NationStates Jolt Archive

What are some grammatical and/or spelling errors that annoy you?

"Labour"
"Metre"
"Theatre"

;)

"Amercian" (as regards to a Canadian)

"@$#%"
My spellcheck cant make heads or tails of this one! ;)

"Särskrivning" (~ "writing apart").

Swedish compound nouns are always written as one word. For instance, the word "köksbord," which means "kitchen table" and is made up of the words "kök" (= "kitchen") and "bord" (= "table").

Särskrivning is the phenomenon of writing these words apart: "köks bord," which is wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong! English does that! Swedish does not, god dammit! :mad:

The really sad thing about it is that it often distinguishes between meanings. For instance, "brunhårig kvinna" = "brown haired woman," while "brun hårig kvinna" = "brown hairy woman."

"Labour"
"Metre"
"Theatre"

;)

Yes, we know that's the way they are supposed to be spelled. What are the misspellings you find annoying?

"Labour"
"Metre"
"Theatre"

;)
Don’t forget colour. :D

Yes, we know that's the way they are supposed to be spelled. What are the misspellings you find annoying?
You guys should sound it like it's spelled.

Layb-whore
Meat-wree
Tea-at-ree

:D

Meat-wree
Know people with speech impediments, do you?

Misuses of the words there, their and they're.

Misuses of the words to, too and two.

Misuses of your and you're.

Good thing I'm an English teacher, so I get to take out my frustration on other people.

Good thing I'm an English teacher, so I get to take out my frustration on other people.
Hey! The rest of us can, two....

You guys should sound it like it's spelled.

Layb-whore
Meat-wree
Tea-at-ree

:D

Actually, "metre," "labour," and "theatre" represent the Received Pronunciation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation) English better than "meter," "labor" and "theater."

Actually, "metre," "labour," and "theatre" represent Received Pronunciation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation) English better than "meter," "labor" and "theater."
We don’t care. We’re the US of A, damn it. No matter what anybody tells you, changing the spellings of certain words had nothing to do with simplifying the language, and everything to do with flipping the bird at Britain. :D

"Labour"
"Metre"
"Theatre"

;)
"Labour" is spelled correctly. "Metre" is an honest Canadian misspelling - as it is spelled 're' in French instead of 'er', and we all seem to take French immersion at some point in our educations up here. This is the result. Unintentional Franglais. "Theatre" is spelled correctly.

What bugs me? Peole who relly spel lik carp aund make it a faeture f their poosts, but this dosent' come colse to erprsetninng hwat its lik to raed it.

AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaargh.

nothing annoys me.

We don’t care. We’re the US of A, damn it. No matter what anybody tells you, changing the spellings of certain words had nothing to do with simplifying the language, and everything to do with flipping the bird at Britain. :D

Hence, since you are USians, your opinions of English spelling really don't count. :p

nothing annoys me.
I wish I was you. I was a copy editor for almost 10 years. I had to give it up because arguing with clients who couldn't spell their own names the same way twice but were convinced they were the reincarnation of Faulkner was giving me an ulcer. Now I work for lawyers, and I live in the US. I get annoyed 50-60 times a day. (Ohh, my tummy....)

I wish I was you. I was a copy editor for almost 10 years. I had to give it up because arguing with clients who couldn't spell their own names the same way twice but were convinced they were the reincarnation of Faulkner was giving me an ulcer. Now I work for lawyers, and I live in the US. I get annoyed 50-60 times a day. (Ohh, my tummy....)
I wish I were you. Sorry couldn't help it :D carry on.

What annoys me?

Well, for starters, ending sentences with prepositions is something up with which I shall not put :).

However, there is one rule where I think it sounds better broken sometimes... Star Trek proved that. "To boldly go, where no man has gone before" (or where noone has gone before, in the more P.C. The Next Generation). To go boldly? Come on. It has to be "to boldly go". Sorry, English :( I side with the writers on this one.

Also, word substitution of too, to, two, your, you're, their, there, they're, as someone has already mentioned.

Oh! Also, using an apostrophe every time you make something plural. At school, the lunch menu sometimes lists "taco's" or "ravioli's"... I also see it all the time online, and even *gasp* in the newspaper. If you're doing certain things, it's ok... like "the 1990's" (although I still prefer without). However, I don't like it when I read sentences like "I like too go out with my friend's, because my friend's go get pizza's with me or sometimes to."

Hence, since you are USians, your opinions of English spelling really don't count. :p
They count for us! :D
Honestly, who really cares? Webster made it a different language.

They count for us! :D
Honestly, who really cares? Webster made it a different language.

What was it Shakespeare said, "from hell's heart I stab at thee"? (And, to whomever tries to correct me: No, it was not Khan!)

