Grammar, Spelling and Usage Peeves

[southernhybrid]

Have a peeve? Air it here!

The use of genteel euphemisms--in particular the wide spread use of "pass away".

Or the even more unctuous "passed" by itself, without the "away".

I don't care about spelling and/or grammar errors, especially since the older I become, the more typos I make and I sometimes find myself having difficulty spelling certain words. But, I totally agree with you about that expression. My husband uses it when someone dies and I've never told him that it always makes me cringe. I'm not sure why, but maybe after watching many, many people die when I was still working as an RN, I just like to tell it like it is. He expired! He died! Anything else does sound like a euphemism.

 

[Hermit]

I just like to tell it like it is. He expired! He died! Anything else does sound like a euphemism.

Some euphemisms are just great. I particularly like "kicked the bucket" and "pushing up daisies", though I personally prefer to have my carcase processed in a pet food factory than buried beyond the reach of worms, ants and suchlike.

Getting back to grammar, spelling and usage peeves, could we please add the inability to distinguish between "than" and "then", "lose" and "loose" and "two" and "too" to the list of hanging offences?

 

[Wiploc]

"one of the only"

Agreed, that's a stinker.

 

[PyramidHead]

"one of the only"

Agreed, that's a stinker.

What's wrong with it? There are only 3 ways to do X, and one of them is Y, so Y is one of the only ways to do X.

 

[southernhybrid]

I just like to tell it like it is. He expired! He died! Anything else does sound like a euphemism.

Some euphemisms are just great. I particularly like "kicked the bucket" and "pushing up daisies", though I personally prefer to have my carcase processed in a pet food factory than buried beyond the reach of worms, ants and suchlike.

Getting back to grammar, spelling and usage peeves, could we please add the inability to distinguish between "than" and "then", "lose" and "loose" and "two" and "too" to the list of hanging offences?

No we can't! And you forgot their, they're and there, or were those words already on the list? I used to judge people who used those words incorrectly, then one day I must have had a brain fart and used the wrong there. That made me a lot more tolerant of other's mistakes. So THERE! Do all caps bother you too?

 

[bilby]

"one of the only"

Agreed, that's a stinker.

What's wrong with it? There are only 3 ways to do X, and one of them is Y, so Y is one of the only ways to do X.

'Only' implies exclusivity.

In your example, Y is one of the few ways to do X; or even (if you insist on using 'only') one of only a few ways of doing X.

 

[Copernicus]

What's wrong with it? There are only 3 ways to do X, and one of them is Y, so Y is one of the only ways to do X.

'Only' implies exclusivity.

In your example, Y is one of the few ways to do X; or even (if you insist on using 'only') one of only a few ways of doing X.

Nonsense. "Only" excludes the 3 ways from all the others, so it works under your requirement. However, the word has more than only that meaning. It can also mean "just" or "merely", as well as other things.

 

[PyramidHead]

What's wrong with it? There are only 3 ways to do X, and one of them is Y, so Y is one of the only ways to do X.

'Only' implies exclusivity.

In your example, Y is one of the few ways to do X; or even (if you insist on using 'only') one of only a few ways of doing X.

That's kinda bonkers, sorry. Paul and Ringo are the only surviving Beatles, not the few surviving Beatles. And it follows that Ringo is one of the only surviving Beatles.

 

[4321lynx]

What's wrong with it? There are only 3 ways to do X, and one of them is Y, so Y is one of the only ways to do X.

'Only' implies exclusivity.

In your example, Y is one of the few ways to do X; or even (if you insist on using 'only') one of only a few ways of doing X.

That's kinda bonkers, sorry. Paul and Ringo are the only surviving Beatles, not the few surviving Beatles. And it follows that Ringo is one of the only surviving Beatles.

No. "Only" is not needed in that last sentence. It contributes nothing but confusion as it implies that the survivors are "only surviving" and not enjoying their life.

 

[bilby]

That's kinda bonkers, sorry. Paul and Ringo are the only surviving Beatles, not the few surviving Beatles. And it follows that Ringo is one of the only surviving Beatles.

No. "Only" is not needed in that last sentence. It contributes nothing but confusion as it implies that the survivors are "only surviving" and not enjoying their life.

And it carries far less information than the alternative "...one of the two surviving Beatles.", if one feels the need to qualify the phrase "...one of the surviving Beatles" at all.

 

[gmbteach]

Okay, so I have a really big pet peeve that came forcefully into my attention at a company-wide meeting this week. For some reason, management-level employees at corporations are unable to say the word "about".

Harry is going to provide some insight around how we plan on meeting Q3 goals...

