This has always bothered me and now I have to get it off my chest. Once I do I can go back to living my freakin’ life!
One of my top ten pet peeves is when people leave out pronouns when talking or writing. Like they’ll leave out “I” from every sentence. For example, “Haven’t heard from you in a while. Didn’t know if you were dead or alive. Can’t wait to get back to work?” I’ve noticed that a lot of salespeople talk this way. Why saying “I” is so difficult, I’ll never know.
You know what I also hate? People who use “can’t” incorrectly. Well, I don’t know if it’s wrong, but it sure sounds dumb. Such as, “I’m going to see if I can’t get a date with her.” You’re going to see if you can’t get a date with her? What? How about seeing if you can get a date with her? Geez. Annoying people.
sigh I don’t feel as good as I thought I would. Gonna go see if I can’t get some sleep now.
Can’t say I agree with you there. I do that quite often. Picked it up from my mother, I guess. What really bothers me is when people use pronouns without antecedents so you never know which “he” they’re talking about.
This used to bother me too until I realized a few years ago that it isn’t wrong. It doesn’t have exactly the same connotation as “can I” though.
A: Do you think I can I get a date with her?
B: No, you can’t.
A: Can’t I? Well, I’m going to see if I can’t.
Speak of the devil. Just this morning someone talked to me and left out all the I’s. I’ve noticed that it irritates me when they leave out the I’s in succession, such as, “Wanted to touch base with you. Didn’t know what your schedule was. Would like to arrange a meeting with you.” It seems lazy. Why not just say, “I wanted to touch base with you.” Oh, and corporate lingo like “touch base” irritates me as well. Oy.
