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

jennyjelly

Working in the Magistrates' Court we are frequently told by defendants that they are hoping the judge (we don't have a judge, we have Magistrates, that's why it's called the Magistrates' Court, but that's by the by) will squash their fines. What they are really hoping for is to have their conviction quashed.

We've heard it a thousand times but it still raises a chuckle.

AHAR

Terri31 wrote: »

Or 'nucular' instead of 'nuclear'...

I was driven to write an e-mail to Newsnight after this numpty did a report on 'nucular' energy a couple of years ago. I suggested he should learn how to pronounce it correctly before he does another report on it. Didn't get a reply.
New. Clear. Nuclear. Hardly difficult.

PS Check out that link I put in - it's rather amusing I think.

JimmyTheWig

jennyjelly wrote: »

they are hoping the judge will squash their fines.

Oh, that's really made me smile.
Have now got an image of a judge walking into the Magistrates' Court, taking the fine from the defendant, placing it on the desk and squashing it with his thumb, like you would a fly.

JimmyTheWig

A topical question for you all - where does the appostrophe go in "Mothers Day"?
Is it the day of the mother (Mother's Day) or the day of the mothers (Mothers' Day)?

[And should you use capital M and/or D?]

Vortigern

Misuse of plurals
"One Pence" for One Penny - just as it appears on the coin.
Criteria is plural; you can't say "the sole criteria" unless you're talking about fish.

Edit: Should that be "criteria are plural"?

jennyjelly

I'd say probably Mothers' Day as it's for all mothers, but I suppose if you are only thinking of your own mum then Mother's Day would be correct.

One pence - aaargh!

Completely/almost unique - double aaargh!

One that really irritates me (and I know I'm being pathetic) is 'instore' as one word (as in 'see our offers instore').

And Ks used instead of Cs for effect (as in Kath's Kozy Kafe or Kids' Korner).

And names given to things to force you to say them, like 'That Cheap Shop' or the programme that was on a few years back called 'That 70s Show'.

I hate myself for being such an intolerant pedant but there you go.

Barter

architec wrote: »

... they turn it on it's head and accuse me of not allowing the language to develop. ... when sat in front of a very well educated young female client who insisted ...

I take issue with the incorrect use of it's & its, but I am more concerned by the use of sat & stood when sitting & standing should be used.

In the excerpt above it may have been used correctly, if the person in question had been seated in that position by someone else. When people say "I was sat... " or "I was stood..." instead of I was sitting or standing, I always wonder (to myself!) who sat or stood them there, and whether they would also say I was ran for the bus instead of I was running...

Then there's the superfluous up - TV announcers say "Next up is..." and we are told to park up instead of just park our car. There are many more examples of it being unnecessarily used, but also times when it's appropriate: turn is different to turn up; make cf. make up.

A more pedantic gripe I have is the tautology of the phrase 'the reason why' - it's either the reason, or it's why.

Niemand

Barbeque instead of barbecue I find annoying. The former is used probably because the shorthand is BBQ.

There's no such word as alright, it's all right.

Till is a word, so writing 'til as a short form of until is pointless.

Gordon_the_Moron

Pretty much agree with all of Martin's top 10 so I must be getting of a certain age that this things make my buttocks clench too (I'm almost 27 would you believe !)

Personally I find chillax rather annoying, not because it is a new word but because it is pointless as relax works in its place fine and its just a rather stupid sounding word.

Niemand

Gordon_the_Moron wrote: »

...and its just a rather stupid sounding word.

...and it's just a rather stupid sounding word.