# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/41 "2005-08-16T01:30:18Z")
> [@Ghanima](#): > > And “orientated” always gets me too. (Commentated also bothers me but it so widely accepted I have given up all hope.) Ditto – but I haven’t relinquished my loathing of “commentate” yet. And another second for misuse of “literally.” ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/42 "2005-08-16T01:45:39Z")
its/it’s; your/you’re; there/their/they’re I can understand that everyone makes typos (hey, I’ve done it myself when my fingers get minds of their own), but repeating the mistake just shows you don’t know the rule. I also hate the use of “infamous” for “very famous” and “notorious” for “notable.” Mostly, I hate when my boss makes up words. Last week she claimed one of our proofreaders had made “pederantic” comments. I think those are comments that require you to register your address with the state! ---
**Author:** ![Alpine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpine/32/17813_2.png) [@Alpine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpine)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/43 "2005-08-16T01:48:21Z")
Anyway **S** [insert hurling smiley] This invokes throbbing temple veins. Another vote for **orientated** and misuse of **literally** Redundancies like **exact same** or **general consensus** ---
**Author:** ![Alpine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpine/32/17813_2.png) [@Alpine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpine)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/44 "2005-08-16T01:52:09Z")
Oh, oh, I just remembered the one my coworker likes to say to torture me! **Agreeance** instead of agreement. I hate Hate HATE this. ---
**Author:** ![Trillionaire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Trillionaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trillionaire)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/45 "2005-08-16T01:55:10Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > They also often misuse “myself”, as in “She gave the movie tickets to Bob and myself.” I don’t think there’s anything that irritates me as much as this. In casual speech I can live with sloppy constructions like “me and him went to the movies”, but when these idiots replace a perfectly fine “me” with that horrible unnecessary “myself” I just want to strangle something. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/46 "2005-08-16T01:58:42Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > “please enter your PIN number”. A pair of champions: “personal PIN number” “automated ATM machine” ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/47 "2005-08-16T02:01:33Z")
I want to smack every DJ that I hear pronounce the Led Zeppeling song “DIE-er Maker”. ---
**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, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/48 "2005-08-16T02:51:15Z")
It’s bad enough hearing it said, but I had an English teacher in public school who actually wrote this on the board while giving notes: Main Idea **r** s ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/49 "2005-08-16T02:53:27Z")
> [@madcossack](#): > > Jeesh, even the numbskulls on TV, who supposedly speak for a living, get it wrong every damn time! Even in commercials. I hear this everywhere, and it is driving me crazy. Crazy, I tell you! _That_ is my biggest mispronunciation pet peeve: when newscasters or commercial voice-over people mispronounce something. The other day on the news there was an explosion involving a truck, and the news guy said that the truck “evaporized” (ee-VAH-por-ized). I think he was trying to say “evaporated” and “vaporized” at the same time, but it still bugged me. There was a long-running commerical for a class-action lawsuit a while back where the serious voice-over guy mentioned the disease “Mesothelioma” several times – and each time, he said “mee-so-thee-lee-oma” instead of “meh-zuh-thee-lee-oma.” It struck me as wrong the first time I heard it, even though I have no idea where I’ve ever heard that word pronounced before. It kept bugging me every time I saw that ad, until I finally looked it up to make sure I was right (thank goodness for Merriam-Webster online, and their pronunciation audio files!). If I had Mesothelioma, I wouldn’t trust a law firm that doesn’t even know how to pronounce the name of my disease. My favorite example, though, is from several years ago: I was in my car, listening to Casey Kasem’s show, and he mentioned triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13). But he prounounced the first syllable as “try-” instead of “trih-,” and he emphasized the first two syllables instead of just the fifth one. He wound up saying “TRY-SKY-dek-a-pho-bee-ya” instead of “tris-kai-dek-a-PHO-bee-ya.” I was amazed that anyone would put a word like that into Casey’s script and not make sure he knew how to pronounce it! Anyway, I hardly ever watch the TV news anymore, but when I do it really bugs me to hear someone mispronounce something. Likewise with radio personalities … even famous ones. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![StuffLikeThatThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/50 "2005-08-16T03:24:21Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > 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._ Ooh, a big second on this one. Mr. Stuff, who sells Fords, was telling an old classmate of his that I hate it when people call them Excapes instead of Escapes, and his jovial but clueless buddy said, “Yeah, but I bet they want to excape when they hear the price, don’t they! Hee hee hee!” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/51 "2005-08-16T03:42:44Z")
People who think **penultimate** means “really, really ultimate”. **Orientated** When something is **very unique**. “I went to the ITT Technical Institute Of Technology” **"Bidness"** for “business” (endemic throughout the South) ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/52 "2005-08-16T04:08:17Z")
miss-chee-vee-ous drives me crazy. ---
**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, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/53 "2005-08-16T05:06:01Z")
I’m not sure if this should be considered a grammatical error or just a colloquialism, but either way it irritates me because it’s confusing. Disclaimer: Though I have next to no accent, I’m a God-alone-knows-how-many-generations-by-now Southerner who says “y’all” and “fixing to” on a regular basis, but I hate it when somebody is giving me directions and it includes the phrase “Turn right there at the sign and go to the third house on the left.” This is a southernism that even traps southerners. Do you mean “Make a right turn there, and then go to the third house” or do you mean “That sign right there is where you turn left, then you go to the third house”? And almost invariably if you try to clarify this they’ll nod their heads and repeat, “Turn right there.” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/54 "2005-08-16T05:09:57Z")
Why people can’t just say “Why. . . ?” instead of “How come. . . ?” ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/55 "2005-08-16T05:20:07Z")
The one that drives me bonkers is using apostrophes to mean “Here comes an S!” > [@Imasquare](#): > > Ockshon for auction How are you supposed to pronounce “auction”? That’s how [m-w.com](http://m-w.com) says to pronounce it. > [@](#): > > Why people can’t just say “Why. . . ?” instead of “How come. . . ?” What for? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/56 "2005-08-16T05:23:08Z")
The other two that really get on my tits are non-parallel structure (“We need eggs, milk, and I want some of that new ice cream”) and dangling modifiers (“Cycling on Park Street, a car hit her.”) ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/57 "2005-08-16T05:28:59Z")
“ **Conversating** ”. I seem to remember that there was a news article for a child who got suspended for talking to his mother in Iraq. The principal said this word. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/58 "2005-08-16T05:40:10Z")
Another vote for **very unique** , and its variations - my head hurts when I think about how any thing could be only partly unique. And misuse of the word **penultimate** is more of the same: how can anything be _more_ than ultimate?!? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/59 "2005-08-16T05:56:09Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > > [@Imasquare](#): > > > > Ockshon for auction > > How are you supposed to pronounce “auction”? That’s how [m-w.com](http://m-w.com) says to pronounce it. Some people pronounce it ork-shon. They’re the same people who say Or-stray-lya. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/60 "2005-08-16T07:14:47Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > How are you supposed to pronounce “auction”? That’s how [m-w.com](http://m-w.com) says to pronounce it. Where I come from (England not Squaresville - everyone in Squaresville says ochson) it is generally pronounced as Orction. Same as ortomatic for automatic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148.md?page=4)