CongraTulations/ CongraDulations

[cloverfdx]

Pretty pointless thread but oh well ;).Does this particular spelling error bother anyone else?

Any other spelling errors that bother you?

[DrKym]

accept/except they are not interchangeable :rolleyes:

[Karen]

There are many spelling errors that seem more common than the correct spelling! I will use conGRADulations for someone's GRADuation, but congratulations for all else.

Misused apostrophes bother me, but as I am not a perfect typist, I cannot be too critical!

[Pam]

Misused apostrophes bother me, but as I am not a perfect typist, I cannot be too critical!

Karen I thought I was the only one! They drive me right up the wall. :p I have to laugh at Jay Leno when he does his *Headlines* segment. These are people who are producing newspapers and they can't spell or don't seem to know what they are saying in their ads. Though hilarious, I can't understand how this stuff actually gets put into print. Have these people never attended one day of school? :eek: :rolleyes:

Another pet peeve, aside from CongraDulations, is nuclear versus nucular. :rolleyes: Even our President messes up on the pronounciation of that one.

[Karen]

Another pet peeve, aside from CongraDulations, is nuclear versus nucular. :rolleyes: Even our President messes up on the pronounciation of that one.

That drives me completely bonkers - because people will hear him, and think that IS how it is pronounced! Eeeek!

My beloved friend Phil was a proofreader - he worked for 40-something years at the Christian Science Monitor, and when he retired, he came to work a couple days a week at the local weekly where I worked. As it was his stock and trade, he proofread everything, whatever type was in front of him, without even trying.

One evening he and his wife went out to dinner, and the restaurant had a new menu. Phil, being Phil, noticed errors (one misplaced apostrophe, and a misspelling) and quietly told the waiter. Well, the manager came over, and instead of thanking him, was furious! They had just had thousands of menus printed up, and now they'd all have to be redone - like it was Phil's fault! He quietly told his wife he'd never point out a typo to a restaurateur again!

Rest in peace, Phil! Miss you!

[wolfsoul]

Drives me nuts! I've been a "speller" for as long as I can remember. I've learned to remember that not everyone can spell, and some people never will. Most of my closest friends can't spell worth a darn, I'm sure most of them would say "congradulations" as well. What can ya do?

[moosmom]

IRREGARDLESS. I cannot stand when people use it. It's not a word. REGARDLESS is a word, IRREGARDLESS is not.

[Daisy and Delilah]

It truly saddens me to see some of the spelling errors we see on this board. All in all, most people spell pretty well but it disturbs me that some people can't spell any better than they do. It seems that someone starts spelling a particular word wrong and it catches on. Like I said in another thread, put a dictionary by the computer or use spell check if available :(

My latest pet peeve is the misuse of lose and loose. When did people start loosing weight?? :confused:

[cloverfdx]

My latest pet peeve is the misuse of lose and loose. When did people start loosing weight??
Ditto! i saw that one earlier and just shook my head.

Google is great for looking up proper spelling ;).

[Miss Z]

Spelling mistakes annoy me a bit, but I suppose a lot of us make typos now and again ;) The mix up of there, their and they're is something I usually notice though

[Alysser]

I am not a perfect speller but I hate it when people misuse the words there and thier and it really bothers me when people use "i" instead of a capital "I". I have seen it on commercials and it's so annoying, IMO.

[caseysmom]

I am not a perfect speller but I hate it when people misuse the words there and thier and it really bothers me when people use "i" instead of a capital "I". I have seen it on commercials and it's so annoying, IMO.

Do you mean their? hehe

[Kfamr]

One of my spelling peeves is:

Exited. Exited is not when you are happy about something - EXCITED is the correct word/spelling.

I see it used a lot on here.

[JenBKR]

The only thing I really can't stand is when people don't use punctuation and their sentences just run on and on and.....I get out of breath just reading them!

[Danegirl2208]

German shepard.its Germen shepHERD people lmao..OMG i cant tell you how annoying that is to me :rolleyes:

[wolfsoul]

The only thing I really can't stand is when people don't use punctuation and their sentences just run on and on and.....I get out of breath just reading them!
Oh I KNOW!! I hate run-on sentences, they are so difficult to understand. There is one member on here whose posts I can't even read because I become so frustrated trying to figure out what they say. Atleast I can still understand a paragraph with spelling mistakes, but I just don't have the brain-power to deal with run-ons.

