A small pet peeve of mine (and I say this with a grin)...

[Chris_W]

Okay, I know this is really picky, but a small pet peeve of mine is when people don't correctly use two groups of words: "to" and "too", and "your" and "you're". Sorry, it bugs me.

So I had to laugh when I saw Hosta 'Your Welcome' in the AHS auction. Sorry, it should be 'You're Welcome', meaning You Are Welcome, not 'Your Welcome' meaning the Welcome belongs to You.

How can we expect someone like Pia to use proper English if we can't even get it right ourselves

Hopefully that hosta wasn't registered that way - it would just bug me way too much

[newtohosta-no more]

Ditto, Chris. I wouldn't even consider buying a hosta with that name! That's one of my pet peeves too and you see it all the time.

[Diana]

Spell checker doesn't catch those, but they sure stand out to me too. I've also noticed a lot of people use an 's when they mean more than one of something. A regular old s will do the trick.

-Diana

[LucyGoose]

Wow, I saw that hosta's name and never thought twice about it! Your better than me! I am a hillbilly. I certainly wouldn't use that for a reason not to buy it either..... Thank God for my spell check! You would hate me for sure!

[ViolaAnn]

Chris, I had a high school English teacher who gave us a basic mark. Then she deducted 10 points
- for misuse of to, two, too
- for misuse of an apostrophe
- for run-on sentences
and likely a few other things too. Spell check won't catch those things - you have to be watching for them.

My OWN pet peeve is the misuse of "for (or insert any other preposition) you and I". When you are using a plural pronoun in the OBJECTIVE case, it has to be "for you and ME" You would never say "for I" or "to I". You should never say "for/to/between you and I". It should be "for/to/between you and ME!

Thanks for letting me vent!

[Spider]

I have to laugh... Lucy, you made the boo-boo in Chri's example in your response.

I've recently seen (not here) knot used in place of where I used not. English is a dying language, I try to use it properly.

[LucyGoose]

I have to laugh... Lucy, you made the boo-boo in Chri's example in your response.

And look how you spelled Chris!!

I am a terrible speller.....I admit......I love my spell check.....I speak English terrible too!!!
I warsh dishes......or warsh my truck.....

[John]

I hate that the word "doesn't" has generally fallen out of use. Seems everyone I know says things like: "he don't like that." It just takes me right out of the moment.

I'm not generally that critical. For example, worrying about split infinitives seems way too precise. After all, who can argue with:

"to boldly go..."? Should Shatner have said: "to go, boldly..."?

Then again, things have changed. It is no longer vital to avoid beginning a sentence with a conjunction. But it still irks, a bit, although I do it at times.

And the classic, never ending a sentence with a preposition; now allowed?!

"Where you all from?"

"I'm from where we don't end our sentences with a preposition."

"Where you all from...bitch?"

[Patrushka]

I know what you mean Chris. I think, for me, it's because I was a secretary. Proofreading was part of my job. I noticed the name too and later wondered if they really meant it to be Your Welcome as in the welcome is yours. It is spelled that way on their web site too.

Another one that irritates me is when people use wah lah instead of voilà. I always wonder if they even know it is a French word.

I usually don't correct people (except LucyGoose ~ LOL) because my own sweet mother has always been a terrible speller.

[LucyGoose]

I usually don't correct people (except LucyGoose ~ LOL)

Hey Missy.......I have been corrected all my like for *warsh*....so wah lah!!

[Patrushka]

It's always in a helpful, loving way.

[sugar]

At least I have some kind of excuse for my spelling mistakes because I'm not native English...
But even that doesn't give me the right not trying to do my best.

We've got exactly the same problem in my native language (Dutch)... I don't think the complexity of the rules (Dutch)is not an excuse for not trying to do your best.

[LucyGoose]

It's always in a helpful, loving way.

I know that, Pat!! Hugs!!

