writer, having two online motorcycle columns, one which is monthly. But I can not read more than a couple of paragraphs of anything before my eyes glaze over, begin to water and I lose all comprehension.
In school, I was called a day dreamer and needed one on one instruction many times because I just could not get what I was reading. But give me a writing assignment and it was always top notch as far back as 2nd grade.
A lot of what is mentioned in the song is just laziness or lack of thinking it through.

"It's mostly lack of punctuation that bothers me, because it's hard to understand what someone is really saying without it" I can not read those kind of posts and many times will tell the person why. They usually correct that afterwards.

"What I find distasteful is "corporate speak". It's made up jargon to try and sound "business savvy".
I see job "descriptions" in corporate speak and I want to respond to ask "What the hell did you just say?" And thank all the Universe that "Think outside the box" is finally going away. That phrase made me want to toss things.

 

Mary Bedy

9 Years Ago

LOL, Louise - I still hear "Think outside the box" all the time. I mean, what's even IN the box???

 

Allen Beatty

9 Years Ago

@ Dan And Floyd

Turning your cap backwards when shooting makes perfect sense otherwise it does get in the way. Wearing the cap backwards in bright sunlight makes no sense.

 

Floyd Snyder

9 Years Ago

Wong thread.... sorry!

 

Floyd Snyder

9 Years Ago

I wear a floppy, wide brimmed hat so the bill is not a problem. But on occasion I have had the BB cap on had to turn it around. My wife is always quick to remind me how much I hate that. lol

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

Mary: Like this? "Our client is looking for a freelance Industrial Designer to join their team to execute various types of design projects and initiatives across brands and across sectors through hands on Industrial Design concepting, prototyping, and working to bring creative product solutions from concept through production. The Industrial Designer collaborates in a cross-functional, multi-disciplinary team bringing to it a specific expertise in Industrial Design, 3D visualization, prototyping and usability."

Language doesn't have to be complicated like this^^^. It just has to be clear. All that gibber-jabber could probably have been said in 20 words or less.

 

Barry Lamont

9 Years Ago

Grate thred louise.. there is a few word crimes that get up my nose.. pacifically, the kid's around my way have taken to saying "tolt" rather than "told".. Grammar has suffered terribly with all the dumbing down wich is gone on.. Hardly anyone can spoke proper England anymore.

 

Walter Holland

9 Years Ago

I am gonna' love this thread. LOL, Barry. Well done, sir!

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

Barry- it tuk me thee trys to fined all you're errors. LOL (Man! that was hard to type!)

 

Barry Lamont

9 Years Ago

lol.. so how many did you count?... I think i managed to squeeze ten in :-)

 

Mary Bedy

9 Years Ago

Yeah, Louise. Like that. Advertising also makes me grind my teeth quite often. Typing on my phone right now and not once have I had the urge to abbreviate something ;-).

 

Bill Swartwout

9 Years Ago

Hay, y'all, "Huked on Fonix" werks 4 me, to.

~ Bill

 

Roger Swezey

9 Years Ago

Re:Dyslexia.

Just read from a blog, listing "Common Misconceptions About Dyslexia",

the following "misconception": :


"If you are left-handed you are more likely to be dyslexic.
50% of people with dyslexia are left-handed and 50% are right-handed, so there are equal numbers of each. However, only 11% of the total population is left-handed, so this has contributed to this common misconception."


Does this make any sense ??

 

Barry Lamont

9 Years Ago

LOL...nope..if I've got that straight in my mind..then it's self contradictory.... you ARE more likely to be dyslexic if you are a lefty....

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

Ad that keeps popping up on my Facebook page starts: Beautiful boots IS affordable! (they capitalized the "is")

 

Barry Lamont

9 Years Ago

I was at a event yesterday and an UFO showed up!...... ARRRRGHH! ...NO.... you were at AN event yesterday and A ufo turned up...OK! lol

 

Gregory Scott

9 Years Ago

One pet peeve which seems to have escalated into very common usage, is by tv news people, who say that an issue is "very concerning".
To me, that means that it is very related to (what?).
Proper usage would be that the issue is a concern to you.
"I am concerned about the commonly accepted misuse of the word "concerning".
Better yet, use a more precise wording:
"I have trouble accepting the common misuse of the word "concerning".

