Some people make my blood boil

Samba_Pa_Ti

hieveryone wrote: »

Ultimate pet hate -

'I want to buy a set of draws' - when you mean 'drawers'.

'I brought something from a shop yesterday...' - when you mean 'bought'.

The improper use of 'their, they're or there'.

Yes, the people who write such silly things make my blood boil

i have this problem in real life, working with people who talk such utter nonsense.

they often say brought instead of bought and ask to borrow things by saying "can i lend that off you?" which winds me right up.

im also sick of people who talk in cliches, you know what i mean ? at the end of the day they are just fools.

then theres the people that say "your" instead of "you're" not realiasing one is possesive... i failed english as well which annoys me, wasnt due to being thick of course it was because i was having problems at home during exams (parents divorcing).

hieveryone

Just thought of another one - I think it's called double negatives? I read an article with Jordan (shame on me!) and she had said something like:

"there wasn't nothing I could of done".

Was George Bush not famed for using silly quotes like that?

trisontana

Another thing to remember is that some board members with impaired vision use "read and speak" software. Those programs just can't cope with poor spelling, grammar and text-speak.

melorablack

"I ain't done nothin!"

Pollycat

As we seem to be debating the poor use of language, is it just me or does the phrase below annoy other people?

'BETTER than half price'

Shouldn't it be 'less than half price' or 'cheaper than half price'?
Adverts for Morrisons started it and I've noticed other companies using it now.

melorablack

Pollycat wrote: »

As we seem to be debating the poor use of language, is it just me or does the phrase below annoy other people?

'BETTER than half price'

Shouldn't it be 'less than half price' or 'cheaper than half price'?
Adverts for Morrisons started it and I've noticed other companies using it now.

I think they may be using it in the sense of "it's a better offer than half price"

I had to go on a course for work which tried to teach how to put a positive spin on simple phrases and "less than" and "cheaper than" would be considered negative phrasing.

"Better than" is positive (even if it doesn't sound quite right). It's all about trying to make it more appealing.

trisontana

Pollycat wrote: »

As we seem to be debating the poor use of language, is it just me or does the phrase below annoy other people?

'BETTER than half price'

Shouldn't it be 'less than half price' or 'cheaper than half price'?
Adverts for Morrisons started it and I've noticed other companies using it now.

That's the same as "10 items or less". It should read "10 items or fewer". Tesco have now corrected this error after comments from the Plain English Campaign

Pollycat

melorablack wrote: »

I think they may be using it in the sense of "it's a better offer than half price"

I had to go on a course for work which tried to teach how to put a positive spin on simple phrases and "less than" and "cheaper than" would be considered negative phrasing.

"Better than" is positive (even if it doesn't sound quite right). It's all about trying to make it more appealing.

But why don't they say "it's a better offer than half price"?

Actually, even that doesn't sound right.

I'm sure that people could understand the positiveness of buying something that is 'less than half price'.

sarahg1969

Eurgh, and people who write defiantly, when they mean definitely. And weary instead of wary. And people at work, who think they're being clever using big words like "infer", when they mean "imply".

needaspirin

Before I reply I write my post up in Word, then run spell-check and grammar-check. If I have used the same word twice I run Thesaurus to find an alternative. I then use Google, Yahoo and Wikipedia to be sure that my facts are correct.

I look to see if I am posting on the correct Forum and carry out a search in case someone has posted the same thing.

I then sleep on it as it might not seem such a good idea in the morning.

Then, AND ONLY then, do I submit my post.

If everyone on MSE did this, life would be so much easier for us all.