[Spider]

I'd say tu shay, but hell if I'd know how to spell it!! (see)

I like that we can have fun at each others expense!

[Pieter]

Chris, you definately struck a nerve with this subject....

[viktoria]

Another dumb foreigner here, and I have a herd of pet peeves (including all of yours); had to put an addition on the barn for them. An irritating error I see frequently is the use of singular and plural personal pronouns in one sentence; the only time I would think that appropriate would be if one were discussing someone with MPD.

I haven't dared suggest that, when registering a new hosta, one should spell the name correctly, unless it is an obviously deliberate pun. 'Reptillian' is an example of misspelling; how about 'Jambleliah'? Since I don't see a pun there, did Paul Aden actually think this is the way to spell 'Jambalaya'?

A related pet peeve of mine is the use of "air quotes". Or saying "quote, unquote air quotes" instead of "quote air quotes unquote". Aaargh!

Spelling is another story. In my first year in this country I was a high school senior. I made two spelling errors in the entire year. Since then (80 years or so), I may have made two more. If a foreign-born person can be taught to spell, why cannot those whose first language is English?

Aren't you glad you brought this up? OK, I'm outta here. Oh, that reminds me: it is NOT "here, here", it is "hear, hear", akin to "you can say THAT again".

Viktoria, gone.....

[Kas]

If I asked my grandmother "Where's it at?" she would answer with "Behind the at." That used to drive me out of my mind! But when I went to college, my English profesor told me it was acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition. Huh? All my life it had been drilled out of me and now he was totally undoing my training. I just ask "Where is it?" now. It makes life so much simpler! And I am always asking "I don't know. Can you?" when my kids ask me if they can do something. It should be "may I". I know, I know.

Kas

[thy]

How can we expect someone like Pia to use proper English if we can't even get it right ourselves

Glad your understud ..you cant

Then I know what you mean, I can accept a lot of new words in my language and some new ways to use the language, but since I was very young there have been 2 things I can't accept. One is from the English language I expect where you can say: What time.... You can NOT say HVAD TID in Danish, it is hvilken tid or wich time
The other is the same as Mary Ann (cay you say it that way ? ) I really can't stand someone saying ME and Mary or Jim or.. it sure is unpolite

Thinking back to when I first found this forum, some of you may remember, I really wanted to ask you questions, but it took me 10 month to join and type my first post. I barely had done any writing in English since my school time
One thing I will never learn I guess is the difference between an v and a w in some words. We do not use w at all ecept for some names like William. Some claim they can hear the differences, it may be right, but then ask a Arkansaw bullfrog to say very and for my ears it sounds like wwwery

Some are good with language, some with math, some with music , cleaning ect, but I do not belive anyone ae good with everything

Just one question. When I spelled peeve in my web translator - the one I mostly forget to use - it came out with : " No matches found "

[caliloo]

Yep - I'm another one that gets all squirrley when the language is misused. I chalk it up to the fact that my mother was an English teacher and would have strung me up if I had used many of the expressions that are now considered acceptable. John example of the split infinitive is a classic:

"Where you all from?"

"I'm from where we don't end our sentences with a preposition."

"Where you all from...bitch?"

Another one that is a personal peeve of mine is the confusion between advise and advice. that one just gets under my skin.


And finally, I just had to add that my husband lobbied hard to name the cat "Peeve" when we got her - said he always wanted a "pet Peeve"

Alexa

[party_music50]

"pet Peeve"... lol!

I was trying to stay out of this one.

I will say that my ability to construct a valid and meaningful sentence has actually led to punishment for me. I'm a software engineer (computer programmer/sys. admin.), and while I consider the use of the English language to be one of my weaknesses, I work with a crew of software engineers that can butcher the English language with the best of them. I now refer to myself as the "Documentation Queen" because, as you might guess, I get tasked to write EVERYONE's documentation. On the bright side, I do get kudos for that work -- especially from the QA/Doc. support staff that has to finalize it for delivery and the end user!