[G535]

I always thought of this forum as a place to talk about our pets, not to complain about others' spelling mistakes. The spelling is no worse here than on any other forum. :)

[Dorothy39]

It truly saddens me to see some of the spelling errors we see on this board. All in all, most people spell pretty well but it disturbs me that some people can't spell any better than they do. It seems that someone starts spelling a particular word wrong and it catches on. Like I said in another thread, put a dictionary by the computer or use spell check if available :(

My latest pet peeve is the misuse of lose and loose. When did people start loosing weight?? :confused:
Yes, I remember reading that post, so, I now have my Webster's Dictionary near the computer.

My pet peeve, since registering on a forum, is the use of acronymns!!!

I don't use them, I won't !!!! LOL, BYB, ROTFL, IMO, and a few more that I gave up trying to figure out---- :eek: by now, my 4th grade teacher is certainly rolling over in her grave!!! :eek:

I am a spell checker, because of my 4th grade teacher!!!!! She was very, very strict!!!!!!! But, ---she taught me so much!!!!!! and , I was so lucky as an adult, to tell her just how wonderful a teacher she was!

I have to laugh out loud :D when some one corrects my spelling on this forum. So, please, if or when you spot incorrect spelling or punctuation within my replies, give me a kick in the pants!!!!!!!! :D

I have college credits in English!!!!!! So, I deserve it!!!!!!!

[Karen]

I always thought of this forum as a place to talk about our pets, not to complain about others' spelling mistakes. The spelling is no worse here than on any other forum. :)

This forum, Town Hall, is to discuss the site, not pets - the rest of the whole BBS people are free to talk about pets! This is fine as a topic, and helps people realize that spelling DOES matter, especially in helping people understand. Not everyone here speaks English as her or his first language, and misspellings make it even more difficult for them, also.

[dogzr#1]

It is a major pet peeve of mine when someone uses the wrong meaning of a word, kind of hard for me to explain. Like using 'hole' instead of 'whole', or 'where' instead of 'were'. Also run-on sentences. Most of the time if I see a post with run-on sentences, then I don't bother reading it at all. I understand some typos that happen because of fast typing, but when it's hard for you to understand what a person is saying, and when you have to go back and read the sentence again to actually be able to comprehend what they were typing, well it gets annoying. I am by no means a perfect speller, but I usually have dictionary.com open at the same time to check some more difficult words.

[vinjashira]

I thought Congra[d]ulations is how Congra[t]ulations spellt in the US :D

I appologise if I make typing errors. English is not my first language, but I do try :)

[Daisy and Delilah]

We all make typing errors William. The human eye often misses errors/typos. It just bothers me that some people spell words incorrectly over and over and never seem to try to correct themselves. Typos are always easy to get around. I just can't imagine how some people have gotten through school with the way their spelling looks in some of these posts. :confused:

[JenBKR]

Oh I KNOW!! I hate run-on sentences, they are so difficult to understand. There is one member on here whose posts I can't even read because I become so frustrated trying to figure out what they say. Atleast I can still understand a paragraph with spelling mistakes, but I just don't have the brain-power to deal with run-ons.


haha I think I know who you mean - I don't even bother reading that person's posts anymore because it gives me a headache ;)

[cloverfdx]

Oh yes run on sentences are another pet peeve of mine, they make things very hard to read ;).

ETA: Another spelling error that bugs me is tomarrow... for such a simple word it is often spelt wrong.

[captain]

There are many many things - but Rhi, you will know this one.

