A totally off-topic post to take you into the weekend.
For whatever reason, I have a lot of grammar/spelling/word usage pet peeves. I hide it well though.
Mind you, many people who know me would claim that I do not hide it well. That, in fact, I am some kind of grammar snob who simply cannot restrain myself from gently inserting into conversation, ”Bad. You feel bad, not badly.” This may be true; however, here’s the thing:
I do hide it well. It drives me bonkers. For my real peeves, it’s like hearing scratching on a blackboard. It literally sends those wincing shivers up my spine.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand and appreciate computer-speak abbreviations, I can appreciate the occasional usage of leetspeak or lolspeak for the sake of making an amusing story. And I have all the patience in the world for anyone for whom English isn’t their first language. I know there are a lot of you reading this blog, in fact.
Of course, oddly, it’s not usually the non-native speakers who send that shiver up my spine with their mis-usage. It’s always Americans. Fat lazy Americans. You know who you are.
An example of a couple of pet peeves would be “Can you borrow me five dollars?” Gaah! No, you want someone to lend you something, or you might ask to borrow something from them. They lend. You borrow.
Another classic is the use of irregardless, resulting in what is almost always the exact same conversation:
Frost: “Irregardless isn’t a word.”
Heathen: “It’s not? What word would you use then that would mean the same thing?”
Frost: “Regardless.”
Heathen (slow comprehension spreading across face): “… Ohhhh!”
At any rate, I’ve recently added another to the list. Have you noticed that almost no one anymore uses the word “Literally” to mean literally? They use it to mean… well, they use it as a kind of punctuation, a way to emphasize something that is never, ever, literal.
Heathen: “I was literally laughing my ass off!”
Frost: “No, not literally. Figuratively you were, but literally, that would be nasty.”
Literally is the new like
I think this is literally the best post evar, irregardless of what anyone comments.
“Anyways”…. It’s not a word. Never has been. “Anyway” is a word. But not “Anyways.”
I hate, hate, HATE seeing/hearing that word. Whenever I do, I want to scream. And that would be A LOT (by the way Heathens. “a lot” is two words. Not one) of screaming.
“Anal” (although not used properly) is what you are, Frost.
Bwahahahaha!
This is most definitely the same way I feel. However, lately I have toned down my criticism in WOW chat. Why? Because I recently befriended an English professor who does the same thing to me. I secretly hate him now.
Eye no what you mean. We awl literally play this game to shot aeros onto monsters from hour boughs, or weed have rolled castors. I cant believe people is aloud to get away with such grammer. Blizzards should either alter the chat filter so ate year olds can’t talk or get band. Maybe we should just beet them to death, oar perhaps chews to proof peoples berth certificate to play.
Well I knead too come to my census and tack a break from this rant. I don’t want to brews awl the ate year olds.
Butt, grate cite. Love the blog. Keep it currant!!
Sully: Come on Denise, lay off Skayner, he comes from a broken home.
Scotty: Yeah, literally! My dad drove his Skylark through our bay window.
Denise: Irregardless! You are working my last nerve.
Sully: You are!!
http://snltranscripts.jt.org/02/02abostonteens.phtml
The ones that get me are:
1) Supposedly – it’s not supposibly, supposively or supposely
2) Using “y” for “why” – Even though I hate it when it’s used for yes (and n for no for that matter) my brain has a mini seizure when I have to realize they are not answering in the affirmative but being inquisitive
3) Arvo – I really shouldn’t post this one, being a member of a guild bursting at the seams with Aussies but I don’t get it. All of their other slang is pretty cool and I can see how it came about…but arvo? I can’t make the connection and none of them seem to be able to explain it to me in a way that my poor under developed American brain can handle.
I am sure there are more, as I wouldn’t be me if I couldn’t bitch about something, but I should get back to work.
stop! grammar time!
i find that i type like I talk. when i write things in informal settings like this or on forums, its written how i would say if i were verbally speaking. this doesnt always translate well. this doesnt take into account all the intrinsic shortcomings text only conversation has to deal with already, such as lack of tone and inflection. sarcasm + text = fail.
Great post!
Your “Can you borrow me five dollars?” reminded me of one I grew up hearing at school when someone needed a piece of paper. “Can I borrow a paper?” First, you are asking for a “piece of paper.” Second, you want to borrow it? After you have used it to take notes, write an essay, or draw on, were you planning on giving it back? AGH!
