"Whenever" and "Seen"

[moosmom]

Irregardless IS in the dictionary??? Wow! Live and learn I suppose.

[Randi]

Catherinedana, I made a typo, I actually meant "height" and "hieght". South Africans seem to pronounce evrything with more emphasis on the i's, don't they.

Phesina, thank you for kind words. I'm trying my best. Of course, it helps to keep in touch with certain PTalkers.

[mruffruff]

I will never get used to the improper use of "waiting on". Newscasters, teachers, politicians, EVERYONE seems to use it wrong.

If you are waiting on someone, they must be very uncomfortable under you. And I wait IN line.

Run-on sentences drive me nuts! Commas and periods are like yeild and stop signs. They can make a totally illegible paragraph make sense.

[kokopup]

Being a card carrying southerner I am guilty of using fixin and Y'all in my everyday speech. I have traveled all over the world and have found that there are MINOR differences all over the US. One that bugs me used by my daughter-in-law, a New Yorker, is "these ones". I don't think this is unique to her since I have heard this used in other parts of the US. For those critical of us southerner using y'all how about the use of "youse" or "youse Guys". I'll take y'all any day. Although there are some regional differences here in the US the use of slang is minimal here compared to the British Isles. You have to go to mainland Europe to hear proper English spoken y'all.

[Randi]

I find "y'all" quite charming. I heard it the first time by a couple from Texas (of course! ). And I've heard it recently here, by a girl I know from Indiana.

[finn's mom]

Irregardless IS in the dictionary??? Wow! Live and learn I suppose.

Yes, ma'am. I'm referring to the online merriam webster edition, but as far as I know, it's legit. When you consider ginormous and staycation are both in there, too...it doesn't shock you as much.

[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.

[Catty1]

"Your" (means you own it) and "You're" (you are).

If there is an apostrophe in a word, chances are there's a letter missing - it's a contraction. Apostrophes are a hint...

I remember my grandmother saying "warsh" for "wash" all her life. She was born in Washington State and lived there til she was a teen. I have some friends born and raised there that say the same thing. Dialect, I guess.

[finn's mom]

I remember my grandmother saying "warsh" for "wash" all her life. She was born in Washington State and lived there til she was a teen. I have some friends born and raised there that say the same thing. Dialect, I guess.

My mom's from Illinois and she says the same thing.

[kokopup]

I remember my grandmother saying "warsh" for "wash" all her life. She was born in Washington State and lived there til she was a teen. I have some friends born and raised there that say the same thing. Dialect, I guess.

I think you can say warsh is a country term used in rural areas all over the US
and Canada. I hear it used here in rural Alabama, however, being raised in the
Birmingham Burbs, I never heard it used. We are talking about going just
30 miles to hear a major change in accent and word usage.

[Catty1]

"wierd" is wrong; it's "weird". I know it sounds like the EE sound that the i makes should come first...but English is a crazy language with many parents. One can't assume anything about it!

My mom and sister, who were very intelligent - Darcia skipped grades in school, my mom had two undergraduate degrees and a Master's...spelled it "wierd" for years. It was quite a good feeling to point this anomaly out to them...

[phesina]

One good way I learned to remember the proper order of the i and the e in "weird":

Think of the words "weirdo" and "hairdo." Both of them contain these four letters in sequence: i-r-d-o.

[Moesha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lobodeb
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.

Grammar Girl Tip

There is an explanation there with a good visual way to remember the difference. She also has a good explanation of when to use "lay" and "lie".

[pomtzu]

I learned the "old school" way - i before e, except after c. However, English being what it is, "weird" happens to be one of the exceptions.

[*LabLoverKEB*]

What a funny thread!
Gee now that I think about it.... the english language is pretty darn complicated!