Mispronunciation/ Poor grammar that annoys you?

Tony EH

"Ye" and "Yer" :rolleyes:










































It's "Yiz" and "Yizzers"

Fratton Fred

Fizzlesque wrote: »

I often wonder why so many people (myself included) weren't effectively taught the correct use of it's versus its, even though we all managed to correctly learn when to use, and when not to use, apostrophes in most other circumstances.

Years ago my boss, who detested badly written English, pulled me up on adding an apostrophe when applying ownership to the word 'it'

"The swan broke its neck."
"Its neck was broken"

Otherwise it becomes 'it is'.

Ever since my boss pointed out this error, I can't help but notice it being used by lots of people who would otherwise use apostrophes correctly.

One person I know always insists on adding the apostrophe at the end of the 's' and that irritates me even more.

Actually while I'm on the subject of adding the apostrophe to the end of the word - I often see: peoples', which is ridiculous as people is already a plural, so no need to place the apostrophe at the end of the word.

Usually in those cases I want to correct the writer because it suggests to me they do care about using apostrophes correctly, but correcting people is often frowned upon, so I just grumble to myself and shout at the computer screen instead.

Someone needs to explain that to HTC and get them to alter the auto correct on their phones!

kingchess

.

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

Irish comedian (or should that be 'comedienne'? ) Aisling Bea was recently on 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, and as she was selecting her letters, she repeatedly asked "Can I get a vowel?" and "Can I get a consonant?".

Sean Lock wasn't happy. "YOU SHOULD BE ASKING IF YOU CAN HAVE A VOWEL!! IF YOU WANT TO GET A VOWEL, GET OUT OF YOUR CHAIR, GO OVER TO RACHEL AND GET ONE!!".[/QUOTE

can I have a vowel? please correct me if I am wrong(and I know that you will be very happy to do so) but should it not be-may I have?? does "can" not refer to an ability to do something , for example-can I jump across that canyon? and may i jump across that canyon? would not have the same meaning.

The King of Moo

kingchess wrote: »

can I have a vowel? please correct me if I am wrong(and I know that you will be very happy to do so) but should it not be-may I have?? does "can" not refer to an ability to do something , for example-can I jump across that canyon? and may i jump across that canyon? would not have the same meaning.

"Can" can be used to refer to possibility, ability and permission, whereas "may" is only used for possibility and permission.

Lots of smug teachers have tried to show that they're smarter than their students by answering the request "Can I go to the toilet?" with "I don't know, can you? :cool::rolleyes:" until the student finally asks "May I go to the toilet?
There's a special circle of hell reserved for those people.

kingchess

pint taken-only joking-POINT taken

Pinch Flat

kingchess wrote: »

please correct me if I am wrong(and I know that you will be very happy to do so) but should it not be-may I have?? does "can" not refer to an ability to do something , for example-can I jump across that canyon? and may i jump across that canyon? would not have the same meaning.

Used to have a teacher in primary school who used to reinforce this point.

'Sir, can I go to the toilet', to which he would reply 'you can, but you may not'. Proper ar$ehole he was.

Judgement Day

One mispronunciation that drives me mad every time that I hear it is Falcon - correct British and US pronunciations here: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/british/falcon#

The incorrect version is used in an advertisement for the massively expensive Mount Falcon Hotel in County Mayo and even offers courses in 'falconry'. Unless we've become the 51st state in the USA I don't see why the American pronunciation is used.

syngindub

not authors day, it's arthurs day

ProudDUB

Loose/lose


I do my best to overlook it, as Lord knows my own spelling is far from perfect. I can even cope with the fcuk ups in most sports threads, where the words "win" and "lose" would be fairly common.

But I have had to stop reading GAA and Heineken Cup threads at the end of the regular season, where people are speculating on what teams need to win/lose games to make the knock out stages.

It is head wreaking stuff. Seriously people, if you are going to post in sports forums, figure out how to spell the words WIN/WINNING and LOSE/LOSING. There are NO more important words FFS ! :mad::mad::mad:

Alun

ProudDUB wrote: »

Seriously people, if you are going to post in sports forums, figure out how to spell the words WIN/WINNING and LOSE/LOSING. There are NO more important words FFS ! :mad::mad::mad:

It's the same in the Motors forum ... cars seem to have 'breaks', and tyres (or worse still, tires :eek:) have 'threads' over there.

Alun

ProudDUB wrote: »

It is head wreaking stuff.

:mad:

ProudDUB

Ha ! You got me.

But I did already admit that my own spelling is far from perfect. That is why I try to let most things go. But not knowing how to spell the word "lose" in a sports forum, is a hanging offense imo.

