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.

I still don't get it. It's all very unucular.

Too many to list!

While I'm enjoying the Biscuit/Cookie debate on here, I think it neglects that in the UK the true term is "biccy", and it has nothing to do with whether it has been twice baked.

It refers to a consistently recognised, sweet, flat baked food, typically packaged in a stacked column, and includes:

• digestives
• rich tea
• malted milk
• custard creams
• bourbons
• hobnobs

And numerous others that any true British citizen can instantly recognise as belonging to the "biccy" class.

This is just so awful and infuriates me too. I see and hear it all the time. It's all over the radio and people spout it without a second thought. Speak properly, FFS!

Do you say clear as cle-ar , too?

As in the sentence "let me make it clear." Do you say, let me make it cle-AH?

If not, why pronounce nuclear (new-clear) as new-cle-ah?

I think it just means that if you consider something exceptional, it goes against a pattern that's widely accepted as consistent.

Thank you Beachtastic - that makes sense.

That argument would be valid if English pronunciation has rigid rules that are never broken

Alot. It's not one word!
Anything written with no punctuation whatsoever.
In speech - things like "she's went to the shop". Argh! It clangs in my brain and I miss the rest of the sentence.

It's not even pedantry, it's really basic mistakes I notice.

ETA: "Tret" as a past tense of "treated". I've seen it written too, where it has autocorrected to "treat" because that's a real word.

Incorrect use of past tenses. “I have took” instead of “I took” or “I have taken”. That’s just one example but I’ve seen it happen with different verbs. Wrote/written is another one I see quite a few people get wrong. Why is it so hard? Doesn’t it get taught in schools?

@AlertCat and what about "are" instead of "our"?? wtf is that all about??

Ah yes, “I have went”.

Primary age kids learning English in other countries get taught this properly, why not in UK schools?

Would of and could of is also fairly exclusive to native English speakers.

Urgh. I hate 'biccy' (said by adults). It sounds infantile, like 'ickle' and 'holibobs'.

And even worse 'If he had of told me' (not envy).

It’s even more illogical when you consider that obviously it’s directly related to and pronounced congruently with ‘nucleus’. Afaik that doesn’t get mangled.

I generally have a fairly good grasp of the English language but I genuinely thought the word was “slither”. I feel slightly embarrassed! 🤣

just say nucleus first (nu - cle - us) and then it’s obvious it’s not new-clear it’s nu - cle -ar

Mixing up averse and adverse @AlertCat

Yes. I say clear as two syllables..

That is because the 'us' is pronounced separately in all words etc virus. The Cambridge dictionary shows it is nu-clear. It's only the yanks that say cle-ar.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/nuclear

Also, you don't say he-ar for hear or de-ar for dear etc. No word in the English language has clear pronounced as cle-ar. No matter the circumstances of the word. It's bad grammar and bad English. As the dictionary shows, it's wrong.

I’ve just read ‘suporst’ instead of supposed 🙈

People are posting for an opinion on their situation, not how well written their dilemma is. MN is for everyone, people who struggle with literacy, whose first language isn't English, who use dialect, who have LD's and people who are in distress, so get grammar wrong. Those who struggle with comprehension, just need to leave answering the post to others.

I'm not sure if this is actually incorrect so hoping someone reliable on this thread can help but I absolutely hate the use of 'gifted' instead of just given. I only remember it emerging in the last five - ten years largely on social media but I see it more and more. Generally feels like the person is trying to make a gift seem more special which maybe I shouldn't get worked up about but we have a perfectly good verb already.

But it helps people to learn the correct way to speak/write. You're not doing that person who struggles with literacy any favours at all by allowing them to continue like that and no one telling them the proper way.

It's actually cruel, I feel.