I've been making a list...

[DonateBloodNCheckSmokeAlarms]

Hello

Only just found this part of Mumsnet!

Here is a list I have been compiling for a while for my own personal amusement/therapy.

Comments welcome!

APOSTROPHE ERRORS
It’s/Its
Who’s/whose
I hate Tory’s (greengrocer’s apostrophe)
Baby’s/babies (that’s my babies dummy)
Nobodies/nobody’s (nobodies business) (anybody’s, somebody’s)
Families instead of family’s
Parent’s instead of parents’
Ladies instead of lady’s
No apostrophe in "clients" so no telling whether singular or plural

SPELLING MISTAKES
Affect/effect
Bear/Bare
Alot (as one word)
Aswell (as one word)
Phased/fazed
Principal/principle
Practice/practise
Stationary/stationery (e for envelope)
Drivers license/driving licence
Should of, would of, could of/should have, would have, could have
Ect/etc
Draw for “drawer” (chester draws)
Off/of
Loose/lose
Queue/cue
Peak/pique

GRAMMATICAL ERRORS
Seen/saw
Went/gone
Done/did
Ran/run
Rang/rung
Gave/given
Came/come
Sat/sitting
Stood/Standing
Lay/lie (eg I’m having a lay-in)
Gotten/got or become
That/who (the people that…)
There’s many / “there are” many
Myself/me eg “please let myself know”
Her/she eg “her and David were able to stay”
Verbs used as nouns eg “invite” “quote”

GENERAL IGNORANCE
Decimated used wrongly (it means reduced by 10% not "destroyed")
Literally used wrongly (eg "I literally exploded")
Imply/infer
Brought/bought
Adverse/averse

PRONOUNCIATION
People who go up at the end of the sentence?
Somefink
Aks instead of ask
Not pronouncing “r” eg “fowad” instead of “forward”
Pacific
Haitch

IRRITATING WORDS OR PHRASES
Reach out
Reader, (I married him)
My lovely mum etc
…, no?
So….
….Discuss.
Look…, (sounds aggressive but Australians do it)
Listen…, (ditto)
Gifted (instead of given)
Loaned instead of lent
(name) from Accounts
Can I get…? (in restaurants etc)
People who use your name repeatedly in sentences and say “yourself” in order to endear themselves to you

Some of these examples of incorrect usage are features of American English that are standard and correct. There are quite a few of us Americans on MN these days. So when, for example, I do not observe the British English distinction between practice and practise because in American English, it's all "practice," that is not an error but merely a feature of a difference based on locality.

@SenecaFallsRedux thanks and fair point. But this list covers things I see "in real life", not just MN. I can guarantee you that my colleagues are not American, just illiterate.

Didn't mean to imply Americans are illiterate btw - indeed, I give you...BILL BRYSON (my hero!) who wrote several guides to the English language.

Can we add "viscous circle" to the list?

I see that @PedantScorner (clever name!) beat me to the viscous /vicious one.

Sometimes it is my sister and me.

I think it be a regional thing.

Apostrophes for plurals
Could of , would of

Why thank you, kind @Sistanotcista .

May I add peddle meaning pedal to the list, please? Peddling cyclists worry me.

The 'Myself and DP are...' drives me up the wall, as does 'Me and DP are' or something like '...including DP and I'

Bill Bryson is one of my favorites, too!

Yes I saw that one!

atleast
abit
lastnight
everyday (as in every day)

I hate the use of anything over 100%, as in I am 110% sure. You cannot get more than 100%. 100% IS TOTAL 😡

@Bettyboop3 , but 110 % can be a perfectly valid expression.

I keep seeing 'been' for 'being' recently. It winds me up!

Just came across this corner of MN!
Something that REALLY drives me up the wall is when my husband says (when talking to our DD) "Oh dear, where's it went?" - err...it should be "where's it GONE!" - I've heard his mum say it the wrong way too and it just irritates me so much! Please stop giving our daughter bad language models!! I'm a speech & language therapist as well so it just makes me twitch, but I don't say anything because it's not worth the hassle - I just repeat what hubby has said but CORRECTLY!

@FarmDoesntRhymeWithCalm , you married and procreated with him?

@PedantScorner I know! It wasn't until our DD was born I became more aware of it. He used to say that, before we were together, my pedantic-ness was the only reason to not want to be with me and that wasn't a good enough reason.
There is another reason I'm close to leaving him...but that's a completely different story! I regret nothing about procreating as our DD is just amazing!

I'm sure she is, @FarmDoesntRhymeWithCalm . It might be a regional expression.

What is “pedanticness” ? How does it differ from pedantry?

@Babdoc - I'm guessing they mean the same thing. I think pedantry is the official word...just looked up pedanticness...it's not an actual word (just the term my husband and I have used as we didn't know the real word).

Everyone has covered more or less all of the commonly found dreadful errors, but may I add these corkers into the list: "I TEXT him but he left me ON READ". Text instead of texted is bad enough, but on read for unread is horrendous, have seen it quite a few times recently on these boards.

@Joolsin I think being left on 'read' means the person has clearly read the message but not replied back as opposed to being left 'unread' - someone correct me if I'm wrong here!

Yes, on read has its own meaning - two blue ticks on WhatsApp (for example) with no reply. It's the opposite of unread.

"Went" instead of "gone" is regional I think, DH says it but has generally excellent grammar, it bugs me but he doesn't hear the difference. Hear it a lot around here.

I see 'on Read' as meaning a status of Read, that is, available for reading, or unread.

Any thoughts on misspelt names? I mean things like the criticisms of 'Megan', or celebrities or fictional characters who have names that can have more than one spelling. Examples might be a criticism of Kirsty (meaning Kirstie Allsopp) or Sarah (meaning Sara Cox), or Ms Daley (Daly).