But I have a ton of them.
Some of the bad usages have made it into corporate style guides. I took a course in business writing about 10 years ago, and it seemed that many of the "rules" have been dumbed down to the lowest common denominator.

Here's a poser:
My grandson's name is Lucas.
How do I refer to his photo:
Lucases (how we usually say the posessive form of is name)
Lucas's (looks awkward.)
Lucas' (Not written as pronounced)
So what's correct?

I'm a proponent of the oxford comma (I think it's called)
The panda eats, shoots, and leaves. (In a Panda walks into a bar joke)
The comma before the and is always acceptable, in my opinion, and often adds clarity.


 

Patricia Strand

9 Years Ago

It's Lucas's book, because that is how it is pronounced. Easy one to remember if you say it out loud. The Wilsons' car.

More than one Lucas is Lucases. Apostrophes are not used to designate plural.

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

The comma makes me see a pause; I never use it in that way.
At the studio we had an older couple and their dog come in every Christmas for portraits and cards. And every Christmas they "corrected" me on my omission of that damned comma, insisting on (forget their real names) Bill, Dorothy, and Teeny. It just looks wrong to me. She'd tell me "I'm a retired English teacher and that's how it's supposed to be". And the following year, I'd do it again because that's how I roll. /giggles

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

"Apostrophes are not used to designate plural."

That needs to be on billboards! Someone that is supposed to be a professional graphic designer in my home town recently made posters for Restaurant Week that said: Come check out our menu's.

sigh....

 

Patricia Strand

9 Years Ago

Louise, I never use a comma before and, either. The "and" is supposed to take the place of a comma, depending on how you are taught. One of those gray areas. Beware of old English teachers, lol. One of my former bosses from India insisted on it (could it be the English way?), but I was taught in my college classes to omit it. Ah well .... :)

 

Murray Bloom

9 Years Ago

I've often wondered if I'm the only one who cares about spelling, grammar, and the rest. It seems as if people think it's a virtue to appear uneducated. Many have told me that it's too much trouble to write correctly. Really??? How much more work can it be?

I strive to use proper English; but some have, from time to time, called me a snob because writing correctly equates to the "voice of authority." How far we've fallen; and so fast. Blame the Internet.

Last summer, I overhear a pair of high school students walking past my window. One was lamenting the fact that his teacher had marked him down (in red) because he'd misspelled the word "awesome" in a paper he'd submitted. He asked his buddy, in all earnestness, "What's wrong with o-s-s-i-m?"

During my brief career as a telemarketer, our team leader - whose English was a sorry mix of ghetto and stupid - proclaimed that the last thing we wanted to do on the phone was to appear "igronant."

Sheesh!


Edit: I'm with you, Patricia, about the comma. The only reason I used it in my first sentence was that people seem to expect it. It was a conscious decision, and my small contribution to the decline of Western civilization.

 

Menega Sabidussi

9 Years Ago

"What's wrong with o-s-s-i-m?"

high school students? fantastic and astounding.

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

Patricia: I was taught the same with the footnote that sometimes the comma is acceptable but it is unnecessary when using "and" or "or".

When I was a teacher's assistant in middle school English classes, one of my teachers was at least as old as me but had never heard the "preposition song". She had me teach it to the class. Different tune but same concept. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KB95CWp7u8

 

Chris Scroggins

9 Years Ago

I know someone who refused to see
"Honey I shrunk the kids" because it should have been "Honey I shrank the kids". They missed a really cute movie. They majored in English.

 

Alexandra Till

9 Years Ago


You're for sure not the only one who cares about spelling, grammar, and the rest.
I care about it, too. I just don't always get it right.

Very interesting, and at times, funny thread.

 

Dan Richards

9 Years Ago

What gets me is when I have an editor for a client, and they want to rework the paper the way they say it is supposed to be. Then when you read it, it makes no sense anymore. That just pisses the crap out of me. You spend all the time looking up all the facts they want, and get everything written the way it needs done, and some grammar NAZI comes along and edits it so it is illegible.
I wrote a paper for a customer that wanted a study on the historical use of weed, and I think I ticked her off, because when she got through with it, it sounded like a moronic paper. What was even worse, she had in her notes, that I failed to include the smoking of it for medical use... LOL There is no history of it.

