ThAn thAn thAaaaaan

@Crushed23 I was reading a post earlier and the OP consistently used "hes" instead of "his". Presumably pronounced as "he's" but without the apostrophe. Bizarre.

I've also recently read a very long post that contained no punctuation whatsoever. None. It was just one never ending sentence and was an absolute bugger to read and try to make sense of. I really did shake my head in despair.

Presumably they haven’t ever read it and are guessing the spelling of what they’ve heard. So many errors cannot be blamed on autocorrect, such as “loosing the wheel”.

I agree with PP, many people clearly don’t read anymore. The frighteningly common mistake that really hammers this point home to me is the use of “his” to mean “he is” or “he’s”.

We should never underestimate just how small some people's vocabularies are. I write books for a living and I have had reviews of my books (fairly ordinary women's fiction books, nothing fancy-schmancy) from people who say things like 'I have a university education and I had to look up some of the words used in this book'. I use words like scintillation, esoteric, liminal, nothing particularly outstanding to anyone who reads fairly widely, but these 'university educated' people were complaining about vocabulary!

Yep, I had this exact conversation with my 19 year old after I posted. Most young people don't know that a squib was a type of firework, they've never heard the word. So the phrase 'damp squib' will disappear eventually. My son only knows it because I bang on about it every so often 😅
It's not really a surprise that so many people think it must be "squid".
Nothing to do with this thread by the way, but he once used the word 'slapdash' in school whilst talking to one of his teachers and another sixth-former (picked up from me, obviously) and both the teacher & pupil thought it was really funny. I have to accept that I talk like an old person now!

PLEASE tell me you corrected him??????

Again, I think this is a lack of reading. I bet, if you asked the perpetrators of the 'damp squid' phrase, they wouldn't know what a 'squib' is. They've probably never even heard the word and certainly never seen it written down. They know what a squid is though. They've given no thought at all to the origin of the phrase, and just repeat what they think they've heard.

My husband does this. The other day he text me good luck wishes for a job interview and said “your be fine”. I don’t get it.

Yes, I know what you mean about damp squid. There is something quite pleasing about it, it's just that if someone uses it instead of "squib" my mind goes down that rabbit hole of "why would you say 'damp squid?' It makes no sense. Squids are supposed to be damp, therefore, a damp squid does not describe something that was a let-down. Which is what you're trying to describe, and why it is 'damp squib, squib, SQUIB!'" 😂
The upside of this for me is that it does always conjure up a mental image of a little pink squid in a rockpool, which is quite nice.
Maybe we should re-purpose "damp squid" to mean something that was everything you expected it to be. "I went to Glasto for the first time this year, and it was amazing, a completed damp squid"

Apologies, was poorly multitasking.
No idea whether that is correct, or whether it should be hyphenated.
However, yes, my bafflement relates to people erroneously spelling 'utmost'.

That’s one I do on purpose because it makes me laugh

Sorry - are you confused at why 'upmost' is a mistake, or are you baffled that people use it wrongly instead of 'utmost'?

@Lins77 YES! So much YES.... why??!

I used to see "rest bite" in an old job in the last century so that's not a new one!

"Sell" and "sale" are commonly confused where I am.

I've seen this a lot too. It's as though nobody knows what the words actually 'mean', so they just point themselves at something that sounds right. And then the mistake gets perpetuated, because everyone has seen it written down somewhere and THEY don't know what it means either.

I've got another - "slither" for "sliver". I keep seeing this in actual published novels.

Today I wrote free rein on a post and my phone underlined it and suggested reign, it also just underlined suggested and suggested siggested. So some of this has to be phone mischief!

"Damp squid" is actually delightful 😂

"Loose" for "lose" is my pet hate, but it's so common that there's little point getting worked up about it.

Upmost.

???

Various reasons. The SPaG they learn in primary school is very specific, not always very useful, not necessarily focused on correcting common errors, and is crammed for SATS and then dropped like a hot potato. Plus with many kids it goes in one ear and out of the other.

I'm a secondary school MFL teacher. Part of the reason UK kids (and adults!) find foreign languages so hard is that they have so little awareness of how their own language works.

I guess it's like the ubiquitous Mac n Cheese that's popped up everywhere now, as opposed to Macaroni Cheese. Funnily, never see Cauli 'n' Cheese.

I can go one better, though. I give you my cousins text replies of 'a no' (which is meant to be I Know. I'm sorry, but with predictive text these days there's no excuse and it just sounds thick.

Yes, I'm very judgy about it.

They genuinely think it's a viable alternative because it's how their parents write/speak. Parents help their childen at home and teach them incorrectly, or incorrectly 'correct' something I've taught them because they don't know they're wrong...

I've corrected children's use of language in their writing at school and been told, "Yeah, but that's just how posh people speak."

Shouldn't/wouldn't/couldn't of is one that really gets me. It blows the children's minds when I tell them it's 'have'.

And the incredibly poor standard of English published online is also responsible.

You're so right. It is really aggravating. You wonder sometimes if they're reading the same thing I am, and then the ones who carry on the misapprehension.

Very true 😁 but i was trying to not swear at him.

I seen instead of saw.

Of instead of have. This is so common.