We used to call the words that most everyone screws up on occasion "word turds" For example: If something is making you dizzy, sickly and vomit-ty, that something is naseous. What you are actually feeling is nauseated. Example: Those fumes are nauseous, so I feel nauseated. People often say that THEY "are nauseous" (which is a double whammy because what they are actually saying is that they are sickening to others...lol.) I'm still frustrated over: Suffice it to say -vs- Sufficed to say Does anyone else have any other frustrating word turds? Not sure why I'm thinking about this, but thought there might be others with a similar deranged fascination. lol.
Nauseous actually does mean both and your meaning is usually the SECOND one listed. From Oxford: nau·seous ˈnôSHəs,-ZHəs,-ēəs/Submit adjective 1. affected with nausea; inclined to vomit. ------------------------------------------ From Mirriam Webster: nau·seous adjective \ˈnȯ-shəs, ˈnȯ-zē-əs\ : feeling like you are about to vomit ----------------------------------------- From Dictionary.com nau·seous [naw-shuhs, -zee-uhs] Show IPA adjective 1. affected with nausea; nauseated: to feel nauseous. But, yes, I have hundreds of words and phrases that I hear all the time where I want to rip my hair out of my head. Here are some: 1. COULD CARE LESS. I think this drives me the most insane. It's COULDN'T care less. If you "could" care less, then it means you actually do care a little. 2. SUPPOSEABLY. This is not a word. It's "supposedly". 3. IRREGARDLESS. Again, this is not a word. 4. "Nip it in the Butt". It's BUD. 5. Oh, and when people say "I've made a complete 360 degree change in my life". That means you haven't changed at all - or if you did, you're back where you started, lol. 6. And just the normal bothersome ones like: Aks, Expresso, Momento, Valentime's Day, and changing a "th" sound in words to an "f" sound (birfday, earf, mumf). I am probably the biggest word nerd there is and I do wish people would speak properly.
Well, poop! And here I'd been driving myself nuts watching my use of nauseous and nauseated since a teacher "corrected" me in college! I guess it's a common mistake among the grammar police: http://www.grammarerrors.com/word-choice/nauseousnauseated/ But you're dead right! Both words emerged in the 17th century with a similar usage. Your list is spot-on, too. Hate those! They drive me bonkers. OK...here are my weird ones: People who pronounce the "T" in often. LOL People who spell Asperger's with a B and pronounce it Ass Burgers. Oi! People who pronounce diabetes with three syllables: die-beet-is. That one's like nails on a chalk board to me. Ultimately, none of this matters, of course. And I know I'm being anal and intolerant. But it still makes my teeth itch! LOL Also, I have an absolute LOVE of indigenous vernacular. I really enjoy very informal and unique regional dialects. So, on top of being anal, I'm also hypocritical, since a lot of dialects mutilate grammar! I can't win!
"Tow the line" instead of Toe the line. "persay" instead of per se He's a shoe in! Instead of, he's a shoo-in!
I've been collecting some when I see them in people's posts - facebook, boards wherever, even private messages sent to me - I don't collect just the "normal" errors of to/too/two or just poor spelling or common mistakes/typos that just happen. I like the ones that show that the person truly does not understand what they are saying/writing, like "tow the line" and "per say" (or even worse "pur say"). How about: a tempt of murder was taken back (taken aback) went over it with a tooth comb (a fine-toothed comb) quince dental (coincidental) co-inside qualm your fears (obvious mash-up of having qualms about it and calm your fears) peeked my interest bunker down the hatches (batten down) closets and chester drawers (chest of drawers) chalk full of data (chock full) a mute point (moot point) he was missed diagnosed And my most frequently seen drive-me-nuts phrase: give him free reign. I WISH people would get the connection between REIN and the reins that give you control over a horse. When you give free rein, you let the horse go where it will. REIGN is what a king does over his kingdom. You're supposed to have the reins or control over your kids, so if they have free rein, you're not exercising that control. I see the connection and understand the mistake, with the idea that no one controls the king while he reigns, but come on, people. And very near the top of the list is "Have a BLESS day." I appreciate the sentiment, but they have not a clue about verbals. And my Number One typo that comes off MY fingers is "pubic school" when I mean "public school"! Thank you for giving me a chance to get this off my chest! And crazymom, I think it's pretty funny that you call these "word turds" and then describe yourself as "anal". If you mean you're being TOO critical, that should be "hyper" not "hypo" which would mean under or less than.
Another one that's been getting to me lately is "different". It's always been "different from" or "different than" and now it's "different TO" that I hear all the time. I'm sorry, but it has to be "similar TO" (like toward each other in their likeness) and "different FROM" (like diverging from each other, moving away from).
Great thread! The one I see often, which really bugs me, is when people leave out "to be". For example: "the lawn needs mowed". It should either be "the lawn needs to be mowed" or "the lawn needs mowing". Some other ones I see are "peeked my interest" and "mute point". Oh, and my hubby used to always say roof when he really meant ceiling. I think I have corrected him enough times, that now he usually gets it right.
Oh and how about the infamous message board confusion of Lose/Loose ("I think I'm gonna loose my mind") and Advice/Advise ("I'm looking for advise") AARRGGHH And if I see "curriculum" spelled "cirriculum" one more time....
"needs cleaned" Though I usually quite enjoy common vernacular... This one make my eye twitch. Saw it on Craigslist yesterday and flinched.
My sister used to be an editor, so now she has a hard time reading a book without errors leaping off the page at her! Its/It's is another hair-puller. And I agree, Angela, "cirriculum" pokes pins into my eyeballs, as well as lose/loose.
Sadly, I see "would of" instead of "would've" more frequently these days. "seperate" instead of "separate" is less common, but probably causes more frustration. "loose" instead of "lose" is another one. In most aspects of life, when we spot a problem we fix it: It's a learning opportunity. With grammar, though, the same mistakes just appear again and again. It's frustrating.
Ok, my Grandmother was a grammar police woman. She would send letters we had written to her back to us with corrections. It made me not want to write to her. I am a horrible typist. I mess up all the time and if auto correct is on I am in big trouble with the grammar police too. However, I so badly want to correct people when they think "I" is always correct. Even friends that are teachers do this. For example, they post a picture and say, "Mom and I," or they say, "Join Joe and I this friday." And of course, there/their/they're. Makes my teeth itch too but since I am not careful all the time and often forget to read what I wrote before posting, I post a lot of my own pet peeves. lol
I hate seeing, "to lite." I see this at my job a lot, because we work with print jobs and the color has to be inspected. Loose/lose- You don't loose something when you misplace it. I hate it when people speak to small children with incorrect grammar. Often they don't even speak that way normally. For example, "How's her doing?"
