Pet peeves. I have very few. I wouldn’t even call this a pet peeve, necessarily – it’s just something I notice more than any other grammatical error. Unnecessary capitalization, my friend. It always gives me pause and it often makes me laugh. Not in a – hey, look at this dummy – sort of a way, I just think it’s funny. Do people capitalize random words for emphasis? That’s what I’m thinking is the goal. I know I’m not perfect and I’m sure I make lots of errors when I write and publish these posts. I like my writing to be conversational so it’s not always correct, grammatically speaking.
Last night I was searching Craigslist for a friend (shout out Sara – I’ll be getting back to you soon) and came across this ad for a sewing machine. I didn’t change this a bit, just copied and pasted:
My wife has a Sewing machine forsale, She already has a nother one and dont use this one This one has different cams to do a lot of different Stiches which I thought she might like. Turns out she just wants to keep her older one. Were going to take a Loss and decided to sell this one for Only $60/obo I see no reason to pack this one away when SomeOne could be getting a lot of good use out of it. First One with $60.00 gets it!!!
Ahhhh, this kind of made my day, which makes me a sick, sick individual. Does anyone else think it’s funny? When you throw out the rules, which words get the special treatment, which ones don’t? Therein lies the hilarity.
Do we know each other well enough to share our pet peeves? Do I dare ask for yours? Yes, I dare.
I have many, but the one that has been running rampant lately has been unnecessary question mark usage. For example:
Tyler: What are you doing tonight?
Person: I don’t know?
–
Tyler: Isn’t that “Boom Boom Pow” song the best?
Person: I think so?
–
Tyler: Would you say that “Karma Chameleon” is Boy George’s unquestioned masterpiece?
Person: I’m not sure?
–
I think you get the gist. Those are statements. Just because you are unsure of an answer to something does not make it a question.
How about the whole Your/You’re or Their/There debacle? Ugggh…….(And yes, the unnecessary capitalization was an added bonus just for you.)
Aw, man. I agree with all of you. One of mine is the proper use of apostrophes… Or should I say “apostrophe’s”. ;)
Apostrophes should be used for contractions and to show possession, such as “it’s my dog” or “that’s Sara’s pen”. I get more worked up about this than I should, haha. :) Rest assured any time I type it wrong, it’s a typo and not on purpose.
Shout out to Jessie! :) thanks in advance!
Oh yeah, Tyler’s post made me think of something… There was a student in my Corporate Governance class this summer that seemed to speak entirely in questions. She had good comments, but constantly phrasing them as questions was both annoying and made her sound… Dumb? ;)
Jessie, I Understand your Problem. Its Unbelievable How many peoples use Wrong grammer or whatever? I reed threw the Craigs list two and it makes Me wonder How they ever Gratuated from high School!!
First off, I am the one you all speak of with the their/there and misused capital letters. So bad that when I told my sister I was subbing for language arts today she laughed like it was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. As for my pet peeve. I can’t stand it when people memorialize passed friends and family with a dumbass sticker on their(is this right?)car. Like Bill “Wild Child” Mahoney is appreciative that his name is on the sticker on your shitty Taurus. Plus, half his name is missing b/c you scraped it off during last winter’s ice storm and didn’t fix it. Now its just Bi d Child” Ma ney. Lame
Just a few of my Pet Peeves in no particular order:
1) Obama hysteria.
2) Congradulations instead of Congratulations.
3) Cyclists that think it’s cool to ride on the road with traffic whether or not there is a sidewalk and/or bike lane. I may only drive a Civic, but I will still crush you.
4) Tomarrow instead of Tomorrow.
5) There’s a girl I know on Facebook who is constantly saying Bomfire instead of Bonfire… and apparently she has a Bonfire like every weekend according to her status updates. How is it that none of her friends or family members haven’t corrected her?
6) PEOPLE WHO USE ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME! I FEEL LIKE THEY’RE YELLING.
7) Overuse of the word Actually.
8) Overuse of the exclamation point!!!!!!!
9) Motorcyclists who race down the middle of a lane, between cars.
10) People who say EXpecially or EXpresso.
LOL! You guys are soooo funny! And seriously snobbish! Travis, the decals… ah, reminds me of the Calvin “pee on” decals. These would seriously infuriate me whenever I’d see them. Remember when they popped up everywhere awhile back? I just found a web site, I’m not going to link to it here because I don’t want to send any traffic their way, but a few of the items or words being urinated upon: Chevy, Ford, IRS, work, fire (go fire department!), pee stream going back into mouth (cheeks full), non-smokers, Jesus fish symbol. And that’s just to name a few, the decals are highly customizable, you see. Girl “pee on” decals are also available. Society? Where you at? You’ve got some explaining to do!