What was it Shakespeare said, "from hell's heart I stab at thee"? (And, to whomever tries to correct me: No, it was not Khan!)
FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSS!

masterbate
alot
your/you're
to/too (two is not commonly confused)
there/they're/their
apostrophes used for plurals
apostrophes neglected in possessives
liek
z used to pluralize
z tacked onto the end of online shorthand
aLtErNaTiNg TyPe
gurl
boi
lack of variation between the colon/semicolon, ellipsis, and dash
incorrect use of "whom"

That is all I can think of at the moment...

FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSS!

Yes, honey?

Virtually any thing I read on online messege boreds, on which most messeges are invareiably written as if spell checkers, the abelity to prooff, or teh consept of simply pulling you're head out of you're ass was never invented.

Fuck sake, people, it's written communication.

Ahh, peoples talk like they've got shit in there mouthes too.

Fuck 'em.

Yes, they were deliberate.

Virtually any thing I read on online messege boreds, on which most messeges are invareiably written as if spell checkers, the abelity to prooff, or teh consept of simply pulling you're head out of you're ass was never invented.

Fuck sake, people, it's written communication.

Ahh, peoples talk like they've got shit in there mouthes too.

Fuck 'em.

Yes, they were deliberate.
I figured, but it's a sad day indeed when those things could be seen as accidental... and that day has come :-\

Yes, honey?
Fass= evil-incarnate :p

Fass= evil-incarnate :p

Don't you know it, papi! :fluffle:

Then and Than. They don't even sound the same! Yet people are frequently confusing them.

What was it Shakespeare said, "from hell's heart I stab at thee"? (And, to whomever tries to correct me: No, it was not Khan!)
It was Herman Melville (an American).
The apostrophe is misplaced though, isn't it?

The use of loose, instead of lose and a bunch that were already mentioned.

It was Herman Melville (an American).

You know, I actually thought I had written "Melville." How Shakespeare got in there, I don't know. I may have been thinking of MacBeth for some reason...

Anyway, you are correct. "Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee" is the famous part in Moby Dick where Captain Ahab pronounces his self-destructive loathing of the whale, just before he gives his own life in an attempt to kill it, IIRC. It's been a while since I read it.

The apostrophe is misplaced though, isn't it?

I don't think so. "Hell" in the genitive becomes "hell's." Or are you referring to something else?

Threads like this annoy me.

-Labor
-Color
-Meter
-'erbs
-soccer (it's sodding FOOTBALL, not SOCCER)
-the use of like after and before every analogy ( Idon't know how prevailant this is in the US, but it is tedious in the extreme)
-honor

It annoys the piss outta me when people misuse the following words:

To
Two
Too.

masterbate
alot

Is that an order?

What really bugs me . . . is when people have no bloody idea . . . how to punctuate properly . . . so they just use . . . elipses . . . for every pause . . . in the sentence.

-It's/its confusion.
-Then/than confusion.
-Misuse of apostrophes.
"I am going to my parents' house." (You are going to the house owned by both of your parents.)
"I am going to my parent's house." (You are going to the house owned by one of your parents.)
"I was born in the 1980s." (You were born in the nineteen eighties.)
"I like 1980s' fashion." (You like the fashion of the 1980s.)
-The painful lack of punctuation in a sentence. Use commas and periods liberally!
-Lose/loose.
-Where/were. (I still don't understand how people mix these two up.)
-"Arguement." It's spelled "argument."
-"Dependant" and "defendent." They're spelled "dependent" and "defendant."
-"Athiest." It's spelled "atheist."
-Failure to use the conditional tense. "I wish I were dead" rather than "I wish I was dead."

I'm sure I'll think of more later. Oh yeah, I don't like when people end sentences with prepositions.

"wahlah" (hideous perversion of "voila")
bookoo (equally hideous perversion of "beaucoup")

-"Athiest." It's spelled "atheist."
What you fail to pick up on, is that Christians capitalise their nice little label, as does other, similar groups. Capitalising some words or letters, is commenly used to stress, underline, or place Authority and Weight on certain words or concepts. God is not even God's name, yet God is capitalised none the less. When I Bother to capitalise words as I'm supposed to, I refuse not to do the same with atheism. Not doing so, gives readers a strange and unintended impression.

That said, horrible spelling & bad grammer doesn't bother me at all. Face it, it's most peoples' second, third or worse, language, and besides the Fact that relatively Few native english speaking people know how to wield their own language, the language itself got utterly fucked by the American independence.

What you fail to pick up on, is that Christians capitalise their nice little label, as does other, similar groups. Capitalising some words or letters, is commenly used to stress, underline, or place Authority and Weight on certain words or concepts. God is not even God's name, yet God is capitalised none the less. When I Bother to capitalise words as I'm supposed to, I refuse not to do the same with atheism. Not doing so, gives readers a strange and unintended impression.

