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

schiff

Beate wrote: »

Surely it's either "I've just seen" or "I just saw"?

There is so much scope in this thread for posting mischievous stuff, even deliberately incorrect grammar, to rouse the frustration and anger of the habitual pedant.

Surely that was one such.

kneelbeforezod

Flyboy152 wrote: »

The calender changed.

I'm sure you meant calendar...

quoia

kneelbeforezod wrote: »

I'm sure you meant calendar...

Unless they meant COLANDER .......

........... although there could be a few holes in thinking that

Flyboy152

kneelbeforezod wrote: »

I'm sure you meant calendar...

:doh: :doh:

Infomat

People who say pacific rather than specific are a pet hate with me too. I once worked with someone who not only said pacific to mean specific but looked under m in the dictionary to try to find out the spelling of the word!
Another pet hate of mine is the use of "myself" and "yourself" instead of "me" and "you". Examples are "I have an appointment with yourself" and "Please ring John or myself if you have any questions". It isn't THAT difficult unless a person is in the habit of saying "Please phone myself".

KimYeovil

Whilst speaking of 'myself's... using 'self-titled' instead of 'eponymous' really annoys me. Isn't it amazing - the genius of some pop groups who are so clever they think up a title for their album all by themselves.

hethmar

I agree with all Martins and another one of my horrors is
"compared to.............." Its compared WITH!!!

Oh and I did hear someone complaining about an estate agent's poor business "ethnics" recently - Scream ...............

And I've noticed the use of "dove" instead of "dived".

And then there is the use of hung instead of hanged.

And, here is one for pedants, the fact that people will say "you can't use And at the beginning of a sentence" Oh yes you can!

allison2011

I am so pleased that others have the same concerns as I regarding the mutation of the English language.

My pet hate would be 'obviously', when in conversation 'obviously' is used when there is nothing obvious about what is being said as you don't know the story or the situation.

John_Pierpoint

In some cultures people spend a lot of time touching each other as they speak; this is in part to keep their attention, while stopping them from interrupting; but also to indicate "It is your turn now" in conversation.

Anglo Saxons are not accustomed to touching each other, so we need verbal punctuation.

Particularly annoying is the the phrase ".....do you know what I mean?"; usually shortened to "genow" or "jewNO" or "jNO".

I have listened to Italian conversion, where the term "capische" seems to perform the same function, but without the "grating" effect on the conversation.

In the words of the Urban Dictionary:
Capisce (pronounced cah-PEESH) is an Italian word that is used in American slang to say "got it" or "understand." The correct word in Italian would be capisci (pronounced cah-PEE-shee) to address the second person informally, a.k.a. you. Capisce, in Italian, is used only to address the second person formally (like when speaking to an elder or someone you don't know) or to express that a third person (he, she, it) understands. The correct Italian pronunciation of capisce is cah-PEE-shay.

Perhaps it would spread into English usage the way "ciao" has ?
(Pronounced "chow", as in a slang term for food; or the fluffy dog with a black tongue).

I first found it in Italy in common usage in the early 1960's, but found it difficult to relate to this written word, that seemed to enter common usage 10 - 15 years ago in the UK.

A sort of general purpose word like the use of "cheers" in Estuary English, which has little relationship to "bottoms up" any more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciao

fatal1955 wrote: »

One that irritates me is "commoner garden" instead of "common or garden". Like loads of others I have seen, I presume this is based on a guess at the spelling derived from hearing it said. I wish I could remember all the others I've seen. Some made me laugh, others made me want to weep.

...........and I always thought it was common old garden.:D

Logie143

I really hate 'yourself' or 'myself'. It's the way salesmen use it to make them sound educated.

"I've just sent it to yourself. Can you sign it and send it to myself before noon" ARGGGGGGG!!!