This drives me bonkers. People referring to needing to “itch” their mosquito bite, etc. IT ALREADY ITCHES, ALL BY ITSELF!! What you do to it is scratch it!
This just sets my teeth on edge. I know it’s a minor point and I should just let it go, but I can’t help it.
I usually scour my itches. They start to hurt then, but at least they don’t itch anymore.
3.2 (USA)
3.1 (France)
3.3 (Great Britan)
3.2. (China)
2.8 (Russia)
loinburger: I usually just press on them. Still, you don’t “itch” them.
The American Heritage Dictionary disagrees with you, Opal.
I don’t, though. (I don’t recall even hearing the word used this way before. Must be a regional thing.)
Scritch on.
I hate that, too. What’s weird is that, while I say “scratch,” my younger sister (14) says “itch.” We grew up in the same house; so I don’t know how regional it is.
Main Entry: [1]itch
Pronunciation: 'ich
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English icchen, from Old English giccan; akin to Old High German jucchen to itch
So, it can be a verb, in some forms.
Thank you for learning me something new today, Opalcat
And on that note, one is not “prejudice” or “bias” either.
“I’m not prejudice, but…”
ARGH.
Of course it can. “My mosquito bite itches.”
It is not a transitive verb meaning “to scartch,” unless you’re an ignoramus, like those “We’re descriptive, not proscriptive” dunderheads at the American Heritage Dictionarly. (Is there a half-smiley, to indicate that I’m only half-serious? 
)
I hate dictionaries. According to dictionaries, words can be used and pronounced just about any way you can think up. “Nuke-yoo-lar” is a valid pronunciation for nuclear; the noun form of “quote” is also “quote” instead of “quotation”, and you if something itches, you itch it.
Nowadays, when someone says, “The dictionary said so,” I give it just about as much credit as if they said, “I read it on the internet somewhere”
An ex-girlfriend of mine used to say “could you itch my back?” Drove me nuts. She also pronounced “drawer” as “draw”. “A chest of draws.” “I keep a wooden back-itcher in my junk draw.” She was an ignoramus.
It must be regional. I grew up saying it in Pennsylvania, but when I moved down South my girlfriend (now wife) made me stop because it drove her crazy.
Of course, she can keep saying silly things like “I’m going to save the dishes” (meaning put them away), “I’m going to get down from the car” (meaning get out of the car), and “They got any salt?” (when “they” could only refer to her or myself).
Of course, the dunderheads over at the OED might disagree also, when they site ".
1586 J. HOOKER Girald. Irel. in Holinshed II. 91/1 It may be, that…I shall be able like a fleshworme to itch the bodie of his kingdome, and force him to scratch deepelie. 1665, 1756 [see ITCHING ppl. a. 3]. 1900 J. LONDON Let. 16 June (1966) 107 It is a fascinating subject. It has itched me for long, and it is often all I can do to keep away from writing on it. 1922 JOYCE Ulysses 748 My hole is itching me always when I think of him. 1947 Penguin New Writing XXIX. 12 With long sensuous strokes he smoothed a patina of paint down the chairlegs, then itched with fussing dabs the corners and underneath. 1951 R. CAMPBELL Light on Dark Horse vi. 99 The thick super-salty water of the Mediterranean, which tires and itches the naked eye. 1951 L. MACNEICE tr. Goethe’s Faust II. i. 171 The dice already itch me in my pocket. 1954 S. BECKETT Waiting for Godot II. 46 Then I can keep it [sc. a hat]. Mine irked me… How shall I say?..It itched me. 1973 Welcomat (Philadelphia) 10 Oct. 4/2 The sticker that itches her most is the one that says: ‘School’s Open. Drive Carefully.’ "
LOL,Love your rant OP
I can think of dozens of such “grammxamples” lol
Heartily, I do proteft this groff mifuse of our fair language. 'Sooth, an thif continue in thif vein, it shall be like unto the Tower of Babel, with all the multitudes of man struck in difarray and difmay at the fearsome cacophony thefe vulgarites have made of the Queen’s Englifh.
Yadzooks! Felled by the cruel, cruel touch of fair Gaudere’s Law!
Strike and amend that to fearfome, if it pleafe.
Related (in a sort of distant cousin way):
It’s not “coz”, “'coz”, “cos”, or “'cos”.
It’s “'cause”! Even “cause” is okay! It’s short for “because”!!
You don’t unthaw frozen food – you simply thaw it.
<insert obligatory “I thawt I thaw a puddy-tat” joke here>
Don’t tell ME what to do with my itch! I’ll itch my itch if I want to itch it!
Here are some other language flubs I hate:
2)People who use double negatives. “I 'aint not going to do that!”
Oh? So when are you going to start? “Huh?”
3):rolleye:sigh. You know what #3 is already.