Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

Inspired by this...

..I thought Id make a thred to find out if there are more pedants among us.

Personaly bad spelling/misuse of words online REALY anoys me. I dont mind misssed apostruphes or capital letters, but some things that ppl habitualy type make my brain hurt.

xamples are:
- people who don't know the difference between your/you're, and there/they're/their
- people who say 'this data'
- people who say 'alot'
- people who say 'it's' when they mean 'its'. though the reverse doesn't bother me so much.

Those are probably top of my hitlist...now tell me urs!

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

i have plenty, you mentioned most but these two always come to mind too: i'm/im, have/of.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

To be fair, as long as somebody's post is approaching readable i'm not too worried.

I don't go out of my way to correct other peoples' spelling/grammar etc as i'm rather prone to screwing up my own due to laziness.

However, their/they're/there does annoy me slightly but not as much as 'txt speek' and the general use of numbers inappropriately - gr8, h8 etc

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

You're supposed to use three fullstops in a line in that context.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

The only thing that really bothers me is Americanised spellings.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

In the context of what?

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

Americanized

:):):)

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

what's wrong with "this data"?

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

It's what I was taught :(

It was the only criticism I could make of her post :(

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

That's true.

However while you made that criticism you also made a mistake.

innit

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

data is singular, however it's not really wrong per se anymore since it seems to have been accepted through common use.


speaking of which, i'm also irritated by per se/per say.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

Try capitalising your sentences.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

American spellings of english words (hello to you, "center").
People who can't work out where an apostrophe goes. "Wont" has an entirely different meaning to "won't" you guys, go look it up.
People who still, after god knows how many years of being taught, can't use a comma or a paragraph properly.

On a slight side-track, there should be more use of the colon* and the semicolon!









* LAWL BUTSECKS

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

no thanks, that's also another pet hate of mine, although it's only prevalent whenever i type rather than write. i'm not too sure why though.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

On the semicolon thing, many people tend to use a hyphen instead.

The two are largely interchangeable so I guess it's ok; I like semicolons because they make me look refined!

The two are largely interchangeable so I guess it's ok - I like semicolons because they make me look refined!

See?

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

:/:up::down:

without question.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

i've been lied to!

(i'm going to research this)

edit: seems i'm wrong according to dictionary.com and wait no i was an idiot and misread many contexts. vampy was right, this data is still wrong, it should be 'these' etc

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

however,

normally 'this' does go with singular ("this post sucks")
where 'these' goes with the plural ("all of these posts of mine suck")

but if someone used the phrase "these data" in my presence i would definitely kick them in the face twice (the plural), so i'm not sure what she was suggesting. hence my post.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

i don't like people who to the splitting of infinities object.

it's a modern rule that stifles expression.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

read my 2nd edit.
(hmm, i also just noticed it doesn't show "x has edited this post blalba" anymore so you can't actually tell.)

though all this being said, this data is now accepted by the majority (also highlighted somewhat in; http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=data )

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

rediculous
your/you're
neccessary

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

Words such as "innit".

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

the data/datum question is boringly complicated.

it really depends on the subject.

when refering to a sheet of paper containing several lines of datum it is acceptable to say 'this' because you are refering to the sheet, which is a singular coagulation of the many, not the data as an independent whole.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

this post refutes all five statements of fact made by the edit it refers to.

somewhat impressive thinks i.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

yeah that one really needs to get stomped without mercy.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

you wound me.

P.S. henry we all know that it is necessary for a shirt to have one collar and two sleeves :)

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

yeah, i meant to make a third edit whilst i slowly managed to read through the page in it's wholesome, i jumped to conclusions and eventually just gave up bothering as the link explains everything. revision and posting do not mix.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

When communicating with people on the internet I'm happy as long as I understand what they write (or intend to write). But if it's an article made by a newspaper or any other things that is supposed to be "formal", I easily get annoyed over it.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

It annoys me when people complain about grammatical 'rules' which dont matter. Less/fewer is a good example because it makes no difference whatsoever. There is no possible situation in which your meaning would be obscured because you said 'less' instead of 'fewer', so its really just an excuse for people who know a bit more about grammar to feel superior to those who dont. "Who/whom" is another example of this, as is splitting infinitives, not using apostraphes in words like "can't", and the infamous "you and I".

The only time 'rules' matter is when disobeying them actually creates confusion or ambiguity of meaning. Abuse of punctuation is a good example of this as is riteing all ur psts in AOL speek. Prescriptive grammar is generally silly.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

;/ some of us are just dumb

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

however, in this perspective proper grammar is defined by what is understood,

which in turn is defined by the listener/reader most incapable of understanding.

Leaving the following dilemma:
Do we want the most intelligent people defining right and wrong (and perhaps lording it over the rest),
or the least intelligent?

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

Your entire post annoys me. There are two N's in annoy, two L's in personally, thread has an 'a' in it, need I go on? ..

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

Being intelligent has nothing to do with it, pretty much every single change to language ever has been opposed by those who considered themselves 'intelligent' and 'men of words'. Our language managed to evolve from Olde English to what we have now despite constant protestations so I doubt that continuing to ignore prescriptive grammarians is going to destroy English. If "the intelligent" had their way then latin would probably still be the language of choice for educated people.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

non-native speakers/readers of english are not a possible situation?

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

I'm pretty tolerant when it comes to grammar or spelling, I guess that is because I don't care much about how I write myself. The only thing that annoys me is this 'leet-speak' with things like 'u r'. What's the point? In exchange for saving four letters you make the text unreadable. I agree with Nod. As long as it's not confusing it really doesn't matter.


PS I actually had no idea that it's important whether I use 'fewer' or 'less'. I would just use whatever sounds right :confused:

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

And iirc there is an E in Example :D

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

The data? :)


As an aside, i think i am one of the people that must really annoy alot of people in this thread. Such as my frequent use of 'alot' instead of 'a lot'. I also seem to do many of the other misspellings, but ah well :\

Americanisations (lol yahwe) really irk me too. Center, Mom, decentralization - but in particular color really stands out for me. For some reason, i read it as "Koe Lore" as opposed to colour which is more like Kulla. Yes, whinge at my accent :(.

There are other things that irk me too, though i tend to notice them more in speech - namely "youse" generates an autocorrect from me; "you". :\

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

Incorrect. Some measures can be quantised or continuous, so, assuming the context has not been granted, confusion can arise.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

Mine have already been mentioned. Misspelling of ridiculous, lack of capitalisation, use of the word 'innit' and people not noticing when language has evolved.
I wouldn't say that was symptomatic of "leet speak" - that's AOL speak, if it's anything. Leet speak is more to do with "hax0rs", "b0xen", "pwning n00bs" and so forth. In the early days of leet speak on bulletin boards, I doubt anyone would get away with writing "u r". If anything, writing in leet was more effort, not less.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

No No No No NO!

For gods sake, you have no idea the amount of Pedantry we have to put up with on a daily basis. For the love of god PLEASE dont encourage them to try and force their own grammatical standards onto the rest of us!

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

I hope someone forces your head under the water.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

In other words, "colon" with a different final letter. What lovely images you must have when you read American English ("I love all the different colors in this room", "This painting is just an explosion of color", etc.).

If there is something bad about your accent, it's not apparent here, since that's how "colour" should be pronounced.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

People that start a sentance with "and".

People that use a comma before the word "and".

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

That's sometimes acceptable (the and thing I mean).

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

Im particularly unimpressed with this comment.

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

"I'm"

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

"Genious"

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

This is generally fine.
And so is this

Re: Grammar/spelling: what really annoys you?
 

Vampy:(