For wanting to stick pins in my eyes when people write "on route"

[gratefulforwhatihavegot]

If you don't understand how to write something then don't try and be clever.

I need to wreck someone's fun, because I have no idea if I've ever used 'on route' in a text message!

I think I thought it was short for "on the/my route" like "on way" is short for "on the/my way". I've learnt something thanks to MN tonight.

In return, can I appeal to the English-speaking world to get their reins and reigns sorted out? I get some very odd images sometimes...

Oh I think a website like that once when looking for pony treks Tilly

That must have been confusing. Was the intended meaning clear or did you just find another site to book the trek on?

I found one

I hope everyone hasn't . I don't want to be left holding the sneering reins. (See what I did there?)

hasn't gone^

I don't think this is caused by dyslexia, as HMC's link suggests, because it's not a case of people choosing the wrong word, it's a case of them applying a phonetic spelling to a phrase they've heard in context, and using it in the same context without understanding the meaning.

That said, some from 80s mums links do work both ways- e.g. free reign and free rein. They both basically give the same impression that someone can do what they like.

I used to have the opposite problem as a teenager- I'd read words and not know how to pronounce them, hence coming out with some public clangers like "Bill Clinton was governor of Ar-kan-sas", " he my-zled her" and "he was hanged for smuggling ly-quer". All these were done in English class in front of teenage crush. Readers, I didn't marry him

Ah well, a relative told me she used to wonder why the Famous Five took Too-wells to the beach, and what they were for.

I also once pronounced chicanery as 'chic-uh-near-ree' and all my in-laws laughed at me. Meanies.

There's nothing worse than 'expresso'. Aaagh.

I am irritated when people refer to "the hoi polloi "; "hoi" already means "the". Please miss out the "the". (Probably a bit pretentious to say it all, usually just to show you are not a member of hoi polloi).

If you don't understand how to write something then don't try and be clever.

Shouldn't that be try to be clever?

I'm interested to see the dominance of AIBU here!

At the weekend, a thread was deleted from Pedants' Corner (message says it was a personal attack, but actually it was a thread like this - and oodles pre-PB - talking about grammar). It neither linked nor quoted a specific thread in any identifiable way (other than it used "of" when standard English would put "have").

This thread is more detailed, and has at leat one link to a specific thread.

It's quite a change that Pedants' Corner now cannot discuss (in isolation) language use if any such uses have appeared on MN (even when unreferenced in the thread). Especially as PC was (despite name) a nice place where language lovers used to discuss all sorts of aspects of language. But now, if an 'error' has appeared in a MN thread, it's a delete-able personal attack in that (quite gentle) topic. But it's fine in AIBU!

At least the question in another thread asking about whether-where-how grammar mistakes should be dealt with has a definitive answer : no longer allowed in PC in threads specifically discussing the issue, instead in AIBU with as much supporting detail as you like

I hate this, and as mentioned above, expresso, and pacifically used in place of specifically....

only my Mum, the queen of talking proper is ever allowed to correct my grammar/pronouncing errors

Funny how people on here ridiculing others for their spelling are making so many grammatical errors!

But it's fine in AIBU!

Not necessarily. This thread was started at 1030 last night and may not have been noticed by HQ.

OwlCapone well, we'll just have to bare with it and see.

(I always get weird images of the poster in my head when I read similar).

A personal favourite I have seen 'it rickoshayed' - on a colleagues FB status.

Ah, but have any of you ever caught a train from St Pancreas before? My colleague does from time to time...

For all intensive purposes.... I actually use this to be silly quite a lot.

"with regards to" [an issue]
argh! we are not sending it happy returns.

On route doesn't bother me. I know how it's supposed to be written, but I wouldn't bat an eyelid at seeing it.

I think it's one of those things that is probably going to be subject to a shift in language and on route will become acceptable.

It's probably happening because it makes fairly decent sense in English as well - as a shorthand for 'we're on the route/we're on the way'

There are plenty of words and phrases that we consider to be English, but which are bastardised versions of foreign ones.

Both my degrees were in linguistics, and I worked as an etymologist for a while, so I rather like seeing language change happening.

I'm amazed how many people I see put 'are' instead of 'our'.

I was once unable to answer a question in Trivial Pursuit (God forbid!) because the subject of the question was 'Copper Knickers'

I'll let you guess what it actually said.

fidelineish, education isn't just the product of luck. Everyone brought up in the UK has had at least 11 years of education, after all. But in fact it isn't even a matter of education, it's a matter of keeping your eyes open when you read, and of good manners in making what you write reasonably comprehensible to the people reading it.

Say lavvy
Love that!
Might just adopt that. How could I not?