This is it. This is the one that does it for me. Annoys me almost more than all the others combined.
It’s etc., not ect.
Short for etcetera.
Ok. Now I will compose myself, so that I can attempt writing full sentences again.
Something I’ve seen in chat rooms and other message boards that annoys me is using the spelling “yanno” as a way of saying “you know”. If they shortened it to the point where it disappeared entirely, we’d all be much better off.
Oh, I can top that. On the way to work each morning I pass a delivery truck, with company name and slogan on its side. The name? “Long Island Butter & Egg”. OK so far, but just below that is the slogan. It reads, in quotation marks of course: “We’re not just butter and eggs!”
Then why in the world did you name your company that?!?
The annoyances expressed in this thread have ranged from the reasonable to the absolutely absurd. There’s a big difference between something which is annoys you and something that is wrong. For instance, there is a t in often! Just because you ignore it, why should others? And is it really inconceivable to people that a word might have more than one meaning (per= ratio and per= in accordance with)?
Hometownboy
Grammatically incorrect, but I suppose within poetic license.
Their efforts was successful? Obviously not.
What’s with people who use the word “an” before “another”? “I’d like an another piece, please.” Or refer to stuff as being “containerized”? “Make sure the oil is properly containerized.”
The use of the word “bologna” to refer to something ridiculous grates on my nerves. It’s “baloney”.
why does the dollar rise or fall in relation to “other major foreign currencies”? Well, I guess “other major domestic currencies” would include “Disney Dollars”, and the like.
Grocery store coupons, perhaps?
One misusage I take issue with happens all the time: people say vagina when they’re talking about the vulva.
“Gertie, you oughn’t sit like that, folk will see your vagina!”
Um . . . no, you couldn’t see Gertie’s vagina unless you were doing a gynecological examination. The woman’s private part that is externally visible is the vulva. The vagina is the passage leading inward. Yet I have seen this error even in books by reputable authors from respectable publishing houses. Maybe because it’s been left out of all those English language usage guides that wordwatchers turn to for advice. If I were writing a wordwatcher guide, I would be sure to include the vagina/vulva distinction.
Why don’t people like to say “vulva”? I think it’s a great word. I can say it all day. Vulva. Vulva. Vulva! But most of all I prefer the Hindu word, yoni.
I don’t understand why so many people can’t figure out when to use “I” and when to use “me.” They seem to think that it sounds so much more sophisticated to say “They gave an award to David and I” rather than “…to David and me.” Even worse are the people who say “… to David and myself.” AAAAAARRRRGGGGH!
Another mis-usage that grates on my nerves is to hear y’all misapplied. Y’all is a contraction for “you all”, giving a clear differentiation between the singular you and the plural you. It’s not uncommon to hear lines such as “Why don’t y’all come over here and give me a kiss?” voiced by an actress with a poor affectation of a Southern accent in bad TV movies. (Or is that dialect? I vote for accent…) It turns what should be a romantic moment for two seem more like an invitation for an orgy.
One more, which frequently shows up in personals ads: “Looking for a discrete partner…” It’s DISCREET, you morons! (Unless you really ARE searching for a partner composed of distinct and unconnected elements, rather than someone who isn’t going to rat on you to your spouse or your employer about your infidelity)
I think this one is over-correction for the extremely common “John and me went to a movie.” As kids, I imagine that many of us got nailed for this, and emphatically told that it should instead be “John and I…”
Well, you’d like to think that we could handle deciding whether “me” or “I” is proper, but I suspect that it was accidentally pounded into some brains that “John and me” is simply wrong, in any situation.