That said, horrible spelling & bad grammer doesn't bother me at all. Face it, it's most peoples' second, third or worse, language, and besides the Fact that relatively Few native english speaking people know how to wield their own language, the language itself got utterly fucked by the American independence.

You misread what I wrote. I said "atheism," not "athiesm." (Notice that the 'I' and the 'E' are reversed.) I only capitalized 'atheism' because it was at the beginning of my sentence. I don't take issue with people who choose or don't choose to capitalize the word - I just don't like when people actually misspell it.

Also, from what I've read in the field of linguistics, Americans actually speak an older form of the English language than do the Brits. (Americans made a few minor changes, like added vocabulary words and the removal of the letter 'U' from 'favour' and 'colour.') English in England evolved at a faster rate than its American counterpart. So, yes, I don't know what you're talking about, really. I also don't think it's fair to blame Americans for fucking over the language, especially since you don't seem to have a handle on it at all. That's such a stereotype that gets thrown around, too. Ugh.

Rouge when people really want to write Rogue. And, of course, the reverse also holds true.

For some reason I can put up with a lot mistakes, but this one really bugs me.

That is all I can think of at the moment...
How about:
IT'S instead of ITS

Your and you're, and their, they're and there. Every time I see somebody mix those words up, I lose confidence in society.

Can anyone explain how come many people in the US say "NUCULAR (warfare, bomb, whatever)"? Many people, including president Bush.
I know it's not a "spelling error" per se, but it annoys the hell out of me.

Grammatical errors dont bother me provided the meaning gets across.what really annoys me is when people complain when someone sometimes use words wuch as:wat,dat,dem,dese,dose,de,wen,etc. when its blatantly obvious what they mean.

The following example of the confusion that results from spelling and punctuation errors is taken from the back cover of the book Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss:

A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."



LOL too funny.

One of the only grammatical errors that bugs me in the nation states threads is as follows: (paraphrasing by the way)

"I can except that it may have been done that way but..."

argh

It SHOULD be: "I can accept that it may have been done that way but..."

"except" should be used as follows: "that would taste great except for the leech sauce"

'except', related to exception. To leave something out etc.
'accept' related to acception. To agree with, recognise, admit etc.

"facist"

IT'S FASCIST, YOU FOOL

Can anyone explain how come many people in the US say "NUCULAR (warfare, bomb, whatever)"? Many people, including president Bush.
I know it's not a "spelling error" per se, but it annoys the hell out of me.
"Nucular. It's pronounced 'nucular'." - Homer J. Simpson.
I believe that may well explain it.

I don't think so. "Hell" in the genitive becomes "hell's." Or are you referring to something else?
You're probably right there. Apostrophes always annoy and perplex me. I usually follow the rule of using no apostrophe unless it's to show contraction or possession. Most of the time I'm right.

Can anyone explain how come many people in the US say "NUCULAR (warfare, bomb, whatever)"? Many people, including president Bush.
I know it's not a "spelling error" per se, but it annoys the hell out of me.

that annoys me,and why do they say 'aluminum' when IUPAC,and the rest of the world,says aluminium?

yes i know it was called aluminum once,but it isnt now!

<snip>
I'm sure I'll think of more later. Oh yeah, I don't like when people end sentences with prepositions.
People do that? Honestly, it can't be me. A preposition is something I wouldn't dream of ending a sentence with. :D

--soccer (it's sodding FOOTBALL, not SOCCER)

As I've explained in another thread, we've already got a football. It's a lot easier to call the two sports football and soccer (soccer being a word the Brits invented anyway, so don't try and pin it on us) than American football and association football.

What annoys me? When people spell "hypocrisy" as "hypocracy." Also when people use the phrase "equally as." It's either "one is as big as the other," or "the two are equally big." Morons.

Then and Than. They don't even sound the same! Yet people are frequently confusing them.


They sound almost exactly the same to me. >.<

I *always* get them confused.

People should spell Cincinnati correctly. It is NOT Cincinati or Cincinatti! It doesn't even look right! People need to stop being so stupid! :headbang:

You misread what I wrote. I said "atheism," not "athiesm." (Notice that the 'I' and the 'E' are reversed.) I only capitalized 'atheism' because it was at the beginning of my sentence. I don't take issue with people who choose or don't choose to capitalize the word - I just don't like when people actually misspell it.

