to hate when people use the word “them“ instead of “those“?

[partytights]

?i live them shoes?.

Bo. You love THOSE shoes.

I can't stand to hear the words 'me' and 'I' used incorrectly. Example -- 'She invited James and I to dinner'... Grrrrrrr. It's not posh to use 'I' there. It's incorrect.
'It's' used incorrectly also gets my goat.

It matters.

It is Haitch if you're an Irish Catholic.

Objections to Haitch are based on ignorance of Hiberno-English and the influence of Irish Catholic educators in vast swathes of the world outside of the British Isles.

It used to annoy me when my boss would say "was ya?" instead of "were you?", but that's mainly because he was always picking faults in other people about EVERYTHING.

Most of the time I don't get annoyed by things like this. I notice it, but don't let it rile me. 'Arks' instead of 'ask' really annoys me, but I can handle most other errors.

Sometimes it's a regional thing that turns into a habit that's hard to change.

Yes, it does matter. I see, increasingly, the use of ungrammatical expressions/txtspeak, often defended on these boards, e.g. language is changing, communication is what matters.

Forums are about communication, and a common code is needed; it's correct grammar and spelling. I'm not talking about typos. Look how often an OP is virtually unreadable because it hasn't been paragraphed.

At the same time, folk piss and moan when, for example, TAs and teachers are less than perfect. Others say it doesn't matter if they're "good with kids".
People fail to get job interviews because of poor spelling and grammar. Perhaps they, too had been told it's OK, by sub-literate TAs and teachers. or posters on these boards.

I am an Irish Catholic and say "aitch". We all did this at my convent school.

I have a problem with the cashpoint at Ikea, it clearly says "Free Cash" - but whenever I use it money is debited from my bank account.

And don't even get me started on "very unique" - no it isn't, it is either unique or not.

Note to self: remember to breathe

My dad did too, and my aunts and uncles on his side of the family. It died out with the cousins though. I think about 99% of Irish Catholics are Haitchers. I'm another exception now but I used to say Haitch. The DCs, all born and partly raised in the US, learned 'Aitch' somehow and looked at me with little raised eyebrows when I tried to say Haitch..

echt completely agree. In fact, just reading your post made my blood boil!!

Arks instead of ask is the most irritating, make my teeth itch!

In a small corner of Oxfordshire where they happen to repatriate the servicemen....

EVERYONE uses double negatives. It hurts.....! I spent a year trying not to correct a colleague, who would say to the children in my class 'we don't want none of that 'ere'' I caught myself biting my own hand in the effort to keep quiet!

'Them things' ARRGH. 'Less than' (I LOVE Waitrose for having 'fewer than' on their checkout signs even tho I can't afford to shop there!)....

I LOVE 'Eats.shoots and leaves' BRILLIANT book....

medusa I knew my DH would be the man I married when I heard him correcting a news presenter on the TV who had said "less than" when he meant "fewer than".

What made it all the sweeter was that DH had learnt it from me! Oh the joy, the joy!!

DS has just read 'Eats shoots and leaves'. He is now on a mission to find misplaced apostrophes.

Speaking of misplaced apostrophes - your DH would have had a field day yesterday. My sister got my DD2 some pyjamas for Christmas but I didn't really look at them properly until I put them on DD last night.

They have fairies on them and a slogan that reads: "Little fairy's rule ok!"

"He gave it to Watson and I..."

Episode 1, Series 2 of Sherlock. Ye Gods. If even writers for the BBC cannot get it right - and this is for a character who would always use correct grammar, then the battle is lost.

I hate "was" instead of "were" which my Dad's "ladyfriend" insists of using all the time. "We was in such and such a place ..." NO, NO NO IT'S "WE WERE!!!"

Grr, insists ON using! I hate these grammar threads, I always make accidental mistakes

Robin I design pyjamas and placement graphics in general for fashion. It astounds me how many errors of this kind make it through to production.

I hate these threads

and no it doesn't matter on a chat forum

see I started a sentence with 'and'

Half the stuff in Eats Shoots and Leaves is bullshit.

And it's full of punctuation errors.

I bet Lynn Truss is a riot at parties.

usualsuspect. You are not using "and" incorrectly. You're using it for rhetorical effect, rather than as a conjunction, so it's absolutely fine.

The "and" at the start of a sentence "rule" is invoked to help in learning to write effectively. It's become elevated into an unbreakable rule, when a sentence like yours shows how bendable it is.

Bugger. Should be "such as" not "like".:o

I think I most dislike 'their' when it should be 'his or her'. As in 'the reader has their expectations confounded' or 'please make sure each child has their indoor shoes ready'.
People have argued that it's acceptable now. I disagree.