Wukka From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 1013 posts, RR: 17 Posted (8 years 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 1641 times:
So... if you've gotten this far;
What are the grammatical / spelling errors that get under your skin (two/too/to -- there/their/they're)?
A few of mine are:
"loose" vs. "lose" - seen quite frequently
"aircrafts" - not a word. The plural of "aircraft" is "aircraft".
"brakes" and "breaks"
I've also noticed that lately there are many folks flying the Stars and Stripes next to their name who seem to be attempting to impress our U.K. brethren by adding a "u" to anything that ends in "or". I just caught a post referring to somthing "majour" in the past few minutes. It's not the first, won't be the last, although it was very colo'u'rful.
What about your grammar / spelling peeves, other than people like me who bitch about spelling and grammar?
N229NW From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 1850 posts, RR: 35 Reply 2, posted (8 years 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 1634 times:
I'm not really bothered by most, but for some reason it annoys me when people say "I" when they should say "me" (or he/she when it should he him/her)--because it sounds pretentious to me, like they think they are being correct and fancy when actually they are just wrong:
Examples:
"Just between you and I"
"Grandma came to the store with he and I" or, even funnier, with "him and I"--mixing the subjective and objective pronoun cases.
It usually happens when the pronoun is the object of a proposition: i.e. it's "with me/him/her" not "with I/he/she"; thus it should be "with x and me/him/her" not "with x and I/he/she" etc.
ANCFlyer From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (8 years 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 1622 times:
Since this site is international, I generally overlook spelling and grammatical errors.
And given that English is taught in American schools, and the standards in those schools generally suck, I often overlook spelling and grammatical errors from Americans also.
I do have a question - since we've got some obvious literary stars on this thread . .
Whose
Who's
They always screw me up. Give me some examples . . .
Occasionally my fingers will not work as my brain directs and the word have comes out as ahve. I hate that.
I do rather wonder at folks that consistently type the wrong words, as shown in the thread opener:
But, like I said, I overlook it. As long as I understand what's being said, it really doesn't matter . . . in the big scheme of things in this world, a typo or two isn't all that big a deal . . .
Quoting STLGph (Reply 3): what about words we make up
FlyingNanook From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 830 posts, RR: 13 Reply 7, posted (8 years 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 1620 times:
"should/would/could of"
I hate that so much. It doesn't even make sense. What is so hard about saying "should have" or "should've?" Maybe part of it is that the accent I grew up with pronounced the phrase properly so that it doesn't sound like I'm saying "should of" instead of "should've"
Also what is so hard about keeping their/there/they're straight?
Oh and one more thing. I also hate it when people write in text message speak. Certain acronyms are fine, such as AFAIK, IIRC, and the like. I don't even cringe at LOL anymore. Those are more like internet jargon. I just can't stand seeing things such as "U R gr8" and crap like that. That isn't too much of a problem around here, but it is horrible at other forums I visit.
I will admit that I am a grammar Nazi. I get that from going to Catholic school for 12 years and being taught grammar by nuns. One of my English teachers in college hated me for that because we were supposed to do free writes in class once a week without worrying about grammar. My free writes were almost always free of grammatical mistakes, so the teacher claimed that I was constraining myself to write with good grammar. She never believed that proper grammar was ingrained in my psyche and that I didn't have to think about proper conjugations, pronoun-antecedent agreement, or anything like that. But I digress, so I should probably stop typing.
N229NW From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 1850 posts, RR: 35 Reply 8, posted (8 years 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 1615 times:
Come to think of it, I was on a flight recently where the FA announced that the seatbelt sign had come on due to some "inadvertent turbulence." I had a good chuckle over that one...'cos there's nothing like the more angry intentional kind of turbulence ?!
They always screw me up. Give me some examples . . .
Who's is ONLY a contraction of "who is" (e.g., "That is the woman who's going to be president" etc.)
Otherwise (when whose is possessive) it is always "whose." (e.g., That is the woman whose brother is going to be president, or "Whose hose are those?" etc.)
Hope that helps. And yes, "fucktard" is another tremendous word.
PS: Nanook and any other grammar fiends. You must listen to "Strongbad's rhythm and grammar" at the end of the "local news" email on homestarrunner. It is hilarious. Keep clicking on the CD that comes up at the end of the email, there are five or six songs that cycle around...
AeroWesty From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 18864 posts, RR: 64 Reply 9, posted (8 years 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 1606 times:
Quoting FlyingNanook (Reply 7): I also hate it when people write in text message speak. Certain acronyms are fine, such as AFAIK, IIRC, and the like. I don't even cringe at LOL anymore. Those are more like internet jargon. I just can't stand seeing things such as "U R gr8" and crap like that.
