Right. Some current peeves of mine. Why, with all the l33t-speak, lack of capitalization, and inability to type in sentences or, heaven forfend, paragraphs out on the web, do these little things bother me? I don't know, but I'm going to snark about them anyway. (And yes, I know I'm preaching to the choir.)
Rediculous - it's ridiculous with an 'i'. I don't care how you say it, that's how you spell it.
Apaulled - I don't even know what to make of this. 'Paul' is a name. 'Pal' in appalled has the same root as 'pale'. If you are appalled, you are filled with consternation or dismay. By the same logic, if you are apaulled (or appaulled), I really don't want to know about it.
Payed - Yes, stayed and staid are two different words with two different meanings. Paid and payed are not. Why is this? Because 'payed' isn't a word. Even if it was, the word you were looking for is 'paid'.
Thank you. Come again.
One of my "hatest" (should that be "most hatest"? ;-) is "could of" and similar constructs of fevered gramatically-challenged imaginations.
Posted by: Mark Everson | August 03, 2004 at 09:10 PM
Yes! That, too! And I totally forgot cruelty to the common comma (as Terry Pratchett would say).
Posted by: Erica | August 04, 2004 at 09:34 AM
I get stuff like this in my students' essays, and it drives me around the bend. "You think it looks cool," I say, "or maybe you don't care. In any case, it makes you look like you're stupid, ignorant, or both."
--'cuz for 'because'
--'of' for 'have' (mentioned above)
--'ite' for various words with 'ight' in them.
Posted by: Steven Piziks | August 05, 2004 at 12:06 PM
My long term hate: people who don't know the difference between the words principal and principle. Also, those who blindly memorized "the princiPAL is your PAL" and think that means that the -ple spelling must be the adjective.
I've even caught crap like "...the principle shareholders..." in a law textbook.
PS... Erica, "payed" actually is a word, it just isn't the one they think it is. It's used to refer to paying out rope... http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=payed
Posted by: Joe | August 05, 2004 at 01:12 PM
And let's not even go into how many ways people modify "unique."
Posted by: Sarah | August 06, 2004 at 09:45 AM
My pet peeve is "irregardless".
Regardless of people may think, "irregardless" is NOT a word!
Posted by: Lisa | August 07, 2004 at 04:49 PM
Oooh Oooh! I'm jealous you got irregardless! I Wanted it. :-) Goes back to a biology teacher who used it maliciously and often.
Posted by: Mark Everson | August 07, 2004 at 05:19 PM
Yeah, but you get major kudos for not pointing out my grammar mistake. (Regardless of *WHAT* people may think...)
Posted by: Lisa | August 08, 2004 at 08:49 AM
Joe - whoops, I stand corrected. I actually did know that, but must have been sleep deprived when I wrote the original post. Or, errr...that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)
Posted by: Erica | August 09, 2004 at 03:42 PM
It's sort of the curse of making grammar posts. You're guaranteed to make a mistake yourself.
Posted by: Joe | August 10, 2004 at 09:08 AM