My dad was something of a cliche king growing up. Only, he always got them wrong and mixed his metaphors. WHen we'd be sitting at the table for hours on end getting lectured, he'd throw those puppies out like bombs and I would silently sit in torture trying not to correct him. I'm convinced that is why I always feel compelled to correct people when they say them wrong.
My mom corrected our grammar at every turn. A few years ago she sent me a Christmas Card with a misspelling. I called her to point it out.
It physically pains me to hear people using words incorrectly. Or saying cliches or metaphors that they've twisted and don't make any sense. If you don't understand what they mean, should you really be using them anyway? Where is the responsibility? Who's holding these people accountable?!
I am.
Ok, not really, I just kind of silently make fun of them behind their backs and correct them in my head.
Except sometimes I say things out loud. Like the other day when someone was annoying me with their tale of woe and decided to say, "I could care LESS about the whole ordeal."
Really? You could? Then why are you spewing verbal vomit all over my floor? Huh? If you COULD care less then that would indicate that you are not, yet, at the end of your rope and are ready to take some more abuse until you get there.
Now, if you COULDN'T care less, then we could have this conversation.
See the difference?
"I could care less about my husband having an affair with his secretary." <---wrong
"I couldn't care less about my husband having an affair with his secretary." <---right
(Isn't that cliche in and of itself, anyway? HA!)
The other thing that drives me freaking INSANE generally happens in print more than verbally. Because verbally it can get passed off as being the contraction it was meant to be. Let me back up...
This pains me: "I could of gone to the concert but stayed home, instead."
You can't OF anything. How in the world could you have OF'd any darned thing? Huh? ANSWER ME!!
Listen people, it's could HAVE...thus the contraction could've which is where I think you people are getting tripped up. Could've vs Could Of. I can see it. It doesn't make it correct though. Of is a preposition, have is a verb. They are not interchangeable.
Stop it. All of you. Just...stop it. Stop it, stop it, stop it.
Care MORE about Of...not LESS.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
27 comments:
OOOOOF!! I HATE when people say 'of' instead of have! It makes me feel so gross! Here are more of my pet peeves:
Ax vs. Ask
Pacific vs. Specific
Irregardless vs. Regardless
REALTOR: Ree-luh-tor vs. Ree-ul-tor
JEWELRY: Joo-luh-ree vs. Joo-well-ree
Bugh.
I love you Heidi. Bad grammar and spelling will someday be the death of me too.
OK, I am surprised you still let me do Friday Freebies with my bad grammar & spelling. But I get you're correct...right?
That is so funny! I am a stickler for proper pronunciation. However I do use the expression "couldn't care less" all. the. time. I would make you crazy! ;)
I am constantly correcting my seventeen year old about her grammar. You would think after 12 years of school she would understand how to use the correct words and tenses. She always blows it off saying "I only talk that way around you. When it's someone important, I always talk right."
I didn't realize someone can completely alter their thinking and speaking based on if the person is "important" or not. Must be nice...Of course if she can ever learn to "talk right" she will realize that it is "talk correctly". My children are slowly driving me to drink.
You'd hate living in the south for sure! haha
ouch!
I HATE when people use bad grammar. I can handle it a little better when people are just talking, but when you make a mistake in writing it is there for the world to see! And it annoys me big time! There is one blog I read, and the "author" apparently doesn't understand capitalization rules very well because she capitalizes random stuff for no reason! It drives me CRAZY, and I really want to leave a mean comment...but I don't because I'm chicken! Maybe I should blog about it instead!
Irregardless... I hate the misuse of this non word. Geez people. I am the spelling and grammar nazi at my job. My boss always has me proof read her stuff and her bosses stuff.
Good ones! My personal favorite is when someone says, "You have to nip it in the butt." It's bud people - a gardening reference. There is no butt nipping involved.
