Words/phrases you’re very particular about

[Soubriquet]

It winds me up when people use poisonous regarding snakes. Noooo it’s venomous

If you bite it and you die it’s poison
If it bites you and you die it’s venom

She knows what you mean. She's saying you're wrong (as am I).

And I am thirding that. See also ‘She got a land’ and ‘You’ll get a flake if you keep being bold!’

Santa? Not in my house. Father Christmas comes to my house. Santa has never shown up.

Phased instead of fazed
Affect/effect

I've almost, but not quite, given up on "begs the question". I grudgingly admit it's sometimes suited to its incorrect meaning.

Nonplussed is now often used to mean underwhelmed or unconcerned.

Hear, hear.

Another one you see a lot on here - people "telling off" their DC rather than giving out to them.

@fiddlesticksandotherwords
I wrote a long reply and just lost it.
Anyway, I don't agree with you.
The bottom line is there is more than one version of correct English. I totally accept that 'can I get' in the 'coffee - shop' sense isn't typically used in the English you speak. It seems to cause confusion.

In other types of English it causes no confusion and is regarded as standard usage.

Dismissing a word or a phrase or a construction as incorrect just because it's not the type of English you speak yourself doesn’t stand

(Also - a child asking something like 'Can I get a football/computer game/random toy/pencil?' is very often asking to receive something not to fetch something. The classroom request is ambiguous and needs clarification but in many places the child would indeed simply be handed a pencil. )

Also, “save 50% off this thing”. No! “Get 50% off thing thing”, “save 50% ON this thing”

”Speak to myself about xyz”, or “should I speak to yourself” - what’s wrong with “me” and “you”? I think people believe it makes them sound more polite and sophisticated, somehow

People using is instead of are, for plurals.
So the kids is coming over… it happens a lot! Really winds me up.

To imply and to infer. Bought and brought.
Authors write books, books are not authored.
If you are a tutor you have pupils or students, not tutees.

Tutees? 🤮

What about, 'I was stood' and 'I was sat (near the door)'.

I'm thinking it must be correct as it's used all the time, even BBC presenters.

I don't like it and it sounds wrong to me. It should be I was standing and I was sitting.

Can when they mean may? "Can I get?" asks about the possibility, "may I have?" is a clear request and probably would not cause get to be used in the way so disliked by many.

Maybe the ones asking if they "can get" are asking about the possibility and are hoping the answer will be "yes" to which the response would be "oh good, may I have a cup of coffee please?"

Wrong use of 'less' and 'fewer'

Sat/stood instead of sitting/standing...'I was sat'. I'm not sure if that's even grammatically wrong but i find it annoying.

Anyone who says 'my bad' should be locked up IMO- what does that even mean?

Any word that any American uses? Most of which were originally English-isms?

How utterly bizarre.

Corpus linguistics shows that the very formal use of "may" to ask for something will be archaic usage within a few generations. It's already dying out.

"Get" is perfectly correct in the context described and has been for a couple of centuries. It's popularity is on the increase, but that's language for you.

There are some interesting threads from years ago in Pedants' Corner about why the "less/fewer" distinction is not nearly as basic as people think.

If I remember correctly, the threads came about at the time people were up in arms about "five items or less" in the supermarket which many thought was incorrect.

It wasn't, but the supermarket listened to the people who don't know as much about language as they think instead of asking some linguists. Hey ho.

Come on then, can someone explain the 'less/few' thing to us lesser (or is it fewer?) mortals.

No, I mean American terms that British people use. For example, in the last couple of weeks alone I've heard someone referring to going away on vacation rather than holiday, sidewalk instead of pavement, and parking lot instead of car park.

Yep. And pissed means drunk. If you're cross about something you are pissed off.

Ah, so one person has annoyed you.

"Parking lot" was mentioned on another of these threads earlier this week. Etymologically, "lot" is older than "park" to mean a plot of land used to store things, so arguably more "correct" than "park".

The meaning of pavement has evolved over the years- originally it was only used for areas with paving stones.

Similarly holiday v vacation. Obviously, "holiday"(in its original form, refers only to "holy day" free time, whereas "vacation" was always "time away from home or work"

So it's always interesting (and I suppose quite nice really) that people who complain about Americanisms prefer language which has been adapted, or modified itself over the years, rather than language which sticks maybe rigidly, to its original meaning (vacation, parking lot = no modification of meaning) holiday, pavement= no longer really adhere to their origins.

I think the thread in PC was started by a poster called DadDadDad.

But, in summary, it depends on the perception of the total. As in your own example: mortals can be counted, yet lesser is correct, and not fewer.

Yep, that's another one!

No, it's lots of people, not just one.

And it doesn't matter how much you try to dress it up or excuse it, it's cringey AF.