Judgement Day

ProudDUB wrote: »

Ha ! You got me.

But I did already admit that my own spelling is far from perfect. That is why I try to let most things go. But not knowing how to spell the word "lose" in a sports forum, is a hanging offense imo.

Offence. Offense (American)

ProudDUB

Judgement Day wrote: »

Offence. Offense (American)

<

---

Look at my location. I am American. As is the spell check (yes, I said check and not cheque) facility on my American bought lap top.

alrightso

Been/being..."I have being shopping all day"..
I see this on facebook and emails daily, makes me a little twitchy

CrabRevolution

Judgement Day wrote: »

Offence. Offense (American)

This word has nearly become 2 in my mind, with 2 seperate spellings and pronunciations.

When I see offense, in my head its like the NFL commentary: off-ence

For offence though I picture it sounding like a surname: O'Fence.

Naturally I only use "offence" in writing and speaking.

dxhound2005

CrabRevolution wrote: »

This word has nearly become 2 in my mind, with 2 seperate spellings and pronunciations.

When I see offense, in my head its like the NFL commentary: off-ence

For offence though I picture it sounding like a surname: O'Fence.

Naturally I only use "offence" in writing and speaking.

Another one to watch out for is Separate. It is not spelt Seperate.

bnt

One I've only ever heard in Ireland is confusion between "rob" and "steal".
The conversation goes something like this:

"My phone was robbed."
"Robbed of what?"
"Someone took it from my bag!"
"Oh, you mean your phone was stolen!"

Short version: people are robbed, things are stolen.

mrsbyrne

"I aksed him to borrow me a tenner".
The Dunroamin Park Residence Association.

Tokyo

bnt wrote: »

Short version: people are robbed, things are stolen.

People or places - you can't steal a bank. Not easily, anyways

Dizzicizzi

Supposably instead of supposedly
For all intensive purposes instead of for all intents and purposes
Irregardless instead of regardless
Pacifically instead of specifically
Ex cetera instead of et cetera
Of upmost importance instead of of utmost importance
Had of/should of instead of had have/ should have
Then instead of than and than instead of then
Lay down instead of lie down
It's instead of its
Alot instead of a lot
Grammer instead of grammar
Dat instead of that

So yeah... All of those absolutely drive me mad along with their, there and they're mistakes, which and witch mistakes, confusing weather and whether, confusing three and tree, where, were and wear mistakes... Actually... A lot of grammar and spelling things bother me.

Too Tough To Die

The whole should of thing really fcks me. It's amazing the amount of people who get it wrong.

The King of Moo

Dizzicizzi wrote: »

Supposably instead of supposedly
For all intensive purposes instead of for all intents and purposes
Irregardless instead of regardless
Pacifically instead of specifically
Ex cetera instead of et cetera
Of upmost importance instead of of utmost importance
Had of/should of instead of had have/ should have
Then instead of than and than instead of then
Lay down instead of lie down
It's instead of its
Alot instead of a lot
Grammer instead of grammar
Dat instead of that

So yeah... All of those absolutely drive me mad along with their, there and they're mistakes, which and witch mistakes, confusing weather and whether, confusing three and tree, where, were and wear mistakes... Actually... A lot of grammar and spelling things bother me.

This is never correct, unless you mean "have had" or "had had."

Some people like to throw an extra "had" into the "if" clause of 3rd conditional sentences. For example:
"If I had have studied more, my grammar would have been better."
That's the only time I come across "had have," and even sometimes "had of," compounding the error with another, but it's quite wrong. There's no logic behind including that "have."

Still, at least it's not as bad as Americans saying "If I would have..."

dxhound2005

Too Tough To Die wrote: »

The whole should of thing really fcks me. It's amazing the amount of people who get it wrong.

You may be mishearing should've which is informal English as Should of. I very rarely see should of, could of etc. written. Should've serves the same purpose in speech as It's.

Look up amount versus number. Number would be more suitable than amount in the context above.

garancafan

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

What about the misuse of which and that, huh?

I have been pulled up on that in my youth.
This lady explains the conundrum very well.

earlyevening

4umbrellas wrote: »

'Troath' (e.g. 'I have a sore troath') instead of 'throat'. At least if they said 'troat' it would be because they couldn't pronounce 'th', but 'troath' is just infuriating.

..and don't forget "thung" for tongue. More than 50% of the population say it. I despair.

Samsgirl

Filum instead of film. Also Itly instead of Italy.

playedalive

garancafan wrote: »

I have been pulled up on that in my youth.
This lady explains the conundrum very well.

