# Another "misspellings or grammatical errors that drive you nuts" thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 16, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183 "2008-08-16T03:22:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/21 "2008-08-16T06:51:38Z")
[QUOTE=Kyla] “alright” makes me almost physically violent. I DON’T CARE HOW COMMON IT IS, IT’S WRONG. [/QUOTE] Yeah! And “almost”, too. I DON’T CARE HOW COMMON IT IS, IT’S WRONG. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/22 "2008-08-16T07:30:27Z")
Sorry my pet peeve didn’t live up to your standards, dude. Next time, I’ll check with you first before getting annoyed. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/23 "2008-08-16T07:33:09Z")
Congradulations. You now spell it that way because of a pun you saw on a bloody greetings card. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/24 "2008-08-16T07:40:41Z")
[QUOTE=Kyla] Sorry my pet peeve didn’t live up to your standards, dude. Next time, I’ll check with you first before getting annoyed. [/QUOTE] Heh, sorry, I didn’t express myself well. It just seemed that your complaint seemed the least in touch with actual contemporary usage (and more along the lines of “Well, the self-labelled authorities say…”). But if it annoys you, well, it annoys you; can’t do anything about that. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/25 "2008-08-16T07:41:58Z")
A complete git e-mailed me yesterday complaining about his train journey. Gawd knows why he came to me instead of the train company but that’s another matter. The message was nothing but a stream of unconsciousness of which Jems Joyce himself would have been proud. Apart from including no punctuation, he made almost every common mistake - there for their; should of instead of should have etc, but the one that got (up!) my goat the most was ALOT. Which he said alot. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/26 "2008-08-16T07:46:12Z")
Ah, such gems Joyce could only dream of… ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/27 "2008-08-16T07:49:07Z")
The way people confuse advice with advise is my pet peeve. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/28 "2008-08-16T08:06:54Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] Heh, sorry, I didn’t express myself well. It just seemed that your complaint seemed the least in touch with actual contemporary usage (and more along the lines of “Well, the self-labelled authorities say…”). But if it annoys you, well, it annoys you; can’t do anything about that. [/QUOTE] Wait, _I’m_ the self-labelled authority? I’m just going on what I learned in 6th grade. You’re the one nitpicking other peoples’ posts and critiquing their pet peeves without actually contributing your own. Unless, of course, your pet peeve is people having pet peeves about grammar and spelling at all. In which case, why even bother reading a thread that you know will annoy you? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/29 "2008-08-16T08:11:29Z")
No, no, you’re not the self-labelled authority; the person who taught you in 6th grade was (which is to say, they may have made the assertion, but what backs it up? Particularly if this spelling is so popular…). I’m having great difficulty communicating without putting my foot in my mouth today, apparently. My apologies. Anyway, forget it; I didn’t mean to make a big deal out of it, just to chide you slightly over the incongruity of sentiment such as “I DON’T CARE HOW COMMON IT IS, IT’S WRONG” when it comes to linguistic norms. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/30 "2008-08-16T08:31:35Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] Should of Could of Would of AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! _homicide_ [/QUOTE] That, which made reading _No Country for Old Men_ a bit of a grinding experience… And also, ‘athiest’ instead of ‘atheist’. I suppose it’s probably used in a ‘cutesy’ fashion, especially around here, but still – as far as things that irrationally piss me off go, this is right up in front. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/31 "2008-08-16T08:57:06Z")
[QUOTE=Rubystreak] Why is it so impossible to spell the word DEFINITELY correctly? [/QUOTE] I agree with you–defiantly. (I get this on about 3 papers/week. From college students. Whose native language is English. Gahhhh!) Actually, I blame spellcheck for this one. Well, that and terminal laziness. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/32 "2008-08-16T08:59:56Z")
Also, we should make Febuary “national libarians month.” ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/33 "2008-08-16T10:15:28Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] Should of Could of Would of AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! _homicide_ [/QUOTE] Not to be snarky but shouldn’t this be ‘have’ instead “of”? 2 that are more spoken yet common in emails are: irregardless (regardless) and walla (voila). ‘that’ and ‘which’ used interchangeably, eg ‘Company X that is known for iits widgets, has new challenges.’ (Should be “Company X, which…”) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/34 "2008-08-16T10:26:09Z")
“walla” for “voila” irritates me only when it’s obvious the person using it has no idea that it’s wrong. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m goofing when I say “viola” in the same context, but a stranger might not catch that. Same if I refer to “intensive purposes” - trust me, I’m just making a joke. Sadly, some people don’t get it. Like many folk’s, it drive’s me nut’s when people use apostrophe’s incorrectly. What’s even more irritating is that now I have to stop and think hard about my own punctuation use and spelling. Years of errors have wormed into my brain, and that which came almost naturally must now be pondered. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/35 "2008-08-16T11:16:26Z")
[QUOTE=Silver Tyger Girl] Reign for rein. I saw it in the paper yesterday and nearly died (it was something like ‘handing over the reigns’ - it was bad.) [/QUOTE] I pride myself on my carefully correct spelling, and yet… I’ve now just realised I have been spelling “reins” incorrectly since forever. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/36 "2008-08-16T12:03:59Z")
[QUOTE=FairyChatMom] “walla” for “voila” irritates me only when it’s obvious the person using it has no idea that it’s wrong. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m goofing when I say “viola” in the same context, but a stranger might not catch that. Same if I refer to “intensive purposes” - trust me, I’m just making a joke. Sadly, some people don’t get it. [/QUOTE] I think this is more of a Grate Debates topic/ ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/37 "2008-08-16T12:08:23Z")
36 posts and no one has commented on **its** vs\*\* it’s\*\*? It’s not that hard to figure out, people! Oh, and put me in the ALRIGHT is not a word column. ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/38 "2008-08-16T12:19:29Z")
[QUOTE=FairyChatMom] Like many folk’s, it drive’s me nut’s when people use apostrophe’s incorrectly. What’s even more irritating is that now I have to stop and think hard about my own punctuation use and spelling. Years of errors have wormed into my brain, and that which came almost naturally must now be pondered. [/QUOTE] It’s because of those people that there aren’t any apostrophes left to use when people type **your** and mean **you’re**. People seem to do that alot, err, a lot. They do THAT a lot, too. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/39 "2008-08-16T13:10:47Z")
[QUOTE=Silver Tyger Girl] Reign for rein. I saw it in the paper yesterday and nearly died (it was something like ‘handing over the reigns’ - it was bad.) [/QUOTE] Heh. Hope you don’t go see Iron Man. That exact thing almost ruined an otherwise excellent movie for me. My list is far too long, being a perfectionist. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183/40 "2008-08-16T13:27:24Z")
Viola when you mean voila. One is a musical instrument. One isn’t. Guess which is which. Ect. If you knew how to pronounce it you wouldn’t be spelling it that way. Moot vs. mute. Both are words, but they have different meanings. Something which really bugs me but which unfortunately seems to have become accepted is to “try and do something”. A far more logical phrase is “try **to** do something”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misspellings-or-grammatical-errors-that-drive-you-nuts-thread/460183.md?page=3)