"Whenever" and "Seen"

[AdoreMyDogs]

Oh another one I just thought of...saying "litature" instead of litERature! This is something that's bugged me for a very long time! I actually had an English Literature professor in college pronounce it litature! I couldn't believe it! I'm really not a snob but I found this ironic that a lit prof didn't even know how to pronounce literature

And as for Y'all, I'll never say this unless it's in mocking hehe. I'll always be a Yankee

Oh, and it doesn't really bother me too much, but the southerners here in TX end words like tornado, window, willow, in an 'a'...example: tornada, winda, willa. I've had a few people tell me that Quinn Willa is a pretty name, I correct them and say that it's WilloW not WillA Hehe. Now my husband jokingly calls our daughter Quinn Willa

[Randi]

Spelling IS important - some of us are trying to learn here!! One of these PT Spelling threads even made it into/in to? "Thread of the year"!

I do make some blunders myself, no doubt, but I don't understand how anyone can mix up "then" and "than".

Some of the first things I learned in English class was this:
I am
you are
he/she(it is
they/you/we are

However, I still get it wrong sometimes... just had a look at your link, and I noticed that I've been spelling "definitely" wrong all along. I may remember in the future.

Sirrasim, your first example of using "whenever" wrong/wrongly? is pure ignorance.

It's actually amazing what you're able to read, however bad it is spelt. Someone posted a really funny post about it last year - I can't remember the title.

[Edwina's Secretary]

"at"....as in "where's it at?" "Where is it?" The "at" is useless, unnecessary and hurts my ears.

[RedHedd]

Ah, my favorite kind of thread One that I hear a lot of lately is "on accident" as in, "I did it on accident" instead of by accident. Where did that come from? I even caught my boss saying it the other day - on purpose!!

[Daisy and Delilah]

Is it; waiting "on" line or......waiting "in" line?

All of "a" sudden or.....all of "the" sudden?

Somebody mentioned supposeBly as opposed to supposeDly. That one kills me, among others

[Karen]

This thread reminds me somehow of the Robert Burns quote:

O wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursel's as ithers see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us.
And foolish notion;
What airs in dress and gait wad lea'e us,
And ev'n devotion!

In more modern English, it says "Oh, would some Power the gift give us
to see ourselves as others see us!" and I'm sure you can all suss out the meaning of the rest.

I learned by first grade that one would not make friends by correcting one's classmates' grammar - but I did so anyway when it really bugged me, especially my neighbor who pronounced spaghetti as "puzgeddy" ...

My pet peeve are misplaced apostrophes, and when I see them used incorrectly on signage or in an advertisement, I will tell the store employees, especially on handwritten - and therefore easily corrected - signs.

[Lobodeb]

Here's one that bugs me. There, their and they're. They're different words and aren't interchangeble!

Also its and it's. I have to think twice before I type that one.

And, since we're all sharing our pet peeves, here's some that I'm terribly guilty of...(yes, I just ended my sentence with a preposition.)

Affect and effect. What is the proper way to use this? "How will this affect me?"

[CathyBogart]

The one that makes me want to tear out my hair is when people say "woof" instead of "wolf".

[Karen]

Affect and effect. What is the proper way to use this? "How will this affect me?"

From http://www.askoxford.com

To affect something is to change or influence it, To effect something is a rather formal way of saying `to make it happen'. Confusingly, either may produce an 'effect' or result. ('An affect' is a technical term in psychology.)

Correct usage:
The stability of the wall was affected by passing lorries.
The demolition of the wall was effected by the detonation of a charge of dynamite.
The dynamite did not just 'affect' (influence) the demolition of the wall: it caused it.

[prechrswife]

Also its and it's. I have to think twice before I type that one.

Affect and effect. What is the proper way to use this? "How will this affect me?"

On the its and it's thing, we actually bought a box of Christmas cards the year before last that were beautiful on the outside, and the sentiment inside was good, but it said something along the lines of "...the star of Christmas shines it's light..." We took them back to the store for a refund and purchased different cards. Now, I read the inside very carefully before purchasing any card.

As for affect and effect, the easiest way for me to remember is that "affect" is an "action." They both start with the letter a, so "affect" is a verb. "Effect," then is a noun.

[BitsyNaceyDog]

My husband and I go back and forth about whether the word kitten should be pronounced "Kit-ten" with both t's pronounced sharply, or "Kit-en" with just one pronounced... It's the same with mit-ten versus mit-en

I've always pronounced it "Kit-en" and it would drive my ex-coworker crazy, she insisted it was "Kit- ten".

Affect and effect. What is the proper way to use this? "How will this affect me?"

That's one I can't get right. My husband has tried to help me with it many times, but I just can't get it right. I really try to avoid using those words.

[Pam]

I learned by first grade that one would not make friends by correcting one's classmates' grammar - but I did so anyway when it really bugged me, especially my neighbor who pronounced spaghetti as "puzgeddy" ...

Karen I wish I could do that. I work with a girl who misuses Moot and Mute. She always says that something is a Mute Point. I have to bit my tongue because I want to refer her to the remote control on her TV.

Moot - 1. open to discussion or debate; debatable; doubtful: a moot point.
2. of little or no practical value or meaning; purely academic.

Mute -1. silent; refraining from speech or utterance.
2. not emitting or having sound of any kind.

Another word that really bothers me is nuclear. So many people (our president is included in this) say nucular. That just makes me crazy!

[buckner]

I really only find what people type to be annoying. Sure, some things cause me to cringe when I hear it being said, but I realize that I make some of the same mistakes.

Some of my words are "blended" together, and therefore I appear uneducated about language. But, sit me in front of a computer and I can type it correctly for you, along with a definition and it being used correctly in a sentence. I type with good grammar because it's needed for college papers and such, but I say stuff as if I'm living on a farm. Some letters are said longer and not always in the correct way (ice sounds like a form of a donkey...).

I understand how it can be pet peeves to say stuff incorrectly, but we all make the same mistakes. Most of it is a regional difference - we were brought up realizing we could talk like that and still communicate just fine.

[krazyaboutkatz]

"at"....as in "where's it at?" "Where is it?" The "at" is useless, unnecessary and hurts my ears.

This also drives me crazy and I hear it on a daily basis because this is the way my boss talks.

I also don't like it when people say ain't. I think it makes them seem so uneducated. My co-worker says this word a lot.

The word "seen" being misused has also always bothered me.

I've also been guilty about ending sentences with prepositions and I've done this on Pet Talk.

[cassiesmom]

"at"....as in "where's it at?" "Where is it?" The "at" is useless, unnecessary and hurts my ears.

ES, this is proof that you don't live in Chicago anymore where's it at is a total Chicago thing!
Here is a lesson on Chicago-speak: http://www.seanparnell.com/Chicago/Chicagoese.htm

And Pomtzu, I think "waiting on" might be a Chicago thing too... we're just waiting on Elyse to get here, and then we'll head out.

My future-nephew-in-law is from New Jersey and we have had a lot of laughs over pronouncing marry, merry, and Mary.

I've got two current pet peeves ... nuclear- the word is not noo-kyoo-lar, it's noo-clee-ar. Same thing with jewelry -- the word is not jew-luh-ry, it's jew-el-ry, just like it looks.

And the other is voila. It's from the French language ... say vwa-la, because the V is not silent. Note that it's not spelled wa-la, either.