** I "graduate high school" in May. Well, no! You WILL graduate FROM high school in May (but you sure won't be the Valedictorian!!)
** Dinner sure was "tasty." Is that something like "but she's got a good personality??" To me this phrase seems more like "damning the meal with faint praise".
** Speaking of food, many restaurants seem to be training their wait staff and managers to ask customers some variation of, "Is everything Perfect for you?" Well, no! That would NEVER get a positive response from me. If you're asking me a question, don't provide me with the answer you want to hear! Nothing is ever "Perfect"! In fact, I am then compelled to tell them all the ways my meal isn't perfect!!
** "It turned out wonderful." Well, no! It might have turned out wonderfully, or horribly, or even outstandingly! There appears to be a conspiracy against adverbs!! Can't people just hear that it's wrong?? As soon as one of these gems is said or written or read, I start to twitch!! It only needs two letters more. "LY" That's it, just add the "ly! " Arrrgghhh!
** "The day was so fun." Nooooooo!!!! The day was so MUCH fun....or the day was SUCH fun....or the day was a LOT OF fun. But "so fun" is a big no-no....at least it is in MY grammar notebook!
** "New experiences don't "phase" him." No. The word is "faze". Some moms are not "fazed" by their children's different "phases."
** "The work was quite hard, but she came through "like a trooper." No, no, a thousand times NO! Unless you mean like a storm trooper, the word is "trouper". As in, a troupe of actors; as in the show must go on....it was originally a term about actors continuing with the show despite all kinds of problems and thus, saving the day!
** And then there are "could of, would of, and should of". Does anyone even listen to what they say anymore?? It's easy to hear, really. HAVE not OF! Really folks, it's not all that hard!
Okay, I'm done! I feel so much better now!! :)
Good list Mellodee... what made me laugh out loud is your use of the word 'of' before your rant about the use of the word 'of.'
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Grammar lesson!
One of my hubby's big pet peeves (which I've become cognizant of!) is "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less." Because if you don't care, you don't want to point out that you could care less than you already do. You want to point out that there's no way you could be more uncaring that you already are!
ReplyDeleteOooh, I forgot that one!! It's right up there on my list of "arrgghhs"!
ReplyDeleteOh my, Melodee, don't get me started on grammar peeves; I have a ba-zillion of them, including that adverb/adjective thing.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm a curmudgeon, and danged proud of it.
As for "When You're 64" I love that song; I was 15 when it was released. Ah, the good old days!
Cass
I blame my 8th grade English teacher for my snobbery about grammar. I'm certainly not perfect in that area, but good enough that the "nails on a blackboard" thingy is a real problem for me. Like when someone ways "whenever" when they mean "when", putting an "m" in Valentine's Day, saying "supposubly" (I don't even know how to spell that one!). My first husband's family from Missouri had a language all their own. We was, you was, they was. I used to joke that the Barbra Streisand movie would have to be re-titled "The Way We Was" or no one in that town would go see it!
ReplyDeleteOh My Gosh! I know just what you're talking about! I'm an Arkansan, so I KNOW my grammer is not perfect, but there are so many times I think (and almost say) "can you not hear that glaring grammatical error you just made"! It really bothers me when I hear a newscaster say something incorrectly, or spot gramtical errors in the newspaper. Are these people not trained to speak and write correctly? I've probably made grammatical errors in my ranting comment!! My son-in-law says he knew he was really accepted as a family member when I started correcting his English! The thing that scares me is that I didn't even recall correcting him! laurie
ReplyDelete