Hands Up!.... It's The Grammar Police

antihero said:
Firstly... I'm no Shakespeare so I can be just as guilty as most.... But...

Are there any terms, words or phrases that people use wrongly that really bug you? Or even ones that are used correctly that annoy?

Starter for ten....
Anywho/Anyhoo: Arggghhhhh! I actually feel like punching anyone that comes out with this.

Bought/Brought: The amount of times I've seen this misused recently is staggering. Even on here. If you are referring to something you have purchased, it's "bought"! Past tense of " to buy". "Brought" is past tense of "to bring".

Anyone else?

(the intention for starting this thread is purely for entertainment purposes and any reference to persons living or deceased is purely incidental) :)
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"could care less"

^something an awful lot of Americans seem to say when they really mean couldn't care less.
 
how about " prolly " both in text speak and in oral speech - it drives me mad !!:rage: :arghh:
 
Nod said:
Some years back we visited a chocolatier in Wales and the girl who gave the guided tour kept us all cracked up with her use of the extra pluralisation - "ingredientses".
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Didn't Gollum say something like that? "Nice Hobbitses"......
 
I saw a new one for me earlier today on another forum - "if" instead of "I've" :confused:
 
Don't get me started on apostrophes ..... Aargh!!

My big pet hate is "sat" or "stood" where it should be sitting or standing. As in ... "I was sat watching TV" or "I was stood in a queue" ... No you weren't ... You were sitting watching TV and standing in the queue.

.... Sorry ...must go and have lie down. My nervous twitch is starting .....
 
Nod said:
Some years back we visited a chocolatier in Wales and the girl who gave the guided tour kept us all cracked up with her use of the extra pluralisation - "ingredientses".
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An old friend of ours always refers to "breakfastses"!
 
antihero said:
Firstly... I'm no Shakespeare so I can be just as guilty as most.... But...

Are there any terms, words or phrases that people use wrongly that really bug you? Or even ones that are used correctly that annoy?

Starter for ten....
Anywho/Anyhoo: Arggghhhhh! I actually feel like punching anyone that comes out with this.

Bought/Brought: The amount of times I've seen this misused recently is staggering. Even on here. If you are referring to something you have purchased, it's "bought"! Past tense of " to buy". "Brought" is past tense of "to bring".

Anyone else?

(the intention for starting this thread is purely for entertainment purposes and any reference to persons living or deceased is purely incidental) :)
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The amount of times: It should be the number of times!

Another one today was from this thread:

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/working-out-a-partnership.531435/

Myself and another local photographer. Argh! it should be: Another local photographer and I.

Others are: accepted / excepted

Brake / break

Someone on this forum recently described himself as being "in a fowl mood". He felt like a chicken? Presumably he meant foul mood.
 
The Pedants' Revolt...


1004954_10203272646563804_912034934_n.jpg
 
They speak and write a bit different in neighbouring Norfolk. They are however very polite to one another, probably because they are all closely related to each other.
 
"Gotten " when 'got' should have been used.

Gotten is an Americanism that seems to be creeping in.:(
 
"Get" instead of "have", as in "Can I get a coffee please?" Instead of "Can I have a coffee please?". The worst thing being that I find myself using it!
 
DorsetDude said:
"Get" instead of "have", as in "Can I get a coffee please?" Instead of "Can I have a coffee please?". The worst thing being that I find myself using it!
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Now I'm posting this when not 100% sure, but the correct request, I believe, would be "May I have a coffee please?"

I am, of course, prepared to be peppered with TP bullets. :)
 
Same thing, sort of, but I would have said,
"Please may I have"?

Or maybe "Gizza coffee"?

Having been to a good school (It was approved ;) ) I'm sure one* must be correct.

* As in one of the options, not the "Royal" "One"

BTW if the Queen takes a "selfie" would that be a "Onesie"?

:D
 
Gazamonk said:
Only one problem Paul, I'm Scottish, we don't say 'innit' that would be predominantly south of the border. :)
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I seen your friend is asda, ya wanna mek sumthing of it do ya , heh ....

there you go - fixed that for you ;)
 
viv1969 said:
Now I'm posting this when not 100% sure, but the correct request, I believe, would be "May I have a coffee please?"

I am, of course, prepared to be peppered with TP bullets. :)
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strictly speaking it would probably be " May I have a cup/mug of coffee please " since requesting 'a coffee' is in itself not grammatically correct. ;)
 
big soft moose said:
strictly speaking it would probably be " May I have a cup/mug of coffee please " since requesting 'a coffee' is in itself not grammatically correct. ;)
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Given the vast amount of different coffees on offer these dats I would beg to differ. I would simply expect the barista to question which coffee I require :LOL:
 
big soft moose said:
I seen your friend is asda, ya wanna mek sumthing of it do ya , heh ....

there you go - fixed that for you ;)
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What dae ya mean ya fixed it!
It wisnae broken ya Bampot, dae ya wint tae mak somethin oh it ? Eh!