 

Cathy Anderson

9 Years Ago

The basics of English, grammar, are no longer taught past the sixth grade in the US, at least that is how it is in some school districts in South Dakota. Check in your area. That is why we are seeing a decline in following the standards of English in the US. If it is not taught or rigorously reinforced beyond that grade the application of the rules will decline, the Internet has nothing to do with it.

 

Mary Bedy

9 Years Ago

I was one of the few people in my 6th grade English class that could properly diagram a sentence. Do they even do that any more? I couldn't do it now if you paid me, but if someone showed me how to do it, I would remember for sure.

Cathy, I will be curious how my grandchildren are taught. Their parents are well educated, so hopefully they can fill in the gaps....

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

We did diagramming in 8th grade and we were heavy into spelling, having spelling bees every Thursday-last one standing got an instant 100 on Friday's test. I remember winning on onomatopoeia. As a "trick" later in life, I taught my then 4 year old son how to spell it and what it meant (a word that is also a sound, like "cluck" or "roar"). He and his sister got a V-Tech "laptop" that year that had learning games on it, including spelling, math and geography and he got hooked playing it.
In Kindergarten, he was reading and writing. In first grade, the teacher came to me at the beginning of the year asking my permission for him to choose his own spelling words. She told me, "Anyone who can spell onomatopoeia and apartment is way beyond cat, sat and bat." By the middle of that school year, he was up to 5th grade words.
Unfortunately I saw very few kids in my three years assisting in that middle school who took a liking to anything and I could not inspire them to do so. Somewhere between my own time in middle school and this century, something definitely got lost. It truly shows in how kids communicate.

 

Mary Bedy

9 Years Ago

Well, Louise, you instilled in him a desire to learn. That's a good thing.

 

Joseph C Hinson

9 Years Ago

I shared this video on my FB timeline with the comment "Your gonna 2 luv this!" Not sure anyone caught the irony.

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Some people can't see the beauty of a garden because they are too busy looking for weeds.

 

Barry Lamont

9 Years Ago

Great post Gregory...:-)

Patricia.. It's a GREY area...not GRAY.... lol.. The spelling police are in town :-)

For the rest of you.. Louise and Mary and Cathy and Christine and Chris and Dan and Joe and (tell me when this becomes a bit tiresome) Menega and..lol

It should be, and there's no bones about this, Louise, Mary, Cathy, Christine, Chris, Dan, Joe and Menega...with the "and" only before the last entry listed.

 

Mary Bedy

9 Years Ago

Barry, "Grey" and "Gray" are both accepted spellings of that color. It's one of the few words you can spell two ways, although I can't think of another one right now.

I'm off to check the internet to make sure what I just said was true ;-)......

EDIT - ok, according to one web site "grey" is the British spelling, but I've seen it used both ways here in the states as well.

 

Dan Richards

9 Years Ago

Mary, I learned to spell it the British way when I lived in Australia. To me the spelling matches the sound much better than the American spelling, so I just kept spelling it that way when I moved back. LOL
It used to give me fits in school, because of the "a" instead of a "e". Spelling was always hard in the first place because I for some reason always associated words with sounds and that rarely matches. LOL

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

color/colour
favor/favour
gray/grey

Of the three of these US/British spellings, the first two come up wrong in the Brit version, but both gray and grey are accepted. I split the two-if it's gloomy out, it's a "gray" day. If I'm doing a black and white, there are shades of "grey".

 

Barry Lamont

9 Years Ago

Yeah there's quite a few of those national differences.. colour, flavour, favourite etc..all of these are highlighted by the American spellchecker on this site as being wrong.. I think the British spelling of these words is more accurate with the phonetics of the word!

edit:...you posted as I was writing Louise... great minds n all that :-)

 

Dan Richards

9 Years Ago

Spelling is one thing, but word differences can get you also. I learned that there were a number of words that had very different meanings. One I learned the most embarrassing way. The good thing was, was that the people realized I was an American, and knew that the word had a different meaning for us. My girlfriend explained to me what the difference was.

 

This discussion is closed.