I also despise the recent use of “FYI” in the workplace. First, don’t say “FYI” to me in person. Say “for your information.” When you tell a joke, I don’t say “LOL,” I actually laugh out loud. Also, “FYI” is NOT a noun. “Just want to let you know as an FYI” makes no sense!
Lastly, another that has popped up in the workplace is “on tomorrow,” “on yesterday,” and “on today.” “Your package is scheduled to be delivered on tomorrow.” AGH! Drop the “on.” It is not needed! It DOES NOT make it sound more professional. It makes you sound like an uneducated fool. I have heard this as well as read it in emails. If you are giving a date or day (Friday or July 15th), fine, but the use of “on” with the above examples makes no sense. Of course, I have yet to find a rule that says this is wrong, but it just sounds wrong.
My grammar is far from the best, but I like to say that I try to be above most.
These are my same two pet peeves!!!
Ir = not, non, no
irresponsible, irreversible
less = not, non, no
priceless, mindless, pointless
regardless means exactly what it should. irregardless is redundant and stupid.
Thanks for this post!! It will have all my friends literally cracking up!!
Really? On tomorrow? On today? Well that’s just absurd. Happy I’ve never seen that in the business world. I’m hoping it’s just your corner of it, and that it doesn’t spread.
While I did not have to stop and pick up my arse after reading this post, I can envision Frost literally foaming at the mouth.
Disregard for or a complete lack of understanding of the basics of punctuation (particularly capital letters, hyphens, apostrophes, and commas) are some of my pet peeves, albeit moreso in print than in the game.
It’s the obvious errors seen in various forms of “professional” media that truly vex me. Honestly, if I’m going to read crap that’s written at a fifth-grade level, I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for it. Hire some editors and proofreaders, folks. Then I’ll consider saving your sorry print empire.
Wow Frost, i never knew that about you:D interesting… i will have to watch my intentional mistakes to make sure i do not tick you off even more:D
The one that i notice is when you are asking someone how they are doing and they respond “good” when the correct response is “well”. I do not remember why this is so important, but i was was corrected so often growing up that now i cannot stand to hear it:P
@ cheerleader it’s just a matter of adverb versus adjective. “Good” is an adjective, used to modify a noun and “well” is an adverb used to modify (or qualify in this case) a verb, which is “doing” in your example sentence.
Oh yeah, and Frost… you just gained 10 points in my little catalog of awesome, bravo!
If the above is a problem for you, I hope you never have a conversation with a Newfoundlander.
Example
“wher you to?” = “where are you going?” i think
“Slicker den cod snot on a curlin rock” = “it is slippery”
There are a lot more but these are the two I remember from working in Fort MacMurray
Things that have tried to be past off as words that affect me on a base level…
definatly/definately (the word is definitely, from the word definite)
tomarrow (tomorrow, since when has an american accent warranted changing a spelling?)
There are more… but tiredness prevents further elaboration.
Did you mean to misspell “how” and “who” in the sentence “You know how you are?”
Cuz I lol’d. Srsly.
Oh, and Irregardless is a word. Check http://www.m-w.com. It says its a word out of favor with word snobs and professors, but that it is a legitimate word. I used to really hate it too. But now I’ve paid my dues, taken a smoke on the [Blazing Rod of Light], and chilled out.
I tend to hate made up words though: like “Gription” instead of “friction.”
For real.
AMG. This word press thing won’t let me post short posts.
Below.
Me.
It’s like a Nazi post regulator who will execute me on the 16th birthday.
I really enjoyed reading this topic. It was engaging, humorous, and it’s ranting was impressive! There is, however, a problem with your claim on the Americanized English.
American has dozens of its own dialects, including Southern, Midwestern (the thick Canadian accent with American “flavor”), Yooper, New England, Hillbilly, Redneck, West-Coat, Ghetto, and so forth. Let’s take some speech examples, phonetically written, to note the trend differences.
We’ll go with Yooper (A slang way to describe a person from the Upper Peninsula, or “U.P.,” of Michigan, USA. A “U.P.er”), Southern (Southern, central area of the USA), Ghetto (primarily pulling the Detroit, MI and Flint, MI accents for these, as I’m most familiar with those), and regular English speech. Now, I’m taking this VERY seriously… *cough*
English: “What have I done wrong?”
Yooper: “Th’f*ck did I do wrong, eh?”
Ghetto: “I ain’t done S**T, son! What the f*ck did /you/ do, ni**a’?”
Southern: “Ya’ mean I ain’t done it good ’nuff?”
