No, I’m not keen on y’all or all y’all. But like I said, *you * can be singular or plural. I’m wondering if students learn that in English class these days.
Mine, and I actually see it here more than anyplace else, is the use of “wiki” as a verb, as in:
“I wiki’d it” to say that you went and found the article on Wikipedia.
Hello, Wikipedia is not the only wiki out there. It may happen to be use of wiki software that is most commonly known, but there are many other wikis out there - it’s a name for a type of collaborative software. Even the type of wiki software used for Wikipedia is not the only type used.
Every time I see it I just want to take the poster to the pit. I’ve held off so far, because I do understand that languages change, but I’m having a hard time with it. 
A phrase that irks me, and one I’ve yet to see addressed anywhere, is “try and”. I am going to try and finish this puzzle. To me, that says that the person is going to try to finish and is going to finish the puzzle. It makes more sense to say “I am going to try to finish the puzzle.”
Anybody know if I’m completely off base with that?
I just posted this in the little rants thread in the pit.
Our local news crew doesn’t know the difference between “bring” and “take.”
The most recent story was about a child who had collected toys for the local Children’s Hospital.
The newscaster, while sitting at the desk in their studio, said, “(The child) brought the bag of toys to the hospital.”
Ms Newscaster was not at the hospital!, therefore, the child took the toys.
The same news team also uses, “On the loose” exclusively, to indicate an unapprehended criminal. Are we in Tombstone? No, Seattle.
I wish they read The Straight Dope.
FloatyGimpy, I also hate “try and”.
I’m pretty sure others here have expressed disgust at this one, but another one I can’t stand is “10 items or less”. Less is for things you can’t count! If I wasn’t already used to the layout of the Superstore in my town, I’d switch to Sobey’s solely because they use “fewer”.
“Try and” ticks me off.
Waiting “on line” as in “I was waiting on line at the store.” On what line? Oh you mean you were in a line [of people]?
“Boughten” instead of “bought”.
Boughten is a surprisingly old construction. I remember reading it in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Farmer Boy, which was written in the late 1700s.
As a Briton, I have to say that the use of “bought” as an adjective, as you suggest, would have been just as grating.
Personally, I can’t stand a lot of things sports announcers say, but chief among them is “winningest”. I can’t imagine what journalist could have come up with this one and not immediately scribbled over it.
Also, when they say that a team that, having just scored, has “pulled within 3” when they are losing by three. “Within” is not effing inclusive.
That’s all.
A bank teller told me my balance “after I minus this withdrawal”.
Minus is a verb? Since when?
Farmer Boy was published in 1933.
Laura Ingalls Wilder was born in 1867, and died in 1957.
ahem
Late 19th century… that’s what I said 
Yeah, like in some languages the male pronoun is used in mixed groups even if it’s mostly women. In French, for example, “Ils” is used for a mixed group even if it’s many women and one man. “Elles” is used if it’s a women-only group.
What irritates me is confusing “imply” and “infer”, the problem usually coming when people use “infer” when they mean “imply.” Just so we’re clear: if I ask you if you’re sure you didn’t drink the last soda, I’m implying you did; if you hear what I say and decide that I’m implying that you did, you’re inferring my implication. Learn it. Live it. Love it.
Omigawd, yes. This has irritated me for yonks and yonks. Even the cops do it.
A man in BC was recently convicted of murdering 6 women and is probably going to be tried for another 20 murders and is believed to have murdered or participated in the murders of a total of 63 women. And the bloody cops referred to him as “this gentleman”.
I also loathe, despise and abominate the use of “male” when they mean “man”. I don’t know why that is, but to hear some cop pontificating about chasing some thug and referring to the thug in this fashion: “the alleged suspect (don’t get me started on alleged suspect), a white male . . .” They don’t say “young man”, either, when it is, in fact, a young man. No, they say, “youth” or “underage male”.
Words fail me.
Well, actually, they seldom do.
“Bring” and “take” drive me bats. Right around the bend.
But worst of all?
Those who flaunt their ignorance of English by using “flout” instead of “flaunt” or vice versa. I really don’t like it when people flout the rules.
Hang on. Referring to a suspect in any way but respectful could be construed as interfering with a suspect’s right to a fair trial by trying to inflame public sentiment against him. That’s just not professional police work, and it isn’t fair.
Every two or three minutes, on every college sports broadcast, I hear a reference to a “mid-major” conference. It bugs the hell out of me. I went 45 years without ever hearing anything described as mid-major, and now I can’t go 45 minutes. Nothing is ever high-major or low-major or (God forbid) minor, it’s just wall-to-wall mid-major. Maybe professional baseball will replace the minor leagues with the mid-major leagues.
The SWAC and Colonial Athletic Association are generally referred to as minor conferences, if I remember rightly (among others).
Here’s mine:
“on accident” as in “I dropped the plate on accident” eergh, you do something on purpose or by accident.
“I borrowed him $10” No you LENT him $10
$.69¢
$0.69¢
.69¢
Often times I’ll correct people on these things telling them it sounds (or looks when they are using a price gun) dumb and uneducated. Of course if they are dumb an uneducated, I’ll let the verbal stuff fly but when they mark stuff like that in my store they get to redo it.
And what is disrespectful about calling a man “a man”? This truly baffles me. It’s not like saying “the thug” or “the malefactor” or “the nasty piece of work”.
Using the term “this gentleman” for the man convicted of murdering 6 women renders the word “gentleman” meaningless and even absurd. It might have arrived at that stage of its career in your neck of the woods, but not in mine.
I’m only going to say this once and no correspondence will be entered into. It’s not different than anything, and you don’t compare the red one to the blue one.
Similar to
Different from
Compared with
Thank you. I have been wanting to get that off my chest for some time.
Hyper and hypo are antonyms.
To be ‘hypoactive’, your child would need to stop the screaming and kicking, lie down on the floor, and just calm the hell down. Comatose calm.
Hyperallergenic baby wipes would *not *be a good thing. They would not help with diaper rash. Really.
Thank you, I feel better now.
Supposably ought to be a real word, meaning able to be supposed - that is, describing a situation where something can logically be (but perhaps has not yet been) assumed or guessed.
Of course nobody is trying to use it that way.