Word Nerd, Part 2

Thanks for all the comments on my last post, Word Nerd. I thought it might be fun* if we all posted our grammar and spelling pet peeves.

Margaret (who kindly corrected my grammar in her comment to my Word Nerd post) wishes people would differentiate between less and fewer. I'm on board with that. If you can count whatever thing you're referring to, you need to use fewer. If it's something you can't count, use less.

And because I'm a teacher at heart, I'll give an example: If we had fewer cats, I'd have less litter to scoop. (I know, ew. Bear with me.)

Karan wrote "My daughter's resume explained that she had experience stalking shelves. I told her that stalking was against the law.

This makes me laugh, because I recently read that someone was totally against internet stocking.

Joolie made a couple of comments: Boy, you really tow the line! (ducks), and my favorite, poring over vs. pouring over. I'm sure you know you should toe the line, especially if you're poring over party documents.

If you have any grammar or spelling peeves, other than the ubiquitous your/you're, its/it's, their/there/they're, or any apostrophe catastrophes, please leave a comment.

*Okay, so maybe it will only be fun for me. I accept that.

Comments

[Beth]

Oh, my biggie is "comprise." Almost everyone uses it incorrectly.

So, for folks who may be looking at their monitors saying, "Huh?": The whole comprises the parts, not the other way around.

A book comprises the pages. The pages don't comprise the book.

[coldbear]

Je croyais que c'était typiquement français ce genre de polémique!

[bhd]

With the it's/its thing, I just read it aloud or in my head the way it is written: "my cat ate it is food" and giggle at the perp. One of my dearest friends should be locked up for the "should of, could of" catastrophe, but dammit, I just have to overlook that.

[Mari]

people who write "definately" instead of "definitely". and a whole host of others including the use of "their" for an "all inclusive" pronoun instead of using "he" or "s/he".

[Margaret]

Oh, boy, where do I start? I think I'd better not...I'll make myself too annoyed.

[Krazy Kitty]

"Please bare with me". I most certainly will not.

This is not a grammatical mistake nor a pet peeve, but Karan's resume story reminded me of this kid back in France who asked me to proof-read the resume he had just translated to English. He used the wrong meaning of "échecs" and listed "failures" rather than "chess" under his hobbies.

[Krazy Kitty]

Oh, and "effect" vs. "affect".

[Sizzle]

A lot/Alot. It is not one word and if it is it is spelled differently! Ugh.

I see "separate" misspelled often.

[Scott Beveridge]

It concerns me when I receive email containing typos and grammar problems from schoolteachers and principals.

[Suzy]

"It's between him and I."

"I need to loose weight."

And I'm with Mari on "definately".

[Suzy]

How could I have forgotten "irregardless"?

[Krazy Kitty]

A lot vs. Alot, illustrated: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

[Jenny Perry]

Incorrect usage of the verbs to lay and to lie is one of my pet peeves. Lay takes a direct object (I lay SOMETHING on the bed) and lie is often followed by a prepositional phrase--I lie ON THE BED. Lay means to place, lie means to recline.

[Mrs. Happy Pants]

In honor of the recent Mother's Day, I bring you these gems from my mother-in-law:

The previously mentioned "Irregardless."

Organism=orgasm
I totally wish I was kidding about this one. It's SO hard to keep a straight face.

And the Greater Cincinnati Area special:
Warsh and Warshington

Used in a sentence: You warsh your clothes and take a trip to Warshington DC.