"Worst grammer, and, speling, pet pieves" Topic

There is of course apostrophe abuse. There are two examples on the front page today. I will rate that with two "harrumphs".

"Less and Fewer".
"Less" is qualitative, "fewer" is quantitative.
This rates a "harrumph and a half".

"This begs the question…" is always used incorrectly. I gave up on this one because I do not understand the "proper" use. I THINK I do, but maybe not.
I used to give this one harrumph, but have downgraded it to a half harrumph.

"I should of went…" I hear professionals in TV journalism (OK, ESPN analysts… ) use this all the time.
It was a sad day when nuns were prevented from slapping kids for saying or writing this. I give this 4 harrumphs.

"Then" and "Than"
Different words with different meanings.
One Boo for improper use.

"There", "Their", and "They're"
Different words with different meanings.
One Boo and one Hiss for improper use.

"To", "Too", and "Two"
Different words with different meanings.
One Boo and one Hiss for improper use.

"Loser" and "Looser"
The first one is actually a word.
The second one isn't. (The phrase is "more loose")
They are not even close in meaning.
Boo, Boo, Hiss Hiss

"Prolly" is not a word.
"LOL", "FWIW", "ASFAIK" and all their (note proper use of the posessive) derivations are not words.
Boo, Boo, Boo, Hiss, Hiss, Hiss

"Loser" and "Looser"
The first one is actually a word.
The second one isn't. (The phrase is "more loose")
They are not even close in meaning.

Well, yes and no.

Yes, "loser" and "looser" are definitely two different words.

But, no, "more loose" is absolutely *not* correct. (Unless you're talking about more loose change, more loose women, or more loose-fitting pants.)

You can Google online dictionaries to confirm, or just take it to the next level: Ask yourself, have you ever read or heard the phrase "most loose"? Compare:
"These shoes are the loosest I've ever owned."
"These shoes are the most loose I've ever owned."

OK, I'll make an exception for vernacular stoner-speak: "Dude, these shoes are *most* loose!"

All of the examples given so far are egregious, but worse for me are the common mistakes that can actually make it difficult to parse the speaker's or writer's meaning. And, for me, that's a two-fer: the online proliferation of run-on sentences coupled with punctuatiaphobia (the fear of using punctiation when typing, especially on smart phones).

One of my pet peeves is the use of undefined acronyms. I understand the desire for brevity when composing a title for a post, but please don't assume that everyone understands that EU refers to Expanded Universe rather than European Union.

We all know that should be "looseras".

It's not a "mute" point, it's a moot point!

It was a "moo" point. Like a cow's opinion. "Who cares?" It's "moo".
--Joe Tribiani

Incorrect use of the word, "myself."

The tree was chopped down by myself, Bill, and Jim. [GAAAAH!]

Should be…

The tree was chopped down by Bill, Jim, and me.

Oh, yeah, and can someone please tell me the possessive form of "Attorney General"?

Accept and except
Affect and effect
Different meanings and uses.

"I should of went…"

Is it the use of "of" or of "went" that you're objecting to?

Toshach, I would suggest that "Attorney General's" would be the clearest."Attorneys General's" would be the plural possessive. Alternatively, "The x of the Attorney(s) General" avoids the issue entirely.

The Oregon State Bar seems to agree: link

(although I disagree when it comes to plurals of words ending in "s"; "Jones' car" is perfectly acceptable, and not a journalistic cheat.)

Kub(b)elwagon instead of Kübelwagen

I dislike the use of the word 'like'. Makes me wince when I see or here it used incorrectly.

E.G. "I was like at the train station." Should be I was at the train station.

2nd E.G. "There are like 35 miniatures in a box." Should be There are approximately 35 miniatures in a box.

Is it the use of "of" or of "went" that you're objecting to?

Yes.

"Your" and "You're"

I dislike Nazi in the above video. Can it be deleted please.

You are anti smoking, you believe in using punctuation correctly, you use grammar correctly, you are not a thing Nazi.

To quote Churchill "this is the kind of language I will not up with put"

Gowers modern English usage.

I would console you with a pat on the back while saying, "There, their, they're…"

XRV, that's just plain evil.

"Less" is qualitative, "fewer" is quantitative.

This one has always puzzled me. My puzzlement being expressed in the question:

How do you say 6 < 10

?
--
Tim

Here's the best way I've found to remember, courtesy of Osford Dictionaries: link

In summary:

Use fewer for things that have plurals: fewer apples.

Use less for things that don't have (commonly used) plurals: less money, less time.

Use less for numbers: six is less than ten, the movie would be better if it was less than two hours long.

There are some rare exceptions, but those rules cover the vast majority of cases.

"Osford"?!?! I'm *pretty* sure I meant "Oxford."

"Hoard" versus "Horde". They both mean a lot of something, but generally one finds it more pleasant to discover a golden hoard in his back yard, not a horde.

Ron

It's a muzzle brake, not a muzzle break. Another error frequently seen on this site (not sight) is ect. used instead of etc. Remember, every time you make a typo the errorists win!

A few unusual misspellings I've encountered:

"buisness" instead of business

"probibaly" instead of probably

"guang" instead of gang.

Less/Fewer – I think of Milk to remind me.

You have less milk. Therefore you have fewer milk bottles.

You can't have fewer milk, therefore you don't have less bottles.