Grammar pet peeves

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  • itskimmers
    itskimmers Posts: 13 Member
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    People who use "segway" instead of "segue."

    Segway is the trademarked name of a personal transportation device with two wheels.
    A segue is a smooth transition from one thing to another.

    Also, "irregardless" makes my toes curl.
  • FitnSassy
    FitnSassy Posts: 263 Member
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    "Fer" instead of "For"
    "Ideal" instead of "Idea"
    "Mines" instead of "Mine"

    <nails on a freaking chalkboard>
  • jjean905
    jjean905 Posts: 175
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    THE WORD IS LOSE! NOT LOOSE! YOU CANNOT LOOSE 10 POUNDS! That drives me batshnit crazy.
    ^^^^this.....don't know how many times i've wanted to correct that one
  • Hellbent_Heidi
    Hellbent_Heidi Posts: 3,669 Member
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    Has anyone mentioned "EXpecially" yet?

    The weather guy who does the (Sirius/XM) traffic segment in the early morning for Detroit said it this morning when I was driving to the gym, and immediately thought of this thread!!
  • MouthyMatthewCHANGED
    MouthyMatthewCHANGED Posts: 85
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    My degree is in journalism. I have been a copy editor for over five years.

    Do you see what I did there? That was my biggest pet peeve.

    "Over" is a measurement of height. "More than" represents a numerical measurement.

    Using "over" in that situation denotes that I have been a copy editor for above, or on top of five years. That is not grammatically correct.

    It should read, "I have been a copy editor for more than five years." That's a very common mistake that many people make, including writers who make a lot of money to be grammatically correct.

    In British English the use of the word 'over' in that context is correct.

    http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/over?q=over

    See point 3 of the above link:

    higher or more than (a specified number or quantity):
    e.g. over 40 degrees C
    e.g. they’ve been married for over a year
  • MouthyMatthewCHANGED
    MouthyMatthewCHANGED Posts: 85
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    My degree is in journalism. I have been a copy editor for over five years.

    Do you see what I did there? That was my biggest pet peeve.

    "Over" is a measurement of height. "More than" represents a numerical measurement.

    Using "over" in that situation denotes that I have been a copy editor for above, or on top of five years. That is not grammatically correct.

    It should read, "I have been a copy editor for more than five years." That's a very common mistake that many people make, including writers who make a lot of money to be grammatically correct.

    In British English the use of the word 'over' in that context is correct.

    http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/over?q=over

    See point 3 of the above link:

    higher or more than (a specified number or quantity):
    e.g. over 40 degrees C
    e.g. they’ve been married for over a year

    Also it seems that in US English the word over can be used to denote 'more than', as in point 13 here:

    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/over?s=t

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