Is it only in Australia they say - Satday?? ............... it is Saturday

The other one here is - somefink or somming - the word is something

[Ginger's Mom]

I was just talking about this particular word with my nephew last week, I am surprised by how many people spell "definitely" incorrectly(and I am not talking about just on this site).
Also someone here on Pet Talk had posted this (http://www.spellcheck.net/) free online spell check site a while ago, and I have added it to my favorites. :)

Just a real quick story, when I first started this job it involved a writing a summary of the file for the next person to use in their job. I always thought of myself as a good speller. Imagine my embarrassment when after a week or two one of my co-workers came over and very politely offered me a dictionary to use. :o Moral of the story even if you think you know, it never hurts to check. ;)

[captain]

Ginger's Mom - I will always thank my Dad for helping me learn to spell that word

He taught it to me as - def-i-nite-ly
(pronounced - deaf-i-night-lee)

Made sure I never forgot that there was an I in there :D

[Daisy and Delilah]

Thanks for the spellcheck Joyce. I bookmarked it too for future use. My spelling has degraded so much over the years that I have to check and re-check all the time. It never does hurt to check, especially when the old memory starts to go when we get older ;) I've come to the conclusion that some people spell incorrectly just to get attention or to be different. Surely, constant spelling errors that are so blatant, can't be real. Right?? ;)

[Suki Wingy]

IRREGARDLESS. I cannot stand when people use it. It's not a word. REGARDLESS is a word, IRREGARDLESS is not.
My math teacher in 9th grade did that ALL the time! I hated her even more for it. Math is so blah and she made me hate it even more. I too HATE the misuse/overuse of appostraphies. I don't get why people at least can't get in their minds that appostraphies are for POSSESION and CONTRACTIONS!! At least get that!
I've been called grammar police for correcting my parents when I was young but I'm a terrible speller. I often mispell words in people's signatures and only save them as jpgs. :o
Another that drives me crazy is "spelt"
edit: I just had to look it up. It is a type of wheat but it is also accepted as the past tense of "spell" in England

[cloverfdx]

Spelt is spelt correctly according to spellcheck and Google ;). Michelle Saturday definitely bugs me aswell.

[finn's mom]

IRREGARDLESS. I cannot stand when people use it. It's not a word. REGARDLESS is a word, IRREGARDLESS is not.

I know what you mean. But, you know, it's in the dictionary now. :) So, I don't say anything about it anymore. It's just one of those words that's been used for so long, it's made it into the dictionary. My dad says it and always has, it's always bugged me.

It also drives me insane when people say "I seen this..." or "I seen him at the store today." Man. But, half of my friends from South Carolina speak that way. ;)

I notice spelling all of the time. It's one thing if English isn't your first language, but, it speaks volumes for the country we live in when people are graduating who can't even spell simple words correctly. Or at least strive to learn the correct way. I pride myself in being aware of what I type. I make typos all the time, but, I will even correct my posts weeks later if I notice something. ;) And, I've asked my niece many times to help me with certain grammatical conundrums (one of my all time favorite words!). She teaches language arts, and, she's always willing to help me or at least find the answer, because she doesn't know the answer all the time, either. ;)

Someone mentioned something about acronyms, I rarely use them, either. LOL is something I've never used. Don't know why I've never used it, it doesn't usually annoy me too much. ;)

[sasvermont]

Don't get me started! :rolleyes:

[Edwina's Secretary]

its it's and its' (the last is I believe...when all the its get together and buy something....) :rolleyes: mens room, womens room?????? and your and you're ...I guess that makes me one of the ' nuts?

[Barbara]

In Germany we get it the other way round- it would be correct to write
"Sams cars" without an ' as the genitiv s in German is just added to the word. But many half-wits who know a little English just write Sam's now- which sounds ok as long as it's an English name but Sieglinde's flower shop in German sounds rather funny to me.

[Jessika]

IRREGARDLESS. I cannot stand when people use it. It's not a word. REGARDLESS is a word, IRREGARDLESS is not.
Well, it IS in the dictionary. :P

The only thing that REALLY bothers me is:
it's and its
their, there, and they're
and you're and your

Now I know I get its and it's mixed up sometimes, but I NEVER get your and you're mixed up, and they are soo easy to get straight. If you undo the contraction and will be saying "you are..." then it is "you're". If you are talking about posession, it is just "your". Ta dah! :)

It's and its STILL throws me off sometimes... it's almost backwards from "normal" rules. Normally you use 's for posession, but not for it's! It's backwards!

"Look at its leg!"
"It's going to close."

Or watch me get those mixed up... that's really the only thing that still continues to confuse me!!

