Little Pet Peeves

[TZ]

3)  ...a liberry book.

There's another word like that:  "February"..."Feb-RU-ary," that is.  Hardly anyone pronounces this word the way it's spelled.  It's hard, I admit, but it can be done.

In the U.S., "Feb-yoo-ary" is the more common, and perfectly correct, pronunciation.  Yes, there is an "r" in the word.  In Standard American English, one can choose to pronounce it or not.  Both ways are acceptable.  "Liberry" is not.

My pet peeve is when people don't wave or otherwise acknowledge others who let them in whle driving.  People seem to think they are entitled to cut in wherever and whenever they choose.  About a month ago, BF was driving, and we nearly got sideswiped by a delivery truck.  We honked to avoid an accident, and at the next light, the guy rolled down his window and yelled at us.  He had his signal on to change lanes, which apparently meant that we HAD to slow down and hold up the entire left lane so that he could change lanes.  He could have sped up, as there weren't any cars in front of him, but he chose to almost hit us instead. 

[extranormal]

I also foam at the mouth when people refer to their signature as their "John Henry".

Especially since "John Henry" is sometimes used as a euphemism for a part of the male body. My husband's boss often asks him to "put your John Henry" on some form, and he struggles mightily not to laugh. She isn't a native speaker of English, and he would never want her to feel embarrassed, but it's quite a visual.

My own peeve is the snitty use of the words "People" or, worse, "Folks." As in letters to the editor that start off with, "People, wake up to reality" or "Let the city council do its job, folks." It's usually just so condescending. Almost as bad as letters telling me to "do the math."

[Balletmom]

My own peeve is the snitty use of the words "People" or, worse, "Folks." As in letters to the editor that start off with, "People, wake up to reality" or "Let the city council do its job, folks." It's usually just so condescending. Almost as bad as letters telling me to "do the math."

  Me, too!

My teeth-grinding favorite is the use of of "functionality" as a real word. My youngest daughter loves decorating shows, and if I hear them say, "We've increased the functionality of this room" one more time...

And on that note,  people on the design shows who  announce they want a room that is "warm and inviting." As if that's some kind of unique thing to them--to differentiate them from the rest of us, who want a traditional Alcatraz look.

[Pixie]

3)  ...a liberry book.

There's another word like that:  "February"..."Feb-RU-ary," that is.  Hardly anyone pronounces this word the way it's spelled.  It's hard, I admit, but it can be done.

In the U.S., "Feb-yoo-ary" is the more common, and perfectly correct, pronunciation.  Yes, there is an "r" in the word.  In Standard American English, one can choose to pronounce it or not.  Both ways are acceptable.  "Liberry" is not.

My pet peeve is when people don't wave or otherwise acknowledge others who let them in whle driving.  People seem to think they are entitled to cut in wherever and whenever they choose.  About a month ago, BF was driving, and we nearly got sideswiped by a delivery truck.  We honked to avoid an accident, and at the next light, the guy rolled down his window and yelled at us.  He had his signal on to change lanes, which apparently meant that we HAD to slow down and hold up the entire left lane so that he could change lanes.  He could have sped up, as there weren't any cars in front of him, but he chose to almost hit us instead. 

Could you please explain The February rule to my elementary school teachers who would swat your hand with a ruler if they hear you say FebUary when you meant FebRUary?    They made such an issue out of it, that I cannot stand to hear the "wrong" version.  They always said, "If the 'R' wasn't meant to be pronounced, it wouldn't be there"   I got in so much trouble the day I asked, "You mean like the E in white?" 

They also hated students saying Foe when they meant four..... and the "Can I/ May I" thing drove them up the wall! LOL!

[snoopygirl]

Tardiness and public nail clipping.  Oh how I am grossed out by the sound of nail clippers at the office!  I know how long your commute is, mine's longer.  I am able to get all of my personal grooming done at home! 

Last night's commute reminded me of two more -- loud cell phone conversations and excessive cologne.  I felt really badly that his Nana's cataract operation needed to be rescheduled, but I don't think Nana wanted everone in that train car to know about it.

I hate the loud cell phone conversations. I acutally wanted to say to one guy I am sure the other end of the phone wants me ( your cashier) to know all about their skin cancer. Yes this guy was loudly talking about somebodys moles and growths. Why?

[NEDESAPIO]

--people that treat me like I'm stupid and don't know what I'm talking about. I know I look younger than I am, but I have a brain. AND, while I'm not an  expert on everything,  I DO know stuff.

I also hate being condescended to.  But for me this is a BIG pet peeve, not a minor one.  In fact, it's my biggest pet peeve of all. 