Essentially, I should know this one as I teach English as a foreign language. I even tried to explain it in class today as I corrected it for one of my students.

That is used when there is already no description of something you mention . Your reference is not defined as such until you add this important information. E.g. An organisation that fights against cancer.

'Which' refers to something that is already defined. The information is moreso additional rather than necessary for understanding . E.g. A cancer research organisation, from which many people benefit.

The King of Moo

The King of Moo wrote: »

Still, at least it's not as bad as Americans saying "If I would have..."

Hurts my brain every time

I always find the "being that I am tired, I will go to bed" kind of construction strange there as well. I don't know if it's wrong (sounds it), but it sounds strange

vellakare

Hostipal

Billon and Millon.

A few others

Judgement Day

Euro and cent - despite it being official policy - and I refuse to accept it. I always refer to Euros and cents in any correspondence or conversation but then I am a dinosaur who also refuses to accept kilometres in place of miles.

Alun

Too Tough To Die wrote: »

The whole should of thing really fcks me. It's amazing the amount of people who get it wrong.

It's amazing the number of people that get that wrong too ...

Scartbeg

Another particularly Hiberno-english trait is the use of "would be" instead of "am" or "is".

e.g. "I would be 30 this year" instead of "I am 30..."
The "would" implies a following "if" which is awkwardly absent.

Similarly, the use of "the house was knocked" instead of "the house was knocked down"

I'm not aware of either of these constructs being used anywhere else in English speaking countries. They don't particularly annoy me though, I just have to be careful that I don't use them when back in the home country or people look at me oddly.

The One Who Knocks

vellakare wrote: »

Hostipal

Billon and Millon.

A few others

That's spelling not grammar.

FullblownRose

Any of it coming from jumped-up pedants who seem to thrive on putting other people down.

Philo Beddoe

The One Who Knocks wrote: »

That's spelling not grammar.

It's pronunciation.

Philo Beddoe

dxhound2005 wrote: »

You may be mishearing should've which is informal English as Should of. I very rarely see should of, could of etc. written. Should've serves the same purpose in speech as It's.

Actually I think the opposite is the case, people who are used to hearing should've think they're hearing should of and then write the latter. I see it all the time

mickrock

Lots of people pronounce kilometre incorrectly.

It should rhyme with centimetre and millimetre rather than with speedometer.

Tokyo

mickrock wrote: »

Lots of people pronounce kilometre incorrectly.

It should rhyme with centimetre and millimetre rather than with speedometer.

American vs. British English pronunciation. Not necessarily wrong.

EoghanIRL

I hate inferior grammar especially " I done it yesterday / earlier " and secondly " can I go toilet? ".

can I go to the toilet? !!!!!!!
I did it yesterday !!!!!!!!!!!

MJ23

The way they say "wrong" in the English soaps.
"Wronga"

robman60

Scartbeg wrote: »

Another particularly Hiberno-english trait is the use of "would be" instead of "am" or "is".

e.g. "I would be 30 this year" instead of "I am 30..."
The "would" implies a following "if" which is awkwardly absent.

That's annoyingly common. People use it in all kinds of strange ways. For example, "I would be against that sort of thing" meaning I am against that sort of thing. You would be against it? Huh, what prevents you from being against it?

loalae

When people pronounce Italian as "Eye-talian" - wtf is that about? It's Italy not Eye-taly, where the hell did Eye-talian come from?

LynnGrace

'phenomina'... Just saw this elsewhere, a misspelling I presume, so not really a grammar/ pronunciation error. Still trying to figure out what it means though.

certifiedcrepe

People saying annoying as "a-nine".

You knew what else is a-nine?
An upside down 6.

I'll get my coat.

chuckyarelaw

Sarcrifice / Sacrifice

Ec cetera / Et cetera

The One Who Knocks

Philo Beddoe wrote: »

It's pronunciation.

Really, when's the last time you've heard someone say hostipal, billon (not the alloy) or millon.


Think about it, hos-ti-pal, bill-on, mill-on?

Don't think it was pronunciation.

Frank Lee Midere

The One Who Knocks wrote: »

Really, when's the last time you've heard someone say hostipal, billon (not the alloy) or millon.


Think about it, hos-ti-pal, bill-on, mill-on?

Don't think it was pronunciation.

Pretty sure the poster who said he didn't like billon meant pronounciation. It's a Dublin pronounciation. Inner city I think.

The One Who Knocks

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

Pretty sure the poster who said he didn't like billon meant pronounciation. It's a Dublin pronounciation. Inner city I think.

Oh that would explain it because I've never heard it personally.

So is "pronounciation" a spelling or pronunciation mistake?

shaneon77

Weather / Whether