[QUOTE=China Guy]
Not to be snarky but shouldn’t this be ‘have’ instead “of”?
[/QUOTE]
Pssst . . . yeah, that’s what she was complaining about – that people write it wrong.
I’ll contribute “it didn’t phase him.”
And its companion, “Kelsey Grammar.”
“As far as…”
Like, “as far as the Olympics, I only watch the cycling.”
You mean “as far as the Olympics is concerned…”, or “as far as the Olympics goes…”. You’re not talking about your viewing habits between here and the Olympics.
I suppose that is more of a semantic quibble than a grammatical one.
[QUOTE=FairyChatMom]
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]
When I see incorrect grammar and spelling everywhere: on the web, in advertising, on television, in magazines, on signs, in correspondence, I too, begin to doubt my own knowledge. I’ve seen so much wrong that sometimes right looks odd now. This bothers me greatly.
People that use literally in the opposite sense of its real meaning annoy me. As in, “it was literally raining cats and dogs.” Really? Household pets were falling out of the sky? That’s the thought you’re trying to convey?
[QUOTE=Little Nemo]
People that use literally in the opposite sense of its real meaning annoy me. As in, “it was literally raining cats and dogs.” Really? Household pets were falling out of the sky? That’s the thought you’re trying to convey?
[/QUOTE]
You wouldn’t believe the mess left for Street and Sanitation!
[QUOTE= indistinguishable]
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.
[/QUOTE]
Common usage does not make for correctness, as this thread shows very well. In the immortal words of Miss Manners (to draw from another field, although she is quite the grammarian herself), “Regarding crossing of the legs at the knee for women: It is not correct and the fact that it is universally done does not make so.”
If we go by your position, then usages such as “it’s” for “its” and “loose” for “lose” would be alright. Oops! All right. 
And why not spell things they way “everyone” does in texting (excuse me, txtng)? It’s shorter and more efficient etc.
I don’t buy it. Language does change over time, but the spelling of most words has been set for quite some time. The errors complained about here are ones of long-standing; there are still correct spelling and usage standards.
Like FCM, I have lost my fierce grammar and spelling skillz–maybe time does it or just too many errors not corrected in real time in real life and my brain pan can’t handle it anymore. I know I make careless errors of usage and sometimes spelling. For this I beg your mercy and understanding for human frailties.
My pet peeve is loose/lose. I see this here often and it drives me crazy.
Crap. I not only missed the edit window, I seem to have lost my coding skills. Sorry.
[QUOTE=Canadjun]
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”.
[/QUOTE]
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That drives me up the wall.
Also, what happened to “pled” as the past tense for “plead?” Now people are said to have “pleaded guilty.”
I know what you mean about losing my spelling and word usage skills. Even though as a court reporter it’s my job, I find myself these days at times either doubting the correct spelling or, worse yet, accidentally actually writing down the wrong one. It’s all the internet’s fault, I tell you!
One usage error that drives me up the wall, for reasons that I don’t fully understand, is the use of “downfalls” when the writer clearly means “drawbacks” or “disadvantages”: “This plan has many downfalls.” Ugh.
I’ve worked in real estate for decades, and there is no “i” in realty.
I coined our office saying “Reality has little to do with realty.”
[QUOTE=China Guy]
Not to be snarky but shouldn’t this be ‘have’ instead “of”?
[/QUOTE]
Um. looks around
You’re kidding, right? We’re in a thread where people are posting the misspellings and grammatical errors that drive us nuts. I posted the one that drives me nuts: “should of” instead of “should’ve/should have”…
…am I being whooshed? 
I guess China Guy thought you were actually annoyed by people saying “Should’ve, could’ve, would’ve”, or whatever the permutation of that is that people say as a stock phrase to chide or mock excuses along the lines of “Well, I would have, but…”.
“Tounge.” Fuck YOU!!! Die!!!
People who can’t tell the difference between “effect” and “affect.” They are NOT interchangeable, you know. I had to correct my daughter’s second grade teacher on that one, she had it misspelled on the board for Parent/Teacher night. I surmise she was more than happy to see the back of me after I gave her a spelling lesson and made her change her carefully lettered blackboard message. Heh.
“Loose” for “lose” is bad enough, but when it goes further and becomes “looser” instead of “loser” I get thoroughly stabby. Buncha losers.
“Supposably.” It’s not even a word! Gah!
I need to lie down with a cold washrag over my eyes now. 
I agree that the crappy spellings on the Internet screw up your own. And all of the above examples annoy me, too.
On the plus side, I recently heard someone on the TV distinctly say “arctic” instead of “artic”.
[QUOTE=Fretful Porpentine]
One usage error that drives me up the wall, for reasons that I don’t fully understand, is the use of “downfalls” when the writer clearly means “drawbacks” or “disadvantages”: “This plan has many downfalls.” Ugh.
[/QUOTE]
Eek! My wife does this! Fortunately, I keep my hair short enough that I can’t tear it out when she says that.
I only saw this once, but last month I was in a small theater that was advertising their upcoming show, which was going to be a musical review. I should have gone to see it, just so I could write a scathing revue.
In the IT world I hear this a lot from native speakers: The job hasn’t been ran yet.
You wouldn’t say,
“the mail hasn’t came yet,”
so why would you say
“it hasn’t been ran yet”?
Also: “How dare him!”
Just because the pronoun follows the verb doesn’t mean it’s the object.
Me and Janey went to the mall.
AARRRGGGGHHH!!!
I always respond to something like that with a grunt, followed by “Mongo buy something at mall?”
[QUOTE=AudreyK]
Most of them are simply minor irritations, but for some reason discreet/discrete can really set me off.
[/QUOTE]
i think that one is understandable because of the word “discretion.” isn’t english supposed to be a pretty fluid language, anyway?
(by the way, is there a way for me to spell-check? i don’t want to embarrass myself.)
More a usage issue, but how about those people who say “interred” for what takes place in the funeral home?
Friend: My girlfriend’s mother was interred at that funeral home.
Me: You mean they actually buried her under the front lawn, at 20th and Arizona, right here in Santa Monica?
People, “interment” is what happens to the body at the cemetery. I don’t know what they call, collectively, the things that happen at the funeral home, but it definitely isn’t interment.
[QUOTE=Canadjun]
Viola when you mean voila. One is a musical instrument. One isn’t. Guess which is which.
[/QUOTE]
Do people really do this? I’ve seen it done as a sort of lame joke, but do some people not really know the difference?