Now how about that for Grammar. Lol
 
viv1969 said:
Given the vast amount of different coffees on offer these dats I would beg to differ. I would simply expect the barista to question which coffee I require :LOL:
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but if we are talking about grammatical correctness there aren't "a vast amount of coffees" on offer , there are "a large number of types of coffee based hot drinks" on offer , so even if you require a skinny vanilla latte , the grammatically correct enquiry is "may I purchase a cup of skinny vanilla latte please" - also noting that if you are buying coffee the requested action is "to purchase" not "to have"

of course few of us talk proper these days and the girls in costa understand perfectly if a customer says " can I get a grande latte to go please " even though the grammatically pendantic answer is " I don't know. can you get a grand latte to go ? and to go where my good fellow ? "
 
In a similar vein, I have a friend who is fairly broad Debbn as far as accent and colloquialisms go and when he said he was catchin' a bus, another friend asked him where to. "The bleddy bus station of course!" came the reply!
 
One of my favourites is when someone is trying to be clever and ends an explanation with et viola.

I don't like the current trend to say "I'm loving xyz" instead of "I love xyz",


Steve.
 
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big soft moose said:
but if we are talking about grammatical correctness there aren't "a vast amount of coffees" on offer , there are "a large number of types of coffee based hot drinks" on offer , so even if you require a skinny vanilla latte , the grammatically correct enquiry is "may I purchase a cup of skinny vanilla latte please" - also noting that if you are buying coffee the requested action is "to purchase" not "to have"

of course few of us talk proper these days and the girls in costa understand perfectly if a customer says " can I get a grande latte to go please " even though the grammatically pendantic answer is " I don't know. can you get a grand latte to go ? and to go where my good fellow ? "
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Or even properly. ;-)
 
indeed - sarcasm mist their

personally I awlways speel and punctuate proper like , cos it makes it kleeer that im one of the intelecshual eleet , innit.
 
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big soft moose said:
indeed - sarcasm mist their

personally I awlways speel and punctuate proper like , cos it makes it kleeer that im one of the intelecshual eleet , innit.
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The defence rests your honour :cool:
 
probably my fault for pretending to be something I'm not :p
 
te="big soft moose, post: 6129109, member: 39650"]probably my fault for pretending to be something I'm not :p[/quote]
Possibly.
 
A notice from my boss on our kitchen notice board read "under no circumstances must personal equipment be used out the kitchen".

eddie
 
ACW said:
How many morning meals does this friend eat? I have never needed to pluralise breakfast! :LOL:
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Breakfast can't technically be pluralised - once one has broken one's fast, a second morning meal cannot break it again. Maybe a second morning meal should be called a pulverisefast! Personally, when we meet the MiL in town for a coffee, I have one of Carluccio's almond croissants with my latté - if Mrs Nod and the MiL are lucky, I even let them have a (little) bit of it.
 
What if one person is going up to the counter to order 2 for two people? I'd say "Two breakfasts please" Or if I was BSM I'd say "Please may I purchase 2 breakfasts please kind sir?"
 
one simply does not use please twice in the same sentence ;)
 
DorsetDude said:
What if one person is going up to the counter to order 2 for two people? I'd say "Two breakfasts please" Or if I was BSM I'd say "Please may I purchase 2 breakfasts please kind sir?"
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Or even "May I peruse your bill of fare, kind Sir?"
 
DorsetDude said:
What if one person is going up to the counter to order 2 for two people? I'd say "Two breakfasts please" Or if I was BSM I'd say "Please may I purchase 2 breakfasts please kind sir?"
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Nothing wrong with saying

" Breakfast for two, please "
 
camerassassin said:
Nothing wrong with saying

" Breakfast for two, please "
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Yes but is there anything wrong with saying "Two breakfasts please?" I suspect not, ergo Nods assertion that breakfast cannot be pluralised is cobblers untrue
 
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I'm not sure whether or not I'd be considered a 'Grammar Nazi'. It certainly annoys me when people don't take the care to craft their writing properly. However, the only people I would ever correct for poor speech or grammar are my children.

Most of my major annoyances have already been mentioned.

The mixing up of there and their.
The mixing up of where and were.
The mixing up of fair and fare.
The mixing up of weather and whether.
The mixing up of its and it's.
The mixing up of your and you're.
The mixing up of affect and effect.
The misuse of or failure to use an apostrophe — johns, john's
10 items or less instead of 10 items or fewer.
 
JohnBradbury said:
10 items or less instead of 10 items or fewer.
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It irks me when this is quoted as a mistake. It's not, and never has been. It's one of these things people like to point out smugly because they've heard that it's a mistake but they've never actually thought it through or researched it independently.

LanguageLog do a decent job of explaining why there's nothing wrong with "10 items or less": http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003775.html
 
viv1969 said:
Now I'm posting this when not 100% sure, but the correct request, I believe, would be "May I have a coffee please?"

I am, of course, prepared to be peppered with TP bullets. :)
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That's the classic grammar-loving-teacher's favourite:
"Sir, can I go to the toilet?"
"I'm sure you can, would you like to?"
"What?"
"You effectively asked if you were able to go to the toilet, not whether you were allowed to"
"What?"
"Oh forget it, just go to the toilet"
:LOL:
 
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