To invite the grammar and language pedants to share their pet peeves?

[AlertCat]

AIBU to feel annoyed when I see people say Slither instead of sliver? It was even in a book I read recently. A slither of cake. No! That makes no sense, unless the cake’s been trodden into the carpet!

Also see: step foot in instead of set foot in

There’s plenty of others but those will do for now.

A pidgin?

😂

Or someone who gives you a massage????

My aching sides .... 😂

Discusting

Oh “myself” and “yourself” are just increasingly annoying.

I’m normally very tolerant, but these do my head in.

Misuse of ‘prodigal’ . I once wrote to Time magazine when they used it incorrectly ( reference to some political leader coming in from the cold) and they tried to make out that in the offending article ‘ prodigal’ could be read as the correct meaning rather than how the writer had incorrectly meant it originally. What a load of…..

Should of/would of boils my piss, for some reason. My inner pedant stamps its feet and shouts "There is no such verb as to of".

Ditto "We/they was ...", although I have learned to live with "different to", which used to have the same effect, so maybe I'm mellowing.

Could of.

Makes me want to murder people.

Isn’t “absolutely unique” just glorious over-egging of the pudding, tho?

afaik we mostly use “quite” as a modifier in the UK (it was quite nice = it was a bit rubbish); except when agreeing (well, quite = yes!)

apparently we used to use it a lot more as an absolute, hence US English retained that, but we evolved which is funny when you think about it.

Nope. Jaffa cake is a cake (nil rate VAT band). Not a chocolate covered biscuit (which attracts tax, but I can not remember if it is standard rate or 'luxury'). The ultimate ruling was cakes go stale/ hard when they go past best. Biscuits go soft/ soggy if they go past their best.

Unchartered territory/unchartered waters.

No, it's uncharted - meaning it's not on a nautical chart or map, that is it's unexplored.

Anyone who makes this error can never have read Arthur Ransome.

They’re, their, there
Your, you’re
could have
should have
would have
can’t stand could of, would of, should of

edited to add

any word ending in “ing” pronounced as “in”

Increasingly I’m seeing “bare with me” on MN. I can hardly bare it.

edited as bloody autocorrect corrected!!

See this is why it annoys me when people shrug and say it doesn't matter if a word is mis-spelled because people know what you mean and so we should just ignore it. When I see the word "bare" my brain immediately, however briefly, pictures a naked body and my brain has to do a double take. It's the equivalent of interference over a radio. It's just sloppy for people to argue that it doesn't matter.

The second meaning is, in a moment, per Oxford.

I've been noticing dangling modifiers a lot recently, even in "formal" settings like books from established publishers and mainstream media.

The fourth largest party in the UK Parliament, veteran politician John Swinney became Leader for the second time in 2024.

A country of unsurpassed natural beauty, the author sets out on an epic road trip around New Zealand.

Topped with mounds of whipped cream, hot fudge sauce, and chopped nuts, I love a traditional American ice cream sundae!

It was. Oxford says unchartered is acceptable now as use arose from confusion with the former.

Posters have mentioned confusion between your and you're but there's also where your is wrongly written as you: 'Ask you husband'. I often see it on websites or even official forms. 'Send in you application'.

It was. Oxford says unchartered is acceptable now as use arose from confusion with the former.

But it has a completely different meaning!

Everyone is beyond ecstatic, or beyond thrilled!

Really? I've never seen led in that context. It's usually 'I laid down on the bed'.

Countable nouns- ‘less’ when you mean’fewer’. Not using subjunctive eg ‘was’ showing up when it should be ‘were’. ‘myself’ instead of ‘I’ - when the first person is just subject of the sentence.

Using 'bring' instead of 'take'. It's all over YouTube on those "Pack with me for my holiday / vacation" videos.

"I'm bringing three bikinis".

No. You're taking them from home (where you're recording for random viewers of this vlog) to another location. It would be different if those viewers were your mates in Greece and you were giving them an update on what will be in your suitcase when you join them, but we're not.

This one really annoys me too but I think we're fighting a losing battle as it's everyone now (countdown to posters coming along and saying it's correct where they live)