'The word pedants' top 10 | It's specific, not Pacific...' blog discussion.

ViolaLass

Could of, should of etc drive me up the wall when I see them (tend to see them rather than hear them) to the extent that if someone uses them in an opening post on MSE, I won't reply to that thread, because I know that seeing it again every time I return to the thread will up my blood pressure.

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Another little bete noir of mine, is the plural possessive apostrophe, used in the singular form. When it is written "Thomas' friends were working hard," I always wonder how many of them are called "Thoma."

I don't understand this one, looks correct to me (with context hopefully clarifying whether anyone is called Thoma). How should it be written?

john_s_2

Thomas's. Because that's how you say it. But you may say "This is James' book." Although you could equally say "This is James's book."

But you would never say, "This is Thomas' book."

O Brave New Word, that has such people. Innit.

missbishi

I can think of loads but my real pet hate is when people say "drownded" instead of drowned! My favourite though is a newsagents in town with a sandwich board proudly stating "We sell cigs, milk, tea, ect" and I'm always tempted to go in and ask how much to plug my head into the mains!

ZTD

Well from the top...

• Literally - I think too many people use this and think it means something along the lines of 'literary'.
• Like - this is often interjected into phrases by people to break up sentences and to try to stop themselves sounding too intelligent, which is a capital crime in modern society. Like.
• Aitch - this is a regional thing. If you want to try to squash the rest of the countries pronunciation under Estuary English, then you go right ahead. Just remember to tell the Queen there is no 'r' in glass.
• Basically - this is an indication that you're giving the potted version of the story, and there is a deeper explanation waiting if it is wanted. If you want to ban that, then you must accept the explanation as given, which of course would be the full-on explanation since the "basic" one is disliked so much.
• Giving 110% - this is borrowed from the mechanical arena. To choose an example: The MiG 25 could fly very quickly. Mach 2.6 would leave the engines operating under normal conditions with the usual time between overhauls. Mach 2.8 would need the engines to be pulled out after the flight and rebuilt. Mach 3.2 would need the engines to be pulled out after the flight and dropped into a skip. Which one of those speeds was 100%?

My only bugbears are:

• ALL CAPS
• No paragraphs

AHAR

Keith_Partington wrote: »

Whatever happened to the lovely apostrophe?

They're being used on the labels advertising half-price bunches of flowers in my local Sainsbury's - they have "thank's Mum" printed on them.

Jesthar

Biggest pet hate not mentioned so far: when people pronouce the word 'nuclear' as 'new-killa' :mad: - it's not rocket science, people!

Best worst sign I ever saw was on - of all things - a Christmas Grotto in the Birmingham Bull Ring. We were there for the post-Christmas sales, and laughed ourselves silly at the sign on the grotto entrance, which had obviously been there since Christmas Eve and read as follows:

Santa has gone to load up his slay
for tonight. See you next year!

Well, maybe they did get some repeat custom - assuming any of the poor dears survived the year Santa went postal! :rotfl:

angelatgraceland

My pet hates-people who say Wells when they mean Wales. Chimley for chimney. Ideal for idea. I don't want none of that. OK-it's all yours then is what I feel like saying but the comment would be wasted upon them! They would simply not understand what on earth I was getting at. A friend was talking about paws/pawls one day. Pawls? I was puzzled as it had nothing to do with our conversation. Paws in the docks and working everywhere. Paws/Pawls.Pause/Poles?
I eventually worked it out to mean poles and asked if she meant polish? Yes she said. "That's what I said". So the paws are in wells with great ideals wanting to itch theirselves as they have brought itchin powder in the joke shop. Sorry-I just couldn't resist this!
The Polish are visiting Wales and have some great ideas. They need to scratch themselves as they bought some itching powder in the joke shop.

angelatgraceland

missbishi wrote: »

I can think of loads but my real pet hate is when people say "drownded" instead of drowned! My favourite though is a newsagents in town with a sandwich board proudly stating "We sell cigs, milk, tea, ect" and I'm always tempted to go in and ask how much to plug my head into the mains!

My "same" friend did this so I asked her if she knew what ect(etc) meant and what it is an abbreviation of. The answer was no-hence getting it wrong. She had the basic understanding but did not know the full word. When I explained it to her she got it correct ever after.....etcetera

caroline. wrote: »

People think I'm petty with this one, but I can't stand it when people say 'p' instead of 'pence'. Especially on adverts!! I always shout 'PENCE' at the television!

I know the feeling! It is how I feel when someone shouts "Only three nine nine". I feel like saying "What? Pence"?

Keith_Partington wrote: »

I hate it when folk say "your great" when they should say "you're great"! Whatever happened to the lovely apostrophe?

Once again, I think the people who say this do not know that you're means you are and think it is the same word as your. A lot of people seem to have missed being taught basic grammar, or if they were taught it, they didn't ever understand it.

Eco_Miser

missbishi wrote: »

I can think of loads but my real pet hate is when people say "drownded" instead of drowned!

That goes back to Charles Dickens (David Copperfield), although he did spell it "drown dead"

ghostmadlittlemiss

KimYeovil wrote: »

No quotes are necessary around 'Spot the dog'.
You have used a comma spuriously several times.

Fair enough, I suppose I asked for that. I presume you mean the commas in Spot the dog. In which case, that was from mis-remembering the title, I genuinely thought there was a comma in it. Obviously, I remembered wrongly. It's been a long time since I read them so I think I can be excused.
Kayleigh