[Edwina's Secretary]

Jessika....the rule for it's/its......same as you're.....it's is short for "it is" and inanimate objects cannot own things so...its....there is NO its'....

[kuhio98]

These bug me for some reason.

advice ~ advise
principle ~ principal
since ~ sense

[vinjashira]

I found an interesting website today. I thought it's very appropriate for this thread:
"Common Errors in English Usage" by Paul Brian
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

[captain]

I found an interesting website today. I thought it's very appropriate for this thread:
"Common Errors in English Usage" by Paul Brian
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

I have bookmarked that .................. thanks!!!
(or is it thank's or thanks' ....................... :D )

[Suki Wingy]

You know, I've been having troubles with your and you're latley. I clearly know the difference, but I find myself typing you're all the time when I mean you're and just barely catching my mistake.

That site is good! Today on the weather channel the announcer misused a saying, I can't remember what now but I laughed out loud and my dad was like, "What are you laughing at??!"

[zoey]

The *irregardless* mistake mentioned before.( My boss says that!!) ;)
The *loose* for *lose* mentioned before.
Personally, i'm a decent speller for long words.
But sometimes i get the easiest everyday words wrong.
*Definite*, mentioned before, I know I get wrong sometimes.
*Probably*, I spelled wrong for awhile.
I think b/c you get used to doing it wrong, and no one calls you on it, then when it's brought to your attention, you feel like an ass for having done it wrong so much. :p
I remember having problems with *with* and *which*in grade school, but actually did pretty well in spelling bees. Go figure!
Mostly i try not to let the mistakes bother me too much, because so many times it's either a kid or someone with a bit of a learning disorder, so....

[Killearn Kitties]

Have you noticed that Pet Talk has engendered its own spelling controversy? Is it furminology or furmanology? Inquiring minds need to know!

[Karen]

Have you noticed that Pet Talk has engendered its own spelling controversy? Is it furminology or furmanology? Inquiring minds need to know!


Seeing as the root word is terminology, and has nothing to do with a certain Los Angeles police officer, I believe it should be furminlogy!

[Killearn Kitties]

The Mayor has spoken! :D I think that decision can be considered final.

[Husky_mom]

haha I myself also have a lot of mistakes as english its not my primary language but many of them are because im lazy to capitaliza the "i"´s or to place the ´in "i´m" "he´s" and the such.......sorry about that and also i very frecuently type "adn" instead of "and" i think i type one letter a bit faster than the other one :rolleyes: adn sometime i just dont know or remember how to write it right.........but sorry to all........also sometimes i miss write somethings to get a nice unique form like "beourthday" as "birthday"......ok i think i made my point sorry but.........

eevn so if aynnoe can raed tihs it rllaey desnot mtaetr the silnpelg or how we wtire the wrdos see.........i bet eorvnyee culod raed it, did you??

[Karen]

It's the laziness, not honest mistakes, to which we object!

[Cataholic]

There are many spelling errors that seem more common than the correct spelling! I will use conGRADulations for someone's GRADuation, but congratulations for all else.


While I am not entirely positive, I **think** this is the wrong usage. I don't think there is a word- congraDulations, even if you are using it to congraTulate someone graDuating from school. Just my .02.

[Karen]

While I am not entirely positive, I **think** this is the wrong usage. I don't think there is a word- congraDulations, even if you are using it to congraTulate someone graDuating from school. Just my .02.

It is not correct, I spell it with a D for graDuation just for fun and the emphasis. Never said it was correct, just what I do for fun.

[Blue_Frog]

I'm a technical writer, and part of my job is to take hardware manuals originally written in Korean or Chinese (which have been converted into English, likely through the Japanese first), and do rewrites for the North American audience - i'm very familiar with bad grammar, spelling and just overall strange uses of words (such as "Alien Substances" instead of "Foreign Materials" as in "Don't put foreign materials into the device"). A lot of the time my job does make me smile though :)


One of my pet-peeves has always been:
It's vs. Its'
Two vs Too vs To
Then vs Than
(etc.)
*shrug* ... just one of those things I guess :)



But, for anyone who hasn't seen this around in email before, the human mind is pretty strange. Read the following - it looks like gibberish at first - but all of a sudden you can read it.