I've a bad habit of overusing smilies due to a history of chat room monitoring, where we were taught to "smile from the wrists down." I hate the "U R gr8" style of typing anywhere, but then I will even start an e-mail with "Dear XXX:" if I'm sending an e-mail to someone I don't know, or if it's business e-mail.
(Also, notice the number of people who spell "e-mail" improperly as "email"?)
Now a real point of contention I've never been able to get a good answer to (because I don't think there is one), is how to punctuate within quote marks.
In the first line of this post, I included the period within the quote marks, because I was quoting from another source, rather than how I used quote marks in the second paragraph of this post.
The last time I asked this question of a friend who usually knows everything about spelling and grammar, he had to look it up in a style manual. Another friend contends within the quote marks is European, and outside the quote marks is American, so both are proper.
Skidmarks From UK - England, joined Dec 2004, 7121 posts, RR: 60 Reply 10, posted (8 years 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 1600 times:
Grammer and spelling mistakes get right up my nose but, on this site I think they add to the flavour of the discussions.
Everyone knows the Americans haven't the faintest idea about spelling and as for the upstart Europeans, well. But, as I always say to myself, at least they are using English (sort of) and not Swahili or something. Now that WOULD crack me up!!
The main idea is to get your point across and, if that involves numerous grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, who cares? The whole thing about the site is to have fun and enjoy a shared enthusiasm about aviation.
Anyway, have a nice day wherever you are and do try not to start World War III over nowt.
Senorcarnival From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 11, posted (8 years 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 1597 times:
-People who add superfluous s to brand names, such as Red Lobster(s.)
-Those that don't know when to use a possessive "'s" versus only a plural "s," so they'd say junk like airliner's.net.
Salso From Slovenia, joined Dec 2004, 205 posts, RR: 2 Reply 17, posted (8 years 1 week 18 hours ago) and read 1535 times:
Quoting STLGph (Reply 3): what about words we make up on our own, like petek?
"petek" actually means "Friday" in Slovenian. I'm not a native speaker of English - what does actually "petek" mean? (OK, maybe I'm a dork and you can beat me for my limited knowledge of English language, but I'd like to know)
In college I just hate it when in a paper or a written exam a professor corrects my "center", "traveler", "program", "theater" etc. to centre, traveller, programme, theatre... You get the idea, don't you? Nothing against the Brits here, but I simply prefer the AmE - American Standard English.
Otherwise thingies as follows (believe me, you do get them from non-native speakers) make me wanna cry: "eye" for "I" (HOW THE HELL can anyone mix those two up!!!), four vs. for, informationS are, its vs. it's, he's vs. his, they're vs. their, plane vs. plain (OK, maybe it's my enthusiasm for airplanes' fault that this one nearly kills me when I see it) and much mOOre.
RedDragon From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2004, 1135 posts, RR: 7 Reply 21, posted (8 years 1 week 17 hours ago) and read 1509 times:
Something I always make sure I do correctly is referring to "the data" as the plural. Same with media actually, although I use this less often. It's not something that annoys me when I see people using data as a singular, though
Actually, possibly one of my most hated quirks on this site isn't so much a spelling or grammar mistake - it's when people feel the need to end a post with "just my two cents". And then the new set of smilies only encouraged that, with the hateful one... gah!
Oh, and incidentally, I always write "email" (no hyphen). Unusually, I don't use this form because I'm being anal about technicalities (as with most obscure spelling/grammar rules I try to follow), but because I just prefer the look of it
Scbriml From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2003, 11362 posts, RR: 50 Reply 22, posted (8 years 1 week 16 hours ago) and read 1501 times:
Quoting RedDragon (Reply 21): Actually, possibly one of my most hated quirks on this site isn't so much a spelling or grammar mistake - it's when people feel the need to end a post with "just my two cents". And then the new set of smilies only encouraged that, with the hateful one... gah!
RedDragon From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2004, 1135 posts, RR: 7 Reply 24, posted (8 years 1 week 14 hours ago) and read 1473 times:
Scbriml: Grrr!
