What examples of bad English really get you mad???

Question

I hate it when people say 'I could of' instead of 'I could have'. it drives me barmy. Also hate when people run words together like 'alot' or 'thankyou'. Any more examples out there?

Answer 1

I don't hate any of these things, I wouldn't waste energy on getting stressed about it either. I just think "Poor soul has no idea how thick they sound".
Some people write what they hear, accents and regional dialects are complicated, don't knock people for that.

Answer 2

Bad English Examples

Answer 3

The two things I hate most are the use of double negatives and glottal stops. The first includes such phrases as 'I've not got nothing.', so logically that means you've got something. The glottal stop is the lack of the use of the letter 't' in words and really annoys me. Examples are 'I'm going to a par'y la'er.' instead of 'I'm going to a party later.' This is a lazy sloppy way of speaking that should be discouraged. Sadly the younger characters in soaps such as Emmerdale and Coronation Street do it all the time. I cringe every time i hear it.

Answer 4

Using 'what' instead of 'which' (sorry, couldn't help but notice).

Seketry - secretary.

Nukular - nuclear.

Like - as in: 'I was,like, walking home, yeah, and he, like, just ignored me, y'know?'.

Add 'yeah' and 'y'know' for good measure.

It's pronunciation not proNOUNciation.

Any word where the good, solid letter 't' has been dropped (for best examples watch Eastenders). Some words even have the 't' doubled and still get mangled eg better becomes be'er, letter becomes le'er. Which letter shall we abandon next - how about one of the vowels for balance?

Transportation instead of transport.

Momentarily instead of 'in a moment'. For our American brethren, in UK English 'momentarily' means for a short period of time as in 'the sun shone momentarily'.

Memento is correct, momento is not.

Double prepositions such as 'outside of'.

Different to and different than. For the last time, it's different FROM!!!

Compared to and compared with have their own special meanings and are not interchangeable. ('To' points out differences; 'with', similarities.)

Ladies to describe women.

Gents when used other than as a lavatory sign.

Brits. Ugh.

All right is two words. So is thank you.

The Prime Minister is Mr. Blair not Prime Minister Blair. He is also not a Premier or a head of state.

Can I go to bed now?

Answer 5

I hate just about all of the things already mentioned but I also hate bad spelling and plurals that end with 's, as in banana's.
I also hate the use of glottal stops; they have got so bad now that people sound as if they have cleft palates. I don't understand a word they say. I also cannot stand 'like', which seems to be used as a quotation mark, but I'm not sure! It's just now straightforward English.

Answer 6

I hate it when people type dat instead of that It's only one more letter! Is that so hard. I can't stand any text speak, I find it ignorant that someone can't be @rsed to type the words in their entirety. I hate it when people say can I lend instead of can I borrow. Why would you want to lend something of mine to someone?
There are so many more but I would be here forever although the one thing which annoys me even more are terrible manners or no manners at all! My four year old daughter has better manners than most adults nowadays and as for the kids, well most of them are beyond help!

Answer 7

Accents and regional twangs do not bother me...but grammar is grammar and I cannot stand it when someone says, "We was......" or starts a sentence with "Myself and John are going...." when it should be, "John and I are going..." myself should always be used with a preposition as in, "I am going by myself." I've heard some very educated people botch that one up. That is the one that really irritates me.

"Ast" instead of "ask" is another. "Howyadoin"...instead of "How are you doing" causes some minor ittitation. Another common one is "He don't follow directions." when it should be said "He doesn't follow directions." He don't... She don't...Scott don't...Mary don't.... just say "doesn't" please.
But seriously so many people ruin the King's English and I am not perfect myself, but I do not mind being corrected when I mess it up occaisonally. In our world of texting and advanced technological devices don't expect it to get any better. This generation is making their own language up. I find it creative but also lazy at the same time.

By the way I frequently say "I could of," but now that you pointed it out I will be more mindful. Sorry!!!!

Answer 8

I think the "me" and "I" thing takes some beating.
"Johnny and me went to the park " is just as offensive as "Me and Johnny went to the park".
Oh, and Eastenders scriptwriters should be first against the wall.
(P.S. I've made a note of all the people who have responded to this question and will ensure that I don't correspond with any of you in the future. I've also sent the list to the Ministry of Re-education, so you may expect to be brainwashed sometime in the very near future.)
Love & Kisses (God bless you all ).
PPS I'll exclude Daisy as she is in no position to criticise others!!!!
PPPS have you seen the errors produced by the Yahoo spellchecker. Even for Americans they are unforgiveable.

Answer 9

When people say 'bought' when they mean 'brought' ; for example 'I bought the suncream with me.' grrr ; or the new habit of describing things as not being 'fit for purpose' ARGH!!! FIT FOR THE PURPOSE!!!! Why do I get so mad about these things I do not know, but they bloody irritate me. Also the American habit of adding an 's' to perfectly good words; for example 'magic' becomes 'magics' ... eh? ... so a sentence like 'The witch performed her magic on them', becomes 'The witch performed her magics on them.' What??? There are many more but I will become boring. Hehehehe.

Answer 10

Most of the above, plus:

serstificate
windowscreen
bored of

And don't even get me STARTED on the apostrophe thing!

Mind you, there are some things that, though grammatically wrong, I don't mind at all. Like split infinitives - "to boldly go" sounds OK to me. And sentences beginning with prepositions, provided it's informal, like here.

Another thing that makes me roll my eyes up is people saying something's wrong when it isn't - for instance "I'm going a bed", which is legitimate (though archaic) grammar, and "owt" and "nowt" - alternative forms of "aught" and "naught", which are perfectly good words.