The "how hard can it be?" thread

[UnquietDad]

It's loth to do it, not "loath" or "loathe".

It's accept something, not "except" it.

It's affect the outcome, not "effect" it.

It's publicly, not "publically".

It's never mind (two words), not "nevermind" (pace Nirvana).

It's liaison, not "liason".

Any more (not "anymore") ?

I like the grammar school idea, UQD, then there would be definite advantages to pedantry. We might even start converting the masses!

Yup, sod the 11+, let's have a spelling test for the parents! Weed out the riff-raff!

it's eczema, not excema or exma or exsema

Yes, I like it!

I am a bit alarmed as my spelling on mumsnet is not as good as in RL because I type too quickly...I am appalled at some of my errors

was sat instead of was sitting (sim. was stood....)

A mum in the playground told me she was 'historical' when she heard her son had been in an accident. I then had historics trying to keep a sympathetic face

my spelling on MN is awful too, but my brain works faster than my fingers and I am ususally in a hurry when typing on here...
But I do know how to spell, really I do!

it's not lay down, it's lie down [fume]

lol grammar school ranting.

DP's mum is Mrs Malaprop. I talked to her about men being emasculated. She (predictably) thought I meant masturbated and looked suitably scandalised.

My pet hate is people spelling my name wrong in emails. It is THERE written correctly right in front of you. PLEASE spell it correctly. It is not as if I am called Berengaria or something, it is a perfectly normal name. And whilst you are at it, stupid people, please pronounce my name correctly, as well.

I have honestly never seen (or noticed, rather) loth. I always thought it was loath. ANd there's me, thinking I was well educated an' all.

Humph.

This is one which may actually be correct! I'm not sure now as I see it such a lot - it always annoys me though:

"Dear x

Please see the below email for details of blah blah"

It should be "email below" surely?

(But "bellow email" is definitely wrong, another one which seems to crop up a lot!)

DH rants about the below e-mail as well.

Here's one - Good ol' George Dubbya and his 'nucular' weapons.

SixSpot: As a resident I can confidently assert that it's "Edin-brah". Were I a native, born and bred it'd be "Embra".

OED has loath, with loth as a variant. God, I was a drain on the taxpayer today...

I have a friend who once said she would attend her wedding wearing "vaginal white". Which was amusing (and wrong) on several levels.

Also, "please find enclosed" when referring to email attachments...

My number one irritation, that trumps everything else every time, is that companies are singular NOT plural. It is not right to say "Shell have recently issued a report". I have read pieces of work by six colleagues at work today and every single one of them used the plural repeatedly. Except for one, who mixed the plural and the singular with gay abandon (so I will give her some credit for getting it right 50% of the time). I have lost count of the number of times I have told everyone it's wrong. I'm thinking of getting it tattooed on their heads.

I am also irritated by almost everything else everyone has mentioned. I think that Pedants' Corner may be my spiritual home.

how can 'loth' be a real word? it doesn't look like one AT ALL. It likes like someone was trying to say sloth and forgot the s.

I am so not a pedant but what I do notice an awful lot of on here is councilling as opposed to counselling. Always makes me think of our council and what a bunch of utter twats they are!

But you don't march into the council chamber and declare it to their faces though do you?

I did send an email this month (about them introducing residents parking in ALL roads around the High Street EXCEPT ours because the residents on our road who largely consist of benefit cheats, retired people people who don't work voted NO which OF COURSE will mean I won't be able to park my bloody car for miles as shoppers/commuters can park on my street for free and everywhere else is pay and display or residents permit and the utter cunts councillors, IN THEIR INFINITE fucking wisdom have told me I can't have a residents permit to park on the other streets because I don't live on one of them) but I managed to just stop short of calling them twats. Grrr.

I think I was loth to do so but should have done (just doesn't look right, I want it to be loathe).

bet you wish you hadn't asked now lol

For some reason it always really winds me up when people get childcare guru Dr Spock mixed up with pointy-eared Star Trek character Mr Spock.

Anticipate, when people mean expect - and have actually done nothing at all to anticipate the expected event.

And it is, of course, homoeopathy, but years of idiots misspelling it have led to homeopathy become accepted as a variant spelling.

Also, forensics experts don't examine scientific evidence. Forensic means of or pertaining to the law. Forensic science experts examine scientific evidence.

I think my biggest bugbear is the use of "less" instead of "fewer". It happens all the time: in everyday life, on (supposedly respectable) TV programmes, in emails..... I think I am fighting a losing battle.

license and licence

and other Americanisms creeping into this country (Holland )

Am currently waging a one-woman campaign at the Dutch company I work at to ensure everyone uses British English and not American English . Difficult in an organisation of 1000+ people but hey, you're either a pedant or you're not.

I've got a new one this morning

sufferance instead of 'suffering'

[Nice work there JaneHH... It's good to be ambitious! )