English: “That is a good looking woman with nice curves.”
Yooper: “Look’it her tits, dude! She’s f*ckin’ SEXY, eh?”
Ghetto: “Damn, woman, you thick sexy *ss is HOT!” Note the individual is not actually speaking to the woman.
Southern: “Mah sister shore is pertty! Hee-yuck.”
English: “The police officer treated me unfairly when he pulled me over. He said I was going 80 mph in a 70 mph zone, but I was not.”
Yooper: “Sh*t, so this f*ckin’ pig rolls up’n’ he’s like, ‘Oh f*ck you,’ eh? So I was like, ’80? Kilometers, maybe.’ I was under th’f*ckin’ limit, right? F*ck that pig, oink oink!” Yes, Yoopers are insane.
Ghetto: “Haha, son! B*tch didn’t find my sh*t stashed under the seat!”
Southern: “Mah brother gived me uh tickets t’day… He knew I wasn’t drivin’ like that, but he’s mad at me fer slappin’ my wife. Yeah mah sister shore is upset ’bout ‘dat black eye I gived her.”
*ahem*
They’re/their/there.
I’ll say no more
Y U H8in?
Though I do like saying acronyms in vent-chat as real words to annoy my guild-mates. So wtf becomes wuh-tuh-fuh and lmao becomes lamayo. Good times, and ninja demotions from our guild leader generally every week.
Irregardless could be considered a “non-standard” word (ie: not really a word), just like “ain’t.” Any word that is used or misused often enough will show up in dictionaries, and often with notes about how it isn’t “standard” or “appropriate.”
To me this is like the McDonalds spelling of drive through as Drive Thru. It grew common enough that it showed up that way as a non-standard reference in dictionaries. This does not mean it’s a correct spelling, just a common incorrect spelling.
Examples:
Random House
Irregardless is considered nonstandard because of the two negative elements ir- and -less. It was probably formed on the analogy of such words as irrespective, irrelevant, and irreparable. Irregardless first appeared in the early 20th century and was perhaps popularized by its use in a comic radio program of the 1930s.
American Heritage
Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. It has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.
Oxford English Dictionary
No entry.
I realise the post is about written English, but to take it to the next level – ie the spoken word, I really hate it when people say aks instead of ask – it’s A S K you morons!
Swop and Swap is my favourite. And yes, I use swop. So, sue me!
My peeve is having a conversation with some who would rather conversate with me than converse. Don’t get me started on people who have to documentate everything either.
I of course can not type… it should be “someone” not “some”.
The literally statement is one Ive felt for years, and consider it my biggest TRUE ‘peeve’.
Notable other statements, as I am Canadian and live near other French-Canadians:
Come closer – ‘Advance’
Make me some room – ‘Give me some place’
Turn on the light – ‘Open the light’
/blood boils
-Daddodwarf (Stonemaul)
29 posts agreeing with you Frost and not one of them mentions that “You mean ‘badly.’ You feel badly, not bad.” is incorrect. To paraphrase from “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang” (which you should all see because it’s a good movie) – You feel *bad*, to feel badly would imply that the mechanism that allows you to feel is working suboptimally – and, while that may or may not be true, I’m pretty sure that’s not the point the speaker is trying to get across.
Aside from that, I totally agree. I’ve never heard anyone say “Irregardless” but it seems ridiculous to me >.<
Gahhhhhh time to kill some trolls, I think.
Don’t forget Perry’s (the detective in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) response when Harry tried to use Harmony’s grammar less on him:
“What, fuckhead? Who taught you grammar? Badly’s an adverb. Get out. Vanish. ”
But, yes, the correct usage is “I feel bad” because you’re considered to be modifying the subject and not the verb, as I recall. Somehow I swapped ‘em when writing this, of all posts.
Haha yea good stuff “Sleep bad. Otherwise it makes it seem like the mechanism that allows…you..to…sleep……..” *sigh* Harry..
Hrist, Arvo is the written version you get after you do a good old traditional australian abbreviation (drop a few unnecessary syllables, and add an -o or a -y). Now as the first part of afternoon is pronounced ahrf- and the whole point of australian slang is laziness, ahrf-o takes too much effort to pronounce, and becomes the easier ahrv-o – spelling arvo (try mouthing it yourself).
As a long time roleplayer my two pet peeves are always diety (not too present in WoW) and rouge (way more present in WoW than it should be given the correct spelling is everywhere. LF1M – rouge… I really don’t see how makeup can help people take down a boss.
arvo – short for afternoon, quite simple really
Started even before silly computer leet speak/lingo was born!
