Words that people commonly use incorrectly ...

[JanT]

Maybe these aren't words used incorrectly but phrases that just make me cringe. I hate it when someone uses the word "invite" meaning invitation, i.e., "Did you get an invite?" Like nails on a chalkboard to me and sounds so ignorant I want to scream.

The other phrase that's like nails on a chalkboard? When someone uses the word "eats" to describe food, i.e., "Those were some good eats." YUCK!!!! Another ignorant-sounded phrase.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Watch Out For The Good Grammar Police Squad.

Oh, no !

It's National Grammar Day !

Aieeeeeee !

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

Lots More Words People Can Use Incorrectly . . .

. . . not that there's anything wrong with any of them -- the words or the people.

Click here.

Fortunately most of those words are seldom found on TUG-BBS.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Bill4728]

How about this from a current post

biennial, which is "every other year".

Bi-annual (or, more correctly, semi-annual) would be twice per year

 

[Conan]

I was taught that one doesn't feel good, but most people say that one doesn't feel well. Shouldn't an intransitive verb be modified by an adjective? Unless, of course, speaking about one's sense of touch.

"I feel well"
must have crept over from
"I am well"
which is correct.

My peeve is with people who say "I feel badly" instead of "I feel bad"
[unless of course they're wearing thick gloves]

 

["Roger"]

....Click here.

Fortunately most of those words are seldom found on TUG-BBS.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

I hope I don't sound too churlish, but what a display of supercilious hubris for these feckless editors of a lexicon to sit around and act as if they are incontovertible authorities with the acumen to decide which words are really important versus those that are jejune. For my part, I will not kowtow to their efforts to exercise totalitarian control over the English language.

 

[sstamm]

I hope I don't sound too churlish, but what a display of supercilious hubris for these feckless editors of a lexicon to sit around and act as if they are incontovertible authorities with the acumen to decide which words are really important versus those that are jejune. For my part, I will not kowtow to their efforts to exercise totalitarian control over the English language.

What a loquacious soliloquy! :rofl:
Well done!

 

[Lisa P]

Only a few errors grate on my nerves. A resort is not "nice and quite" but it's "quiet" if you remember the sound of "-et" at the end of the word.

I haven't been able to watch the State of the Union Address and Minority Response for decades without gritting my teeth at "Nuke-U-Ler danger." How do people rise to the highest positions in our nation and virtually NO ONE corrects this mispronunciation in these public speeches???!?!?

The other phrase that's like nails on a chalkboard? ... "Those were some good eats." YUCK!!!! Another ignorant-sounded phrase.

Oh, I know what you mean! Why can't they just say it right??!? "Them's some good eats!" :hysterical:

There's a quaint southern "favorites" expression that's getting so overused, it's lost its last smigeon of charm: "I do love me some Keith Urban" or "He loves him some chocolate cheesecake." :annoyed:

 

[Jestjoan]

Yes, Laura Bush did at a White House Dinner

"But George and I are complete opposites — I'm quiet, he's talkative, I'm introverted, he's extroverted, I can pronounce nuclear —"

Her speech was pretty darn funny.

 

[EAM]

cue and queue

 

[Mel7706]

omelette

Exampul;'. " I should hit you for what you just did,
but omelette let it slide."

 

[Don]

The newscasters on the Ft. Myers TV stations are terrible at pronouncing words. One of the worst examples is "elemenery" rather than elementary (schools).

 

[AwayWeGo]

Timeshare.

When I go to a vacation-ownership resort (i.e., a "timeshare"), I never-ever share the time with anybody.

My time in my unit is mine, all mine. No time is shared.

The unit -- the place -- sure, that's what I share. I'm there during my deeded week & other people are there during their deeded weeks. We share the unit during different times. We never share our own time in our sequentially owned unit.

It's not timeshare at all.

Any way you shake it, the actuality is it's placeshare.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

I Don't Care What You Call It. It's No Fun Any Way You Shake It.

Or - 'prostrate cancer' instead of 'prostate cancer'.

Click here for 2 famous TV characters who dealt with that.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Fletcher921]

Sinus

My pet peeve is when people say "I have sinus today" rather than telling me that they are having sinus trouble today or congestion or ??.