I correct people all of the time. My biggest pet peeve is irregardless instead of regardless. Irregardless is not a word, people! I even corrected a scientist at my work! I was once grading a paper and they told me that "Finding the identity of their unknown bacteria (should have been bacterium since it was only one) was the most GRUESOME task they had ever accomplished." Really?? Was there blood shed involved? If not the task was most likely grueling not gruesome. Ugh.
I used to be so anal I would spell check my comments. I decided that I just don't have the time or energy for that these days, but I get all irritated if I post them and notice they are spelled wrong. :o)
I hate when somebody asks..."Where you at"? It's "where are you"?!! Do not end a sentence with a preposition!
LOL! Bad grammar drives me crazy too! I seriously took a red pen to my MIL's christmas letter last year!
I've lived in Appalachia for so long that I can barely speak English!
Sometimes when you say things the correct way, the natives look at you like you're nuts.
dude...i could of gone on for daaaaaaaays about this subject. but, i could care less about it, so i won't!!
or not...
here's my fave...
"Oh-oh-oh, and by the way, Y-O-U-apostrophe-R-E means 'you are.' Y-O-U-R means 'your!'" - Ross Geller
also...one more that makes me want to slit my wrists is when people say...
"you think you know more THEN anyone else, don'tcha?"
well, if you'R.E. going to use words like 'then' in the place of 'than'...THEN, yes...i do think i know more THAN you, thankyouverymuch!!
KAMERON - I KNEW IT!! we were watching a show last night, and a professional something (reality show) said 'irregardless.'
i asked my husband...who thinks he knows everything, and is right a lot of the time...
"is that even a word...regardless is plenty...irregardless would negate the regardlessness, wouldn't it...changing the meaning of the word?"
he said, "uh-uh...it's a word."
i'll skip the back and forth, but, i let him win, d***it!!
I have a friend who says "seems how" - in a sentence she might say "seems how the weather is so hot I'll stay in." What!?
The other one I don't get is flustrated... really? What the heck is that? A combo of frustrated and flustered?
I spent my childhood telling my brother that you can not do something "on accident" only "by accident." Grrrrr....
LOVE it! I can't stand the could care less, couldn't care less thing!!!
You definitely wouldn't be able to visit me. I live in an area where school teachers (yes, teachers)use incorrect grammar!
People in our part of the country don't like to be stereotyped as hillbillys and rednecks, but when teachers, doctors, attorneys, judges, etc. speak incorrectly (on national television), what do they expect?
I know what you mean!
I get what you mean. I'm not the greatest with grammar which is embarrassing since I call myself a writer..
It just bugs me when people mess it your and you're. I cringe at that. Or they'll write, "I have a cold and I can't breath." I always want to say, "You mean BREATHE?"
I'm feelin' ya there. I hate when one of the administrators at work makes horribly stupid jokes and we're all forced to act like we care and laugh along...URGH!
I've been known to be a bit of a grammar fanatic. One that drives me up the wall is people who confuse good and well. You didn't "do good" on a test, you did well.
Another that steals a little bit of my soul is ending a sentence in a preposition. (Living in the South, it's a wonder I have any soul left. Or maybe I don't... hmmm...)
At any rate, you don't ask "where's she at", you ask "where is she". It's actually easier - it's one LESS word to say!
dude...i have another one that is a frequent occurrence down here in the south...
"a 'mute' point!"
no. actually, no. if it was a 'mute' point. you wouldn't have spoken it, i wouldn't have heard it, and i wouldn't be thinking that you're an idiot right now.
i think what you meant was 'MOOT' point, but, you jacked it up. you broke the word, and now the point is the opposite of 'moot'...it is very non-moot, if you will, that you have butchered that poor word!!
Whats all this about yer husband havin an affair with his secratary? You poor, poor thing you!
Speaking of people not getting the right words:
"I'm so proud you could come see me!"
Huh? "proud?"
I think they mean "glad".
It really bugs me when people use the word "proud" when they really mean "glad".
Uhhgggg.
Post a Comment