Classic aussie “See ya later on this arvo mate”
Must remember to use this shortened term more often when talking to Hrist!
Us aussies shorten everything, to make it quicker, simple and easier like
.
Gday – instead of good day
Arvo – Afternoon
my favourite that americans always seem to get lost with
i am going for tea – no not a cup of tea but dinner , food your night meal
I guess we are just to lazy and want the easiest way possible to get things done in the shortest amount of time . I was never really good at English so if i do stuff up Frost its not intentially done to piss you off ok
No, I get what arvo means and a lot of your slang makes perfect sense. For example, G’day…you can CLEARLY SEE how that is short for “good day!”. But Arvo? I can’t even begin to see how that came from “afternoon”. My guess is that someone was really, really drunk and slurred out “arvo!” to someone, who thought it was funny, and it caught on. Much like how “pwn” and other internet memes came to pass.
Irregardless of your bias, it is literally impossible to claim a word does not exist when it is recognise, albeit as non-standard, by the majority of reference dictionaries.
I personally use the Oxford English Dictionary as the gold standadr for the English language, so here (http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50121359?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=irregardless&first=1&max_to_show=10) is my support.
(I just couldn’t help but be controversial).
The one that never ceases to goad me into a rage is when someone says that they “could care less” to mean that they don’t care in the slightest about the issue in question. Growing up in Australia, the phrase was always (quite correctly) “couldn’t care less”, but now the illogical version seems to prevail even here. One suspects cultural Americanization as the culprit, since I am quite sure I first encountered the illogical version on TV shows from the US.
38 (39) responses. Methinks you’ve hit a sensitive vein here, Frost.
Great post! I’m German, but still these things piss me off sometimes. Very common here: to/too than/then of/off
As others have pointed out above ‘arvo’ is the aussie abbrevation for ‘afternoon’. It comes from a habit of shortening words and adding an -o or -ay ending to them. You can see it in other (now less common) australianisms such as ‘smoko’ meaning ‘a short break for a cigarette’. It’s also used with some names such as John becomming ‘Jonno’.
The misplaced (or entirely absent) apostrophe is my bugbear. It’s not that hard people. I get less worked up about wow chat than other written communication as I figure people are typing fast and furious and don’t always have time to check what they are writing. I read a fair few job applications as part of my job and I see some absolutely unforgivable errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling. I don’t understand how people can apply for a white collar job and not at least do a quick proofread before sending or at the very least use their spell checker. These usually occur in applications for jobs that require ‘excellent written communication’. Sometimes the errors are so egregious I’m tempted to write back along the lines of “are you taking the piss here?”
Personal pet peeve: Then/than and effect/affect. Oh. And retart/retarted. Generally said in ‘ur f*kn retarted’. Practically have an aneurysm when people do that one in an argument. I know there are others that drive me mental, I just can’t come up with them off the top of my head right now, but chat speak especially peeves me. I’m on an RP server, you’d think people there would be a bit more sensitive to the English language…
Specific WoW language thing, though, is it bugs me to the same level when people screw up the genders of bosses. Especially people who call SapphiRON a she. Even though, y’know… It’s a noticeably male name… And the line ‘Sapphiron resumes HIS attacks’… You’d be surprised how many people are out there. I even had one tell me “She’s female because she’s a dragon.” …What?
to retart, : to put the “tart” into something…
lol
the correct spelling is retard, retard XD
Now I literally get a headache whenever people mispell simple things like who, anal, and other common expressions…
>.> why anal has become common, u shuld aks teh ate yeaw olds >.>
80 MM Tauren Hunter
Emerald Dream
Completely unrelated. Sudden urge to share.
i just was listening to one of my favorite songs and somehow heard it defferently. Dont hate me, it’s just for fun.
p.s. I hate trolls
You’r dead as dead can be my druid tells me.
But i just cant believe it, I’m an optimist tonight.
It’s your right and your ability
to become
Berserker in this fight!
Hey Troll, you are Feighing Death!
So you’r a hunter? Bring your favorite pet!
Anyway i will pwn you
and say
You disappoint me, maybe you better play EQ?
I’m no good at words, but I understand where you’re coming from. Theirs an add on out there for you called Eloquence. It filters your chat and other peoples to make it more understandable, you should try it!
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/eloquence-fan-update.aspx