Thread: Commonly used bad grammar

Originally Posted by edhewitt

I agree one hundred percent.
"the dog wants out" - No it doesn't it wants to go or get out
"he needs picked up" - No he doesn't he needs to be picked up!!!
I know a few New Zealandes who do this a lot, maybe it is a New Zealand thing.

Usually a kids' and parents' thing.

Originally Posted by BeJay

I had a friend that I did a lot of duck hunting with. I would always intentionally say gooses instead of geese. He eventually lost it and went off About how gooses is not a word. I just grinned and said "I know".

I sometimes use 'childrens' or 'fishes' to indicate my foreignness when the speedo is too subtle and the mankini too loud

My fathers pet bad grammar was the use of unthaw. "I am going to unthaw some meat for supper." It made him get crazy eyes.

Originally Posted by RezDog

My fathers pet bad grammar was the use of unthaw. "I am going to unthaw some meat for supper." It made him get crazy eyes.

Agreed - like those who use the non-words, "irregardless" and, "anyways".....drives me bat-crap crazy....

"Melk" for milk.
Ahhhh!

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Don't forget the biggie-that terrible word, irregardless.

I was maybe 18 and had a 'friend' correct me on irregardless. That is not a word he said, and in front of other people. It is regardless. I copped an attitude but of course he was correct. I also don't care for, "ain't got none." If I'm in a playful mood I'll reply, "Well how many do you have ?" Usually provokes a quizzical look, and I have to be careful who I use that on. Discretion being the better part of valor.

IIRC it was in the 1960s that "hopefully" started being used regularly in TV broadcasts and sometimes in newspaper articles. Hopeful is correct, hopefully, like irregardless is not a word, though it may be by now due to practically universal usage.

What annoys me especially are clichés that become ubiquitous. For instance, in the 1980s some politician began saying, "At the end of the day ... &fc." Before I knew it every Tom, Dick and Harry on C-Span, or the nightly news was repeating that ad nauseam.

Another one is heard often on Christian radio ...... "Come alongside." If you will just come alongside ....... us, them, him, her ....... whatever .......... annoys me know end when phrases get picked up and are repeated over and over.

I once corrected my boss on "irregardless" - he was 25 years older than me and a real stickler for grammar and spelling -he thought about it for about 5 seconds and said "you're right, make it 'regardless' ". Those 5 seconds were a long wait!

I worked with a girl who thought it was clever to say, "I have no ideal". It drove me nuts but I wouldn't let on because, for all intensive purposes, it would encourage her.

An English professor told me the grammar book Eats, Shoots & Leaves has numerous grammar mistakes. He thought the mistakes were intentional.

Originally Posted by Leatherstockiings

I worked with a girl who thought it was clever to say, "I have no ideal". It drove me nuts but I wouldn't let on because, for all intensive purposes, it would encourage her.

An English professor told me the grammar book Eats, Shoots & Leaves has numerous grammar mistakes. He thought the mistakes were intentional.

I never read it, but I remember when it came out. Hearing the title might stimulate visions of a weekend in Chicago, but it actually refers to an animal, I forget what kind, a panda maybe, who 'eats shoots and leaves'.

Not a book on grammar, but a good read for lovers of philology, A Hog On Ice by Charles E. Funk (Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary). Gives origins of expressions that were common in the 19th century, such as the title and 'once in a blue moon.' Stuff like that. He wrote a whole series of books on word origins that are entertaining for folks who enjoy that sort of thing.

That said, I take perverse pleasure in following reports about one presidential candidate's attempts at English. Very interesting (see above).