Jen will show some results that speak to the success of our strategy...

I'm not sure I understand point #3, can you give some more color around that?

Let's regroup offline and do a deep dive into these data...

What's so abhorrent about 'about'?!

Corporate speak is an abomination.

"deep dive" ? Fuck off.

Tell me about it!

I hate PFDs when they talk about the PLTs, PLCs, and other TLAs that you know you should know but don’t always.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, they looooove the deep dive. Another one is "circle back". Let's circle back offline. No, idiot: let's talk after the meeting.

Maybe I'm a curmudgeon about these thing but I detest that gobbledygook. Touch base ? Fuck off. Reach out ? Fuck off.

‘I want to flag this with you’. Yep! Total waste!

 

[Wiploc]

"I want to flag this with you."

 

[Hermit]

Getting back to grammar, spelling and usage peeves, could we please add the inability to distinguish between "than" and "then", "lose" and "loose" and "two" and "too" to the list of hanging offences?

No we can't!

Well, having thought about it again, I must agree with you. Death is much too good for the murderers of any language other than Bavarian. Lifelong, excruciating torture befits them so much better. Make them listen to Mantovani's cascading strings 24 hours a day for the rest of their lives. No. Wait. Mantovani is so yesteryear. Make them listen to André Rieu's rendition of Strauss Waltzes!

And you forgot their, they're and there

Did not.

So THERE! Do all caps bother you too?

Not those. You didn't type them loudly enough.

 

[Hermit]

"one of the only"

Agreed, that's a stinker.

What's wrong with it?

Its usage peeves me.

 

[Wiploc]

"one of the only"

Agreed, that's a stinker.

What's wrong with it?

In use, it means something like, "One of the few," or, "One of only a few." But you have to judge that by context, because the phrase itself is incoherent.

There are only 3 ways to do X, and one of them is Y, so Y is one of the only ways to do X.

The word "only" doesn't contribute to the meaning of the sentence.

"There are 7.5 billion people. Carol is a person. So Carol is one of the only 7.5 billion people."

You could take out "the": "Carol is one of only 7.5 billion people." That would make sense.

Or you could take out "only": "Carol is one of the 7.5 billion people." That makes sense too.

 

[LordKiran]

I stopped having most of my language peeves when I came to understand that language is a tool to serve the people using it. So nowadays I only really pick nits when I can't understand the conveyor's intent.

I'd say my biggest nit to pick is the fact that our language hasn't seen a concerted academic effort to tidy up all the outdated esoteric rulesets that are at times contradictory. It's "It's" until it isn't. Then It's just Its.

 

[bigfield]

I have two usage peeves related to parsimony:

1. Useless clichés and eggcorns that don't add meaning to the speaker's statements.
2. Long-winded storytelling to state a simple point that only needed a single sentence.

 

[PyramidHead]

That's kinda bonkers, sorry. Paul and Ringo are the only surviving Beatles, not the few surviving Beatles. And it follows that Ringo is one of the only surviving Beatles.

No. "Only" is not needed in that last sentence. It contributes nothing but confusion as it implies that the survivors are "only surviving" and not enjoying their life.

And it carries far less information than the alternative "...one of the two surviving Beatles.", if one feels the need to qualify the phrase "...one of the surviving Beatles" at all.

Well, in that case let's just ditch "only" altogether and just say "one" every time. "Only", when used for a single unit or a group, conveys that it represents a small fraction of a larger whole. Just specifying the number doesn't carry that meaning.

 

[PyramidHead]

What's wrong with it?

In use, it means something like, "One of the few," or, "One of only a few." But you have to judge that by context, because the phrase itself is incoherent.

There are only 3 ways to do X, and one of them is Y, so Y is one of the only ways to do X.

The word "only" doesn't contribute to the meaning of the sentence.

"There are 7.5 billion people. Carol is a person. So Carol is one of the only 7.5 billion people."

You could take out "the": "Carol is one of only 7.5 billion people." That would make sense.

Or you could take out "only": "Carol is one of the 7.5 billion people." That makes sense too.

Aha! I finally got what you, bilby, and Hermit have been saying: the problem is with "the". Thank you for making that clear!

 

[Speakpigeon]

People who say and write ‘learnt’ and ‘burnt’ instead of ‘learned’ and ‘burned’.

Seems like you really meaned what you writed.

I laught.

Learnt, burnt, earnt, spelt etc* are slowly but surely on its way to anachronia.

I'll keep using them and you'll all be left in a linguistic ghetto.

* I hate it when people spell it as "ect". That's not how it's spelt, people!

Hey, people, it should be "etc.", not "etc".

And definitely not "etc*".
EB