25 Petertenthije: Only thing I still have dificulty with sometimes is determining when to end a word with --s, --'s or --s's. If someone can explain me this I'd be grat
27 Logan22L: Here goes my try to explain this: Just an s is to pluralize a noun: book, books An 's denotes a contraction: Jim is reading a book becomes Jim's read
29 Clrd2go: The overuse/misuse of the word "amazing".."I had an amazing dinner last night" What the hell is amazing about a meal? The grand canyon is amazing..lan
30 N229NW: Not quite. If the word that ends in s is actually a singular word/name, you do in fact use s's. For example: James's book. If the word ends in s beca
31 Logan22L: Well, this is why I'm a scientist. Logan
33 RedDragon: An 's also denotes posession - Jim is reading Mary's book. Mary owns the book. James's? Yuck... think I'll use the excuse that N229NW just gave about
34 Logan22L: Sod you, Chav. I spend my days making sure all the neocons in this country have clean water to drink. Logan
35 Ozvirginuk: My personal pet peeve is the over use of the apostrophe. CD's PC's etc.... CD's what?? It seems that in Britain (the inventor of the language that we
36 European: Hey HAHAHAHA, I cannot spell anyways........ Alot of people know that anyways! But I always get me when's ect mixed up! cya Jimmi
37 Kieron747: You should read "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss if you haven't done so already. It's a very good book, if a little tedious at times. Kieron747
38 CasInterest: n e 1 wurreed aboot spelling n grammer is jus wastin Oxygen
39 Braybuddy: I don't think any sane native English speaker would even THINK about criticising or thinking bad of a non-native English speaker getting his spelling
40 Banco: That isn't poor grammar. Not any more, anyway. It's pretty much accepted that when using the plural for an acronym using an apostrophe is fair enough
41 Logan22L: Hey Banco, I know you brits have your specialized stores and all, but shouldn't you get your bananas at a yellow grocer, and your oranges at an orang
42 Banco: You mean these things come in different colours? God, you Americans are so bloody decadent...
43 Logan22L: "That's right, yeah." "You get it from a green grocer, and it goes with Gin & Tonic." "And it's yellow." "Yes." "I fink I got it." "Well, fank God fo
44 Banco: You put grapefruit with a gin and tonic? You're a sick individual aren't you?
45 Logan22L: Yes to part two, but the quote is from "Alas Smiff and Jones." I don't care for G&T's; more of a beer, wine, single malt kinda guy. Logan
46 Sacflyer: Here's a common one: "know/now" It seems that "K" gets left off quite a bit.
47 Garnetpalmetto: My primary pet peeve is one that seems to be more recent - the use of "u," "b4," "r," etc. as substitutes for "you," "before," or "are." True story -
48 Logan22L: I'd fail the lot of 'em. The world is totally screwed. Logan
49 Garnetpalmetto: *nod* Which is precisely what she did - any use of IM Shorthand resulted in an F on that paper. Needless to say, her students got the message after t
50 FlyingNanook: Actually, the apostrophe indication plural of acronyms is proper American English grammar. The lack of an apostrophe is also proper. It all depends o
51 Logan22L: Kudos to her. If they get the message, I suppose they deserve a second chance. But seriously, did you ever consider turning in a homewaork assignment
52 RedDragon: Interesting; I haven't come across that before. (Although I'm sticking with my "apostrophe only after an s or an x" rule whether it's correct or not!
53 RedDragon: Just a thought: Is the use of "gotten" confined to the States (or North America)? From a British English point of view I'd see that as a possible Amer
54 B747forlife: I have two grammar pet peeves (one of which has already been spoken about, and both of which are controversial (sorta)). The first is the poor use of
55 AA777: I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE it when people cannot differentiate between Lose and Loose.... LOOSE is like "My Pants are loose" LOSE is for "I dont want
56 RedDragon: Interesting. I was always taught the opposite - that you should never place a comma before "and". Of course, in long lists and in certain situations
57 Banco: This is where English grammar isn't fixed. Because it's a mongrel language, basically Anglo-Saxon in structure, but with Norse, Norman French (once r
58 Clrd2go: When someone says "noone" when they should say "no one" drives me up the wall. Jim
59 Braybuddy: Not so much a grammar or spelling peeve, just a style one: all those too-smart-by-half people who type names like Easyjet and BMI as easyJet and bmi.
60 Airdolomiti: I'm a bit of "Grammar Nazi" myself - I have really good teachers in elementary and middle school to thank for that Apart from the usual its/it's, thei
61 VirginAbby: when people write should of or could of when it should be should have/could have etc etc
62 Logan22L: I'll add one to the list: When people say try and do something instead of try to do something. Logan
63 Saxdiva: My peeve du jour is when people misuse quote marks by placing them around phrases for emphasis. For instance, I saw on a menu the other day: Seasonal
64 Logan22L: Well, I've got some saved up for you, but I doubt I could shoot it all the way to California! Logan
65 4holer: There are many, but none more annoying than loose/lose. To me, the ultimate irony is when, in an attempt to insult someone else, someone misspells "lo
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From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 1013 posts, 
From UK - England, joined Dec 2004, 7121 posts, 
But, as I always say to myself, at least they are using English (sort of) and not Swahili or something. Now that WOULD crack me up!!
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2008, 1 posts, 
From UK - Scotland, joined Jun 2000, 24621 posts, 
From Slovenia, joined Dec 2004, 205 posts, 
You get the idea, don't you? Nothing against the Brits here, but I simply prefer the AmE - American Standard English.
From India, joined Jul 2004, 3582 posts, 
one... gah! 
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