I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Cheers!
_A_

[MajesticCollies]

lol I just saw that email the other day about how the human brain only needs to recognize a few letters in a word to actually recognize it. Sooo.....Just to let you all know, I misspell words all the time in typos and hardly ever go back to correct them. Hope all of you can be lienient on me.:p

[catnapper]

I freely admit I'm an awful typer. I try to catch my mistakes (not always very good at doing so though :o)

Anyway, my biggest pet peeve that I've seen many people - both young and old do - is using "of" instead of "have"

For instance: I should have gone to the park

Someone would say: I should of gone to the park.

I know they are thinking what they hear. We constantly murder english in our speach. What we are saying is "should've" which is a contraction of "should have".

"Of" is a preposition. "Have" is a verb. Don't mix them up!

Tomorrow is a big one I see. Someone wrote "tomarra" the other day about a dozen times in a handful of posts and I wants to scream. One mispelling is understandable (and if I'm typing even expected :p) but spelling the same word wrong the same way time after time?

[mrspunkysmom]

As an educator, I have a plethora of comments and opinions that would most likely start a war about the state of the educational system in the USA.

I will say this: Most people don't understand why it's important to be that particular about spelling and grammar. (These same people also are dependent upon the calculator.) I have argued this until I'm cyanotic, and I have wasted my breath. It is a losing battle.

People can learn the rules regardless of their opinion, but we have set our standards too low. It is embarrassing to me to know that non-native English speakers have a better command of the English language than our high school graduates.

America suffers from a huge independent and individualist streak that appears fabulous and enviable from a distance, but proves problematic for certain areas of concern, such as a unified, national educational system. When the US government gets serious about the education of our young, you will see the difference.

War? I haven't even begun to speak about the American educational system.

Anne
PS. who probably fomented a war anyway
PSS It is scary that as a math teacher I have a better command of the language than most of the teachers in the school, with the exception of the English teachers, that is.

[Logan]

What a neat thread!!!! I grew up in a house with an English teacher as mom.......she still corrects her children and grandchildren on "lie and lay" and many, many other things!!! I can remember her returning a letter to me, when I was in college (long before email) and correcting my spelling on "seperate". I used an "a", rather than an "e" and she let me know about it!

Logan

[sirrahbed]

I used to have very good spelling and grammar, but that skill seems to be fading :o

A couple misspellings that always give me a chuckle are.....

grammer for grammar

alter for altar

That last is one that is pretty funny when used by someone in a religious discussion :D

[kitten645]

when some finds an animal WONDERING around rather than WANDERING!! That makes me crazy..LOL ;)

[Ginger's Mom]

I freely admit I'm an awful typer. I try to catch my mistakes (not always very good at doing so though :o)

Anyway, my biggest pet peeve that I've seen many people - both young and old do - is using "of" instead of "have"

For instance: I should have gone to the park

Someone would say: I should of gone to the park.

I know they are thinking what they hear. We constantly murder english in our speach. What we are saying is "should've" which is a contraction of "should have".

"Of" is a preposition. "Have" is a verb. Don't mix them up!

I kept telling myself that I wasn't going to say anything more in this thread, but Kim brings up a good point. A lot of spelling mistakes (my own included) are because we do not pronounce our words correctly. Another example would be, "First off;" the actual expression is "first of all" indicating that you are going to give at least two reasons why you feel/believe a certain way. But somehow it has all become run together and may people now just say, and type, "first off." Another example, I have a problem with words that begin with "pre" and "per" (is it "performance" or "preformance", is it "prescription" or "perscription"). I can usually figure it out, but it really takes a lot of concentration on my part as to how to correctly pronounce the word. Another thing I find a little confusing (okay, irritating) is that everyone seems to use the word "anyways", I had always thought the word was "anyway," no "s"; however, now the common usage seems to be with the "s" added on. Is that correct?
Logan, I had to smile when you mentioned "separate," I have to spellcheck that word all of the time; that is how I know the "a" is right. ;)
And kitten645, how do you know the poor lost animal wasn't really "wondering" (where he was-lol). :)

[dionne]

on my graduation day, a good friend sent me a card that said "congraduations on your gradualations" hahaha...that was priceless! :D

