# What mispronunciations/grammatical errors drive you absolutely batty? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 15, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148 "2005-08-15T21:32:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/21 "2005-08-15T22:55:17Z")
1. Lie-berry (library) 2. Liddle (little) 3. Axed (asked) 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/22 "2005-08-15T22:59:02Z")
Apostrophes, whether used incorrectly or missed out altogether. Confusion between it’s and its. Less instead of fewer. British people pronouncing schedule as “sked-ule” (about 70% of the swine do these days). Moot (as in a moot point) pronounced “mute”. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/23 "2005-08-15T23:06:51Z")
My parents put K’s at the end of the Wal-Mart and K-Mart, rendering them Wal-Mark and K-Mark. I have no idea where this came from, but it drives me nuts. Other words that drive me crazy: Itly Ay-rab Eye-ran ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/24 "2005-08-15T23:08:25Z")
Aks instead of Ask Mute Point rather than Moot Point Infer when they mean Imply ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/25 "2005-08-15T23:08:36Z")
What just kills me, is when people talk about someone having a ‘prostrate’ problem… Good Og. It’s PROSTATE! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/26 "2005-08-15T23:11:26Z")
Just today I read a single post here that contained both > [@Name withheld to protect the guilty](#): > > Her and Rico could do a nice job running their own place. > … > Good for George, I hope him and Ruth get to keep Maya. I agree with the remarks above on _had went_; it’s distressing how many well educated native speaker IT folks say _had ran a program_. Another insidious trend I’ve noticed is to make false acronyms. I work in IT, on the Operations side; some of the status emails refer to “IT - OPS”. The IT part is OK, that’s an abbreviation composed of initials. But OPS is not. It isn’t O.P.S., it’s Ops. Nails on chalkboard, it is! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/27 "2005-08-15T23:28:38Z")
**Sampiro** , an easy rule of thumb regarding it’s/its: “it’s” is a contraction for “it is”, so you can only use it in cases where you could substitute “it is”. Everything else calls for “its”. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/28 "2005-08-15T23:34:35Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > _Me and s/he_ will be going to the ADC office (Actually, a lot of TV shows have writers who don’t seem to know when to use “he and I” v. “he and me”, etc.) On the other hand, a lot of people think they should never use “me.” They seem to know that they shouldn’t say “Me and Bob went to the movies” but instead should say “Bob and I went to the movies.” But then they say “She gave the movie tickets to Bob and I” instead of “She gave the movie tickets to Bob and me.” ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/29 "2005-08-15T23:35:38Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The obvious here, of course, is George Bush’s consistent use of **nukular**. I want to slug him everytime he says it. I can’t listen to his speeches if I think the word has a better than 50% chance of occurring. > > But others that come to mind: > > _hisself_ (when not intentionally trying to be folksy) > > _irregardless_ > > \*he/she/I/we _had went_ to a ballgame > > _Me and s/he_ will be going to the ADC office (Actually, a lot of TV shows have writers who don’t seem to know when to use “he and I” v. “he and me”, etc.) > > It’s particularly irksome when somebody knowingly mispronounces a word. I have SIRIUS radio and I like to listen to the Broadway channel, but an unimaginative musician/disk jockey (he plays the same tracks over and over and over and over) named Seth Rudetsky, a guy who makes Richard Simmons sound like LBJ incidentally, insists on pronouncing the word “amazing” as “ah-MOZ-zing”- fingers on a chalkboard everytime. I flip channels when he’s talking just to avoid it. > > Yours? Aww! \*Hisself \*is soooooo quaint! ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/30 "2005-08-15T23:38:12Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > Oops, thought of another one. By brother-in-law and his wife visited us this weekend, and they’re looking for a new house. > > It’s _Real-tor_, not _Real-a-tor_. Nuclear Realtor 😛😛😛 ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/31 "2005-08-15T23:39:23Z")
Hey!! Borrow me some slack!! ;j ;j ;j ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/32 "2005-08-15T23:40:49Z")
**Li-barry** drives me batpoo insane. It just shows someones ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/33 "2005-08-15T23:41:19Z")
Innernet for internet Nuffink for nothing Sumfink for something Ockshon for auction Also when people subsitute me for my as in ‘I got me new car today’. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/34 "2005-08-15T23:59:11Z")
People who don’t understand that “compliment” and “complement” are two very different words with two very different meanings make me want to stab something. **pestie** , we have a Holyoke here, too. As far as I can tell, most people call it “hole’ yoke”. ---
**Author:** ![Future\_days](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cab0a1/32.png) [@Future\_days](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_days)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/35 "2005-08-16T00:04:05Z")
> [@seosamh](#): > > British people pronouncing schedule as “sked-ule” (about 70% of the swine do these days). Either way is correct. Skedule is easier to say so sod it, that’s what I say. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/36 "2005-08-16T00:16:49Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Another insidious trend I’ve noticed is to make false acronyms. I work in IT, on the Operations side; some of the status emails refer to “IT - OPS”. The IT part is OK, that’s an abbreviation composed of initials. But OPS is not. It isn’t O.P.S., it’s Ops. I hate acronym redundancies, such as “SSN number”, or “please enter your PIN number”. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/37 "2005-08-16T00:23:45Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > On the other hand, a lot of people think they should never use “me.” They seem to know that they shouldn’t say “Me and Bob went to the movies” but instead should say “Bob and I went to the movies.” But then they say “She gave the movie tickets to Bob and I” instead of “She gave the movie tickets to Bob and me.” You stole my example. They also often misuse “myself”, as in “She gave the movie tickets to Bob and myself.” ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/38 "2005-08-16T00:37:50Z")
I really loathe it when someone is doing something better/faster/easier **then** someone else. Especially when it’s their favourite **pass-time**. But what really got on my tits was in a roleplaying chatroom I used to frequent. There was one particular person who always said they were feeling “Piss off” or “Depress”. Their justification for not using the words properly when told the words should be appended with an ‘ed’? “-ed means in the past, and I am piss off right now not yesterday” ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/39 "2005-08-16T00:40:48Z")
Most of mine seem to contain the letter _x_. _Excape; expresso; laxadaisical;_ and I knew a guy from Philly once who insisted the first meal of the day was _brekfixt._ ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/40 "2005-08-16T00:47:07Z")
Inane use of the word _literally_ as in “I literally laughed my head off.” No, you didn’t. Another vote for prostrate where prostate is meant. Regarding its and it’s, here’s my memory device: When is it it’s? When it is it is. When is it its? When it isn’t it is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148.md?page=3)