Eachother is not a word!

[LaPerduta]

These are not words either:

Inbetween
Infront
Alot
Loosing (unless you're loosing the hounds)
Non

Call me unreasonable if you like...

Less and fewer. I have noticed recently that I use them incorrectly in speech and it irritates me so much because I KNOW how to use them, but it is a habit built up during childhood that is proving difficult to shake. Just the other day I told someone, "it's great because there are less distractions..." and then cringed at myself. It's a work in progress :D

Haha. My 9 year old corrected my 11 year old with a look like Stannis Baratheon. Just a stony faced, “Fewer.”

"Fewer boys, less noise"!

Women when they mean singular woman. I don't understand as it's not just a typo, it's everywhere!

I saw a women on the bus.

Aaaaargh!!!

Apostrophes are not used to pluralise verbs. Why are so many people unaware of this very simple fact?

"My babies cot" instead of "My baby's cot" from someone who is definitely referring to a single baby.

Even if they were referring to multiple babies, it would be "My babies' cot" surely.

Exactly, Doesthepopeshitinthewoods.

(Which show was your handle from, btw? I can't remember and it's driving me crazy!!)

End apostrophe abuse!!

Sadly, it's not so recent. My self-described genius ex (we're talking about my 'fiance' from 2004-2005) used to constantly ask: "can you borrow me a tenner?" He knew fully well that his misuse of language pissed me off mightily, perhaps even more so than him treating me like a walking cash machine.

To this day, he still owes me hundreds of pounds. I doubt his grammar and vocabulary have changed for the better, either.

I have a friend who talks sympathetically about another friend's typos even though she herself 'alots' like nobody's business. I keep schtum, even though I'm dying to tell her that alot is not a word.

Nor is 'noone'.

What's wrong with the space bar all of a sudden?

@Ameanstreakamilewide I think some peoples space bar must be broke

I know several people who have had strokes and yes it does affect them in this way

Oh, I like that!

And thankyou

I see thankyou all over business social media and even our primary school uses it!

The other one the school uses is "greatfull"

I've never understood why people say/type things like 'when I was pregnant on my son' instead of 'with'. I see it a lot on Facebook and it baffles me.

I don't go around correcting people but I also don't subscribe to the 'it's ok' camp. The more basic your language skills are, the more basic the concepts and ideas you're able to communicate.

If we just accept as ok then we sell people short. We shouldn't accept a world where people can't express themselves effectively? If you can't 'broadcast' you're stuck on 'receive'. That might explain the rise of QAnon and that sphere of dangerous nonsense.

Doesn't mean we should piss on people with poor language skills but nor should we just let it go.

Never seen 'pregnant on'. I'm not keen on 'pregnant to', as in 'I'm pregnant to my new partner'. It sort of makes it all about the father somehow. And I don't like 'fall pregnant'.

I agree with your fundamental point, but these kinds of threads don't critique the systemic barriers to gaining a decent standard of literacy - they sneer at individuals. And the competitive frothing over other people's errors and regionalisms (and yes, the two do get lumped into the same camp - see the post about 'yous' upthread for an example) seems to be a pissing contest for who's the most clever/educated/discerning. I don't think maintaining as narrow as possible a spectrum of 'correct' (e.g. said lumping in of regionalisms with errors) and getting an ego boost from looking down on someone who may have been disadvantaged in life really advances the cause of language and literacy.

Again, this wasn't about compounds...

My friend insists that this is because of auto-correct, but surely people are capable of proofreading?

On an evening.
What's that all about?

Can I add my pet peeve here, please?

Thingy, or worse, thingymajigwotsit...... use the proper word for whatever it is you're describing!

I’ve never heard that. Isn’t the phrase, “Of an evening?”

In Yorkshire it’s very much ‘on a night’.