Honestly, to all intensive purposes you will thank me for this one day

[MutePoint]

I'm in no position to join the grammar police but some MNetters might be grateful to learn that

all intensive purposes should actually be: all intents and purposes

per say should be: per se

mute point should be: moot point

Graphista - but a chest with drawers in it is very different from 'Chester draws': Chester draws what? What is he drawing?
Communally-agreed code is all very well - so when the 'code' is deviated from do you say "ok" or do you say "actually that's not correct"? How much time passes before an error becomes accepted usage?When 'intensive purposes' has a different meaning to 'intents and purposes' do you change the meaning of the words to fit what people will commonly use because they don't know the original saying?
I can't get my head around it!

Superior spelling gets you good eBay bargains ... could this be the way to sell it?!

I have a family member who says, "Awright, duck," to almost anyone and it makes me cringe. She never used to say this and I'm sure she's doing so to wind me up because she thinks that I'm a snob.

If I go into a shop or whatever and say, "Good morning," she accuses me of trying to sound posh. Is there anything worse than an inverted snob?

Time to accepted usage - greatly debated! Oxford lexicographers used to say 5 years until they'd enter a new meaning into the dictionary, now it's more like a year, the speed of a changed meaning/usage spreading is faster due to the Internet.

The meaning of words does change,
'Nice' 'clue' and 'awful' have very different meanings now to their original meanings. Ditto phrases.

Accent even influences how we think of certain words, some are more aurally pleasing in one accent than another leading to a pleasant meaning in one region and a less pleasant one in another.

Familiarity does not breed content, quite the opposite. And the phrase is 'I can't be arsed' not I can't be asked.

It's DEFINITELY not defiantly. I am totally at a loss to understand why that one defeats so many people. Don't they read what they are writing?

But how can a new meaning for 'intensive purposes' or 'Chester draws' be entered into a dictionary?! The 2 words together don't mean what the person using the phrase thinks it means. Are we so afraid of pointing out errors that we'll accept a new meaning into common usage rather than offend somebody by saying "actually it's xyz" ????

"It's unkind to sneer at people who may not have had the benefit of a good education. How would you learn spelling or good grammar if you have never been taught?"

Google and books as an adult. I'm also of the generation that didn't really get any grammar lessons, but I learnt quite a bit by learning other languages. I'm also still learning on Mumsnet, so this kind of thread is still useful to some of us.

"maybe with some accents you don't notice it as much"

Yes, I say could of, but write could have.

My personal favourites:

Could of/should of/would of

PLEASE realise it's could HAVE/should HAVE/would HAVE.

There's been a few of these in the thread already!

I am dyslexic and not well educated and i certainly make mistakes when i am writing but the problem is that the sort of howlers mentioned upthread are becoming so common that they are almost acceptable. I dont find this thread sneery at all, i think it's really important for people like me who didn't go very far in school to read decent written english. Its one of the things i love about mumsnet compared to other forums, people actually think about what they are writing.

Oops! Xpost - I don't care if it sounds contracted. If written correctly I can sleep easy

'aye?' when people mean 'eh?'

As in: "That's just my luck though, aye?"

I know that 'oop North people say 'aye' which is fine, but this is fellow Southerners so I know they're just being stupid.

hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html?m=1

Behold the alot!

OP, thank you for starting this thread off your own back.

I love the alot! Hyperbole and a Half is a great blog, I wish the author was still publishing.

Wasson me ansums

From DS's school:

Maybe the prizes are stored in a drawer?

Bunch of teachers on the 10 o'clock news recently discussing sex ed for 4 year olds - they had some relevant words painted on the wall behind them, one of which was 'embaressed'.

My personal teeth-itcher is wedding dresses with 'trails'.

Love this thread. I would be very interested to meet some intensive porpoises, of a day.

Literally
Basically - so overused.

There was a phase of people writing 'what do you think to' (situation, dress, hotel, whatever). Basically, it used to literally get on my goat and stoat. Thankfully I haven't seen it for a while.
I say all of this, knowing I make many mistakes myself.

Everyone should really tow the line when it comes to spelling and grammar.

I thought I was all alone. I'm in grammar police Nirvana.

My own personal pet hate is people saying "balling their eyes out".

BAWLING, it's BAWLING - are you even aware of the meaning of what you've actually just written?!

balling their eyes out

God, what an image.

Its lunch time.

Bone apple tea, mumsnet!