Oh, yeah - also. Our daughter's pal mentioned yesterday that her Dad had a pet Datsun that was a service dog- not a dachshund, a Datsun...

wow!!

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I hope I don't sound too churlish, but what a display of supercilious hubris for these feckless editors of a lexicon to sit around and act as if they are incontovertible authorities with the acumen to decide which words are really important versus those that are jejune. For my part, I will not kowtow to their efforts to exercise totalitarian control over the English language.

I couldn't understand what Roger was saying here, but with the help of The Dialectizer I was able to translate it into more understandable Elmer Fuddese:

I hope I don't sound too chuwwish, but what a dispway of supewciwious hubwis fow these feckwess editows of a wexicon to sit awound and act as if they awe incontovewtibwe authowities wif the acumen to decide which wowds awe weawwy impowtant vewsus those that awe jejune. Fow my pawt, I wiww not kowtow to theiw effowts to exewcise totawitawian contwow ovew the Engwish wanguage.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

Who & Whom -- I & Me -- That & Which -- Was & Were -- Sheesh.

Click here for 5 grammar lessons by somebody who knows all that stuff.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[hibbeln]

I can't believe no one has said it yet.......

"Good" vs. "Well"
!!!!!
​

I have noticed a sharp uptick in people trying to use "well" correctly in casual conversation........but they are using it incorrectly! Basically they take out every "good" and change it to "well". AAAAARRRGH! It grates on my nerves AND ears.​

 

["Roger"]

Years ago, I saw a sign the made me laugh. Someone was apparently aware of the fact that people use "good" and "well" incorrectly (normally using the word "good" when they should be using the word "well.") Well (no pun intended), they tried not to make the same mistake, but in the process... overcompensated. The sign was outside a dry cleaning establishment trying to promote business. It read "It pays to look well when you dress for success. Have your suits cleaned here."

 

[AwayWeGo]

Doing Well By Doing Good.

"Good" vs. "Well"​

When people ask, "How are you?" I like to respond by saying, "Well, I'm feeling good."

Plus, who can ever forget that famous James Brown soul-music hit-tune -- "I Feel Well"?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Passepartout]

Wensday
Febyouary
lieberry

Jim

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Plus, who can ever forget that famous James Brown soul-music hit-tune -- "I Feel Well"?

Whatttttt??? Do you mean to tell me he wasn't singing about having sensitive nerve endings in his fingers??

*****

More seriously, though, "I feel good" is a natural change in the language. Setting the issue of predicate adjectives and simply focusing on meaning, "I feel well" is not the same as "I feel good"; i.e., the difference isn't simply an improper use of an adverb as a predicate adjective. Further, there really isn't an efficient alternate that captures the meaning; "I feel happy" might be close, but it's still not the same as "I feel good".

There is a void in the language, and "I feel good" is filling it.

Moreover, since "good" is an adjective as well as an adverb, it's not completely incorrect to use it as a predicate adjective. The problem really comes because "good" is an irregular adverb. Normally in English when an adjective is used as an adverb, a "-ly" suffix is added. "Slow" becomes "slowly". "Glad" becomes "gladly", etc. But we don't change "good" to "goodly" when we use "good" as an adverb. (In fact "goodly" is an adjective.) If "good" followed ordinary rules, James Brown would be perfectly fine singing, "I feel good", while a person with a well-developed sense of touch would say "I feel goodly".

*******

"Slow" and "slowly" is one of the incorrect uses that bugs me. It's not "Drive Slow"; it's "Drive Slowly".

 

[pjrose]

ect instead of etc

where's it at

I was over to Gramma's

between he and I

except / accept

anyways

"same exact"

manor / manner

site / sight

youse (plural of you)

You got any change on you?

He copied off my test.

Signs in front of people's houses: "The Smith's"

home rather than house (as in a home for sale)

hopefully rather than I hope (as in hopefully it won't rain today)

than / then

 

[pjrose]

Quote marks used for emphasis - e.g. "Fresh" meat or "Real" Wood furniture.

do and due

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

He copied off my test.

What would you say instead of off?? "Off" is an important qualifier in this sentence because that means that he only copied part of my test. If you delete the off, it's not correct because then the sentence means he copied the entire test.

So what word would you suggest instead of "off"?