Oh, so many! Two that I’ve most recently agonized about:
1) The phrase, “Do you see what I’m saying?” No, I don’t. I can’t actually see words coming out of your mouth. Unless you’re writing/typing them. But you’re not right now. I do HEAR what you’re saying – I’m not deaf. But it’s really more polite to say, “Any questions?” or “Is that more clear?” or “Do you understand?” Garh.
2) Dentists who try to get you to talk while their fingers are stuck in your mouth. Really? Did they teach you that in dentist-school as a form of torture? I will not reply to you if you do this to me. Garh again.
Phew, that was therapeutic. Thanks, Jessie!
One of my pet peeves is the incorrect use of seen/saw. “I seen it in the paper last week” is not correct! Where was “Schoolhouse Rock” when these people needed it?
Consider prostrate instead of prostate, and spaded(as in spade-ed) instead of spayed…just a start.
Hehehe… And those horrible testicle replicas people put on trucks. EW.
I detest phrases such as “point in time” or “bottom line” .
We had a dear man in our church who always said “tremendjous” and another one who would say “chick”, when he meant chic. One Sunday morning many years ago, I was told I looked very chick. I refrained from cackling.
Now I would be thrilled, chick or chic, what the heck.
Got one. Speaking of crap people put on their cars, how bout the peeing calvin decal? They have to be running out of ideas of things to be peed by now. The last one I saw was the word “terrorism” being peed on. Like you’re really making a statement with that? Like you invented hating terrorism? Geez.
I can’t stand it when people don’t use their turn signals. Especially if they are turning left on a busy street.
I don’t like no double negatives either!
In response to the car decal comments. What else can they think of to put on cars? I saw a lady with a decal on her car the other day. It was a Calvin pooping on “ex-boyfriend”. Brilliant. Emily, I’m pretty sure she’s dating the guy who hates terrorism.
Pet Peeves? I don’t know, but speaking of a Craigslist posting, check this out. I did not make it up. This man is looking to start a band….It’s under the community-musicians section and this is just a very small fraction of the entire ad:
“Sometimes when I have writer’s block or feel unmotivated I smoke pot, so that can’t be a problem for you. I’m not what you might call a ‘stoner’ because I work very hard and am very motivated. Yes, it’s ironic that I smoke pot for motivation, but I’m unique and it works for me. If you have a pot connection that is a plus because I can’t find any lately. Please do not BE the pot connection though, I don’t need the potential drama of a drug-dealer in the band.”
I think the “Please do not BE the pot connection” is the funniest part. Man, this is funny!
Oh, I don’t like all caps. I will cap a word every now and then, but when people use ALL caps I seriously, physically, can’t even read it. My eyes stop working.
I hate when people don’t use adverbs. Just attach an ly to the end. Why is it that hard? And why do author’s of children’s books never use adverbs? “I like it when you hold me tight.” Tightly. TightLY. I add the ly when I read it even if it doesn’t rhyme anymore. I ain’t gonna raise no dummy.
I also hate when a driver is turning into a two lane road and pulls into the far lane. Why do you have to pull in front of me? You have your own lane, ya jerk. Pull into your own lane, turn on your turn signal, and pull into the lane you want.
To say that I have a few is, well, an understatement.
*Smack your food when you chew. It’s just gross. It puts me in a bad mood.
*Put the wrong emphasis on a word.
*Rude people.
*Swearing.
*People who multitask during a conversation. Either talk to me, or text. Don’t do both! I have some friends that have full conversations with their children while on the phone with me. I hate talking on the phone enough, I don’t need them drawing it out any longer! And, it’s rude!
*People who get competitive over silly things. Friendships, talents, money. Duh, it doesn’t matter….unless it’s a game, then I’m all competitive and stuff.
*When people read a childrens’ book monotone. Drives.Me.Crazy.
I’ll keep the rest to myself. Don’t want to sound too picky.
*people who park too close to my car in the parking lot-especially if you have to buckle your little one in the back seat
*door dings!
My pet peeves:
irresponsible people
liars
in addition to wrong use of seen/saw is done/did. Maybe it was a NE MO thing, but it drove me crazy…yeah, I done that! I can’t even use did incorrectly, but Paula sure could!
I agree with The Tyler on inappropriate use of question marks. If you are telling me something, make it obvious by not using a question mark!
People who send emails and do not have their spell checker turned on!
Texting shorthand in emails…”Where R U going?”
Bonnie, I think you are a chic chick! Miss ya!
(Yeah, I’m guilty of overuse of exclaimation points!)