English Abusage That Drives You Crazy
One of the ones that makes my skin crawl is when people use "of" instead of the contraction of "have." For example, "My plants died. I should of watered them before visiting my family for a week."
What are some of yours?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hannah Cutts on -
Depends which way you look at it. Yes, because of the time when the pilgrims settled, American English has a lot of the features of Late Middle English, explaining some of the variant spellings of certain things. But it was the Webster dictionary that really made a lot of the changes, like the drop of "u" in "colour" and "labour".
However, even though British English moved on into Modern English, the rise of technology and globalisation has meant that we're actually starting to take on a lot of the Americanisms that we pretend to detest. The OED has actually allowed "spelled" and "spelt" as past tense forms of "to spell". So in the end, it's all circular anyway. As long as people can understand each other, it shouldn't matter!
By the way, this came from my English Language A2 class, so there may be some discrepancies, but I do have a rough idea of what I'm talking about =)
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Permalink Reply by Unseen on -
It probably makes sense for mainstream English to be determined by the largest group of native speakers ("native" here meaning born into a region where English is the prevailing language).
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Permalink Reply by Unseen on
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I heard an academician say that the Oxford English one hears today in Shakespearean plays is nothing like the English of Shakespeare's day. Actually, he said, the English of that time resembled the brogue of the American Carolinas more than anything else.
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Permalink Reply by Becca on -
Once in a while I catch people saying or typing things that make me cringe. Then I remember that language is dynamic it constantly changes and each person uses and experiences language in slightly different ways. I'm not saying we throw all our pronunciation and grammar out the window it is important to understand others and to be understood and to have formal ways to communicate but to nit pick about little things in an average human conversation is a waste of time.
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Permalink Reply by Danny Sanchez on -
I used the "dynamic and constantly changes" argument with my English teachers in High School they agreed but refused to raise my grade.
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Permalink Reply by Becca on
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Well, school is one of those place that you are expected to use formal ways to communicate.
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Permalink Reply by Unseen on
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There are two different dimensions operating here. 1) Your usage is correct in one sense if people understand what you say. At the same time, 2) language properly used is usually better understood by more people than when it is misused.
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Permalink Reply by Amy L. Cook on -
Irregardless.... I Hate Irregardless!!! IT IS NOT A WORD, OKAY???? The word is regardless. You don't need to add to it. It's just fine all by itself,
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Permalink Reply by Unseen on
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Even if one takes the model of "responsible" and "irresponsible," in that case the additional syllable has the effect of negating the original meaning, whereas when people use "irregardless" it's intended to mean the same as "regardless."
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Permalink Reply by Jewelz on -
I think it's the mutant hybrid baby of irrespective and regardless. That one annoys me as well. This entire thread is highly amusing.
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Permalink Reply by T A A on -
...or at least stick to errors which are without controversy, or are simply common knowledge :)
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