[sandragonfly]

right, but how could be correct if didn't know? unless you were told you mispelt! what you, blue frog typed always is one of my favorites - it's in scrapbook collection. :)

this could be really annoyed because .. not only people don't know how to type correct, they type too fast! carefreely. such like ; instead of ' and i instead of o too - biy, yiu, kodding or pozza!!

playing with words is great! these I see most pet talk common incorrections .. please do remember these!

definitely .. (no 'a' or more than two 'a's in it at all!)
then (chronically) or than (more).
here, not hear. (place)
hear, not here. (sense)
weird, not wierd or werid.
yesterday
truly - no 'e' in.
no loosing or no comming. :p
gora/e/ogeous .. oh how I wish pet talk could remove errors automatically before it is posted.. ask santa claws for autospelling system? :D

[RedHedd]

Oh geez I would stumble onto this thread - my favorite kind of peeve thread!

I'm with Gina on the peeve to "comming" instead of "coming" also I keep seeing "hudge" for huge, the to, too, two dilemma, of instead of have, loose for lose, there, their and they're (that one makes me CRINGE). I can't figure out how people get "no" for "know" .... Reminds me of that old thread, I think it was in general - Spelling DOES count.

I have a spellcheck plug-in for Internet Explorer that's free and will use it before I post this :)

[Twisterdog]

Almost every single error listed here drives me crazy. Bad spelling and grammar is one of my big pet peeves, especially when it is in a public announcement or forum. I always wonder, "Of all the dozens on employees at this business, NONE of them knew how to spell?"

I recently saw a sign on the sign board outside our local junior high school that said, "School is in. Drive safe." Drive SAFE? On a sign at a SCHOOL? How about "safely"? The death of the adverb in the English language is a truly sad thing to me.

Another thing that irritates me is the misuse of quotation marks. On a menu in a cafe we ate at recently: "Try our "great" apple pie!" Now, I'm sure they were trying for emphasis, "Try our GREAT apple pie!" or "Try our great apple pie." But, of course, by enclosing it in quotation marks, what they were really saying was, "Try our not-so-great apple pie."

I could go on forever. I'll stop now. ;)

[Karen]

Twisterdog - you'd just love a local company's sign. They are a landscaping company, and do paving work as well. But the sign they put on people's lawns has their name at the top and "asphalt paving" in the middle - I always think, I wonder what they really use, if not asphalt?

[Lady's Human]

Karen,

Concrete.

[Cataholic]

I recently saw a sign on the sign board outside our local junior high school that said, "School is in. Drive safe." Drive SAFE? On a sign at a SCHOOL? How about "safely"?


While I might not catch the adverb thing, I am always struck by the stupidity of the comment. I see this and think, Okay! Drive like a lunatic when school is NOT in session. All the kids are running around outside the school grounds, and the sign encourages one (by negative inference) to drive like a lunatic.

Or, really, when the kids ARE all secure in the school building, that WOULD really be the best time to drive like a lunatic. I think a little bit too much sometimes.




Another thing that irritates me is the misuse of quotation marks. On a menu in a cafe we ate at recently: "Try our "great" apple pie!" Now, I'm sure they were trying for emphasis, "Try our GREAT apple pie!" or "Try our great apple pie." But, of course, by enclosing it in quotation marks, what they were really saying was, "Try our not-so-great apple pie."



That sends me up the wall. I see these beautiful signs, new signs, specially made signs, with quotes on them!!! ARGH!!! (Apostrophes also get me going.)

[RedHedd]

While (Apostrophes also get me going.) Or the lack thereof .... I'm seeing WAY too much Im, Dont, etc. and its (sic) driving me up the wall! :mad: Does everyone have a broken keyboard or are they just lazy or stupid?

[Karen]

Karen,

Concrete.


But they did Paul's mom's driveway, and it looks, feels and smells like asphalt ...

[Twisterdog]

Karen,

Concrete.

I guess I always thought the same as Karen ... when it is "pavement" or has been "paved", it is asphalt. When it has been "poured" or "laid", it is concrete. No?

Oh, yes, the infamous missing apostrophe. :rolleyes: Drives me crazy.