Another grammatical pet peeve:  when people say, "Where do we stop at?"  "Where do you get off at?" (instead of "At what point do we stop?"  "Where do you get off?")  That usage is typical of my father's side of the family, and I HATE it.

[TZ]

3)  ...a liberry book.

There's another word like that:  "February"..."Feb-RU-ary," that is.  Hardly anyone pronounces this word the way it's spelled.  It's hard, I admit, but it can be done.

In the U.S., "Feb-yoo-ary" is the more common, and perfectly correct, pronunciation.  Yes, there is an "r" in the word.  In Standard American English, one can choose to pronounce it or not.  Both ways are acceptable.  "Liberry" is not.

My pet peeve is when people don't wave or otherwise acknowledge others who let them in whle driving.  People seem to think they are entitled to cut in wherever and whenever they choose.  About a month ago, BF was driving, and we nearly got sideswiped by a delivery truck.  We honked to avoid an accident, and at the next light, the guy rolled down his window and yelled at us.  He had his signal on to change lanes, which apparently meant that we HAD to slow down and hold up the entire left lane so that he could change lanes.  He could have sped up, as there weren't any cars in front of him, but he chose to almost hit us instead. 

Could you please explain The February rule to my elementary school teachers who would swat your hand with a ruler if they hear you say FebUary when you meant FebRUary?    They made such an issue out of it, that I cannot stand to hear the "wrong" version.  They always said, "If the 'R' wasn't meant to be pronounced, it wouldn't be there"   I got in so much trouble the day I asked, "You mean like the E in white?" 

They also hated students saying Foe when they meant four..... and the "Can I/ May I" thing drove them up the wall! LOL!

LOL Good for you!  Maybe it's a regional thing.  "Standard" American English is really only standard in theory, not in practice. 

[freakyfemme]

Crocs.

[StaciNadia]

-Chewing gum.  Ugh, I hate that sound.

-Those kids' shoes with the wheels on them.  They're like an accident waiting to happen!

-Rude customers.

Those are the big ones right now.

[Sirius]

It's vs. its.  It's is a contraction of "It is," and its is the possessive.  I see "The dog crouched over it's bone" all the time and it makes me want to scream.

For that matter, apostrophes in plural words.  I once saw a professionally made sign that read, "Familie's Welcome." 

Some of my mom's malaprops used to drive me crazy, but if you laughed you were doomed.  I've caught myself using a few of them, making Mr. Sirius laugh.  One I came out with just a few days ago was, "It doesn't make a hill of beans bit of difference."  Mr. Sirius looked thoughtful and said, "I don't think I've ever heard that before."  I told him it was one of my mom's malaprops, and he nodded in understanding.  Another one for when someone did something suggestive was, "Right out in front of God and everybody!"  She said this when we heard the song "My Ding-A-Ling" the first time.  Mom would say things like, "She was as white as a sheep!" We never knew what she'd come up with next. 

* If "malaprops" isn't the correct term for my mom's mangled sayings, please let me know what is correct.  Thank you.

[dawnfire]

i used to know someone who used to say flustrated...it's frustrated or flustered not both

[Musicwoman]

Ooooooooooooooooh, possesive apostrophes used wrongly!  My mother always used this example;

1.  The boy's bike.  One boy, one bike.
2.  The boys' bike.  Plural boys, one bike.
3.  The boy's bikes.  One boy, plural bikes.
4.  The boys' bikes.  Plural boys, plural bikes.

[Clara Bow]

Crocs.

Uh-oh....I have seven pairs of Crocs....

[blarg314]

I won't complain about my coworkers' and friends' grammar and pronunciation mistakes until my Chinese/Korean/Hindi/Japanese/Spanish/French etc is better than their English 

However, one linguistic pet peeve is the proNUNciation of pronunciation (i.e. it's not proNOUNciation). 

Others - people who can't be bothered to spell, capitalise or punctuate their emails, refuse to put in paragraph breaks and/or flagrantly abuse ellipses or 'lol' instead of putting in real punctuation.

The misuse of the word irony to refer to anything bad that happens to someone.

People who think phoning to tell you that they're going to be late is just as good as showing up on time.

[T'Mar of Vulcan]

Crocs.

Them's fightin' words!

Yes, Crocs are hideous but they're sooooo comfortable! As someone who struggles to find shoes (my toes spread out in the front, so I can't wear 90% of shoes), Crocs are right up my alley because my feet actuallyfit in them! They're very expensive here (the pair I currently have cost me R385 {approx. $55}), but they were so worth it.