Also, from what I've read in the field of linguistics, Americans actually speak an older form of the English language than do the Brits. (Americans made a few minor changes, like added vocabulary words and the removal of the letter 'U' from 'favour' and 'colour.') English in England evolved at a faster rate than its American counterpart. So, yes, I don't know what you're talking about, really. I also don't think it's fair to blame Americans for fucking over the language, especially since you don't seem to have a handle on it at all. That's such a stereotype that gets thrown around, too. Ugh.
Ah, sorry. I missed that. I guess that sort of proves the standart on NS General isn't the highest, hehe. Feel free to snicker behind my back - I'll log off after this post.

I was not in any way trying to blame Americans for the state of the english language. What I tried to say is: it is now a 2-in-1 language. Things like Microsoft English (US) isn't helping it either. And no, I am not blaming anyone. It just doesn't make the language easier. Especially not for forigners.

I'll be the first to admit that my english sucks. But keep in mind that this is neither my first, nor second language. Can you say the same?

"Grammer." That one always gets me. Especially when others insult your "grammer."

The funniest is when someone says "At least make sure your spelling and grammer is good!"

Always makes for a good chuckle.

The funniest is when someone says "At least make sure your spelling and grammer is good!"

Always makes for a good chuckle.

Makes me wish he or she would never speak again. Apparently we handle idiots differently.

Anything made by anyone claiming to be a grammar Nazi, a perfectionist, or a good speller. That really racks me off. Also 'its' <--> 'it's'.

people who do not use any capitalization or punctuation and let sentences run on because they dont capitalize or use punctuation which makes it very difficult to understand what they are saying i think those people should be banned from posting what do you think

I have bigger things to worry about then people's spelling.

people who do not use any capitalization or punctuation and let sentences run on because they dont capitalize or use punctuation which makes it very difficult to understand what they are saying i think those people should be banned from posting what do you think

i wholeheartedly agree also we should, ban people who misplace. punctuation because that makes it even more difficult; to read except that there are a lot of people,.,pfa-240120 on this forum whose first language isnt english they can be. exempt

That was so incredibly painful for me to write.

I have bigger things to worry about then people's spelling.
MURGLE!!!
::hopes against hope that this was on purpose::

When people say, "Where's it at?". I have even heard people say, "I should have worn me a sweater." Another error that bugs me is the misuse of 'may' and 'can'.

Labour (lay-boar)
Colour (call-ure)
Harbour (har-boar)

And anything else that can be spelled like that.

"Hey ma, I got a temp job at the local Layboar Ready."
"Oh, very good, son! What do you do?"
"I lay the corpses of boars on sidealks so I can freak people out."

"Hey nigga, you ain't allowed in dis bathroom. You've got's to use the Callured bathroom!"
"Da what?
"The Callured bathroom!"
"Okay..."

"Remember Pearl Harboar!"
"Dude, I think that's some kinda insult in like, French or something..."
"Die, anti-American scum!"

i hate it when people use 'ya' all the bloody time. vocally or otherwise. it's ok if they use it on occasion but if they completely replace the word 'you' with 'ya', then i get really ticked off :mad:

I wish I were you. Sorry couldn't help it :D carry on.

Yes, I struggled with that. (Damn it.) Okay, then, "I wish I *were* that other guy."

On another note, I get mildly annoyed when Americans and the British pick on one another about the language. Come on, kids, they're two different countries. Aren't they allowed to diverge a little?

Years ago, David Attenborough's series "The History of English" suggested that American English and the American accent have their roots in 17th century English. Thus, they used to talk like us. Interesting? Or is that too geeky even for this thread?

PS: Sorry for the delay in responding. I was busy tearing through my Strunk and White. Kidding. ;)

I wish I was you. I was a copy editor for almost 10 years. I had to give it up because arguing with clients who couldn't spell their own names the same way twice but were convinced they were the reincarnation of Faulkner was giving me an ulcer. Now I work for lawyers, and I live in the US. I get annoyed 50-60 times a day. (Ohh, my tummy....)

For the ulcer you should try Slippery Elm. I gave it to two alcaholics with bleeding ulcers and they both recovered.

As for grammer, people who can't tell the difference between 'then' and 'than,' really annoy me. And there's even a whole line of novels by Laurrel K. Hamilton that make that error over and over agian. Of course, since her entire line of novels looks like lovechild of "Interview With the Vampire" and "Miami Vice" I really shouldn't stress that much over it.

"Hey nigga, you ain't allowed in dis bathroom. You've got's to use the Callured bathroom!"
"Da what?
"The Callured bathroom!"
"Okay..."


I believe if you check your ebonics dictionary you'll see that that word is spelled "bafroom."

Irregardless and ain't are now in the dictionary. Irregardless, I ain't going to use either word.

'Grammer'. That's my favourite one.

Irregardless and ain't are now in the dictionary. Irregardless, I ain't going to use either word.

I hate irregardless. Either irrespective or regardless, pick one.

It's annoying when people mix up me and I. Example: "This must stay between you and I."