What words do you hate to hear/see misused?

[lovecraft68]

Unless I missed it I am surprised not to see the infamous laying/lying lay/lie

 

[monoblanco]

Literally.

"I literally died!"

I really hate "literally" when it is used as: "I literally froze to death." This has now become acceptable, but it will NEVER accept it.

Ugh!

I work at a university and so with lots of teens and 20 somethings and hear this all the time, though not LITERALLY all the time

However, on the flip side, they help me stay current on all the latest fashion trends and never let me forget that I'm turning into a dirty old man.

 

[monoblanco]

Unless I missed it I am surprised not to see the infamous laying/lying lay/lie

Ha! I was just getting to that.

Stella's post made me think of it.

A former colleague of mine, a Latin teacher, told me something that always helps me remember which is which.

I don't remember it verbatim but it had to do with hens and whores, they 'lay'. Everything else 'lies'. Though, I'm sure, on occasion, hens or whores might also 'lie'.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Ha! I was just getting to that.

Stella's post made me think of it.

A former colleague of mine, a Latin teacher, told me something that always helps me remember which is which.

I don't remember it verbatim but it had to do with hens and whores, they 'lay'. Everything else 'lies'. Though, I'm sure, on occasion, hens or whores might also 'lie'.

Hens? never.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Hens? never.

Don't take your eyes away from those mothercluckers, they're up to something.

 

[patientlee]

Ha! I was just getting to that.

Stella's post made me think of it.

A former colleague of mine, a Latin teacher, told me something that always helps me remember which is which.

I don't remember it verbatim but it had to do with hens and whores, they 'lay'. Everything else 'lies'. Though, I'm sure, on occasion, hens or whores might also 'lie'.

I had an English professor who said, "Curtains are hung. People are hanged." I guess he left out the part about horses.

 

[colddiesel]

"The data is" instead of, "the data are." Though it is now so common I suspect I am only showing my age.

In American English when a person says something fit wheras the Brit would say fitted.

 

[sr71plt]

"The data is" instead of, "the data are." Though it is now so common I suspect I am only showing my age.

In American English when a person says something fit wheras the Brit would say fitted.

"data are" is proper on both sides of the Atlantic. More problematic is that when you collectivize people (e.g., staff, unit), the collectivization is singular in U.S. usage and plural in UK usage.

 

[Lady_Riane]

Have spent more time reading than writing up until now. I have a huge vocabulary and also happen to have a huge pet peeve when it comes to words being spelled wrong or used incorrectly. There have been a couple of stories I read lately where I've almost pulled my hair out and ground my teeth to pulp over just these types of errors. Just off the top of my head, these few examples stand out:

Then vs Than
Accept vs Except
Perform written as Preform

 

[sr71plt]

Perform written as Preform

"from" also often gets transposed to "from."

 

[soflabbwlvr]

This one has popped up in the last year or so and drives me crazy. It's mostly former athletes now employed as television commentators who do it.

Using "concerning" when they mean "disconcerting."

E.g., Kobe's injuring is concerning.

 

[oggbashan]

Unique when it isn't.

Principle/Principal - The principle is that unique should refer to the only one of its kind. The Moveo 3-litre car was unique. Only one was ever made. The Triumph Dolomite Straight 8 was not unique. Three were made.

The principal features of the Triumph were almost direct copies of an Alfa-Romeo.

 

[sr71plt]

This one has popped up in the last year or so and drives me crazy. It's mostly former athletes now employed as television commentators who do it.

Using "concerning" when they mean "disconcerting."

E.g., Kobe's injuring is concerning.

Afraid the commentators are correct. Kobe's injuring would have caused concern (concerning), not thrown everything into confusion (disconcerting)--unless, of course, Kobe was the only talent on the team's bench and the coach had no other plan than to play Kobe.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Afraid the commentators are correct. Kobe's injuring would have caused concern (concerning), not thrown everything into confusion (disconcerting)--unless, of course, Kobe was the only talent on the team's bench and the coach had no other plan than to play Kobe.

I disagree. He said, she said: Good grammar improves communication

#6 Concerning vs. Disconcerting. Look it up in the dictionary. “Concerning” means one thing: about, or regarding. It does not mean “something that worries you.” So to say “this problem is very concerning to me” is just plain wrong. There’s no such thing. You may be trying to say the problem is “disconcerting,” which means it causes you to feel “ill at ease, slightly confused, or taken aback.”

 

[sr71plt]

Yep, we disagree. "Concerning" is used two different ways. Sports commentators--especially ones coming from the sport, where speaking English isn't a requirement all the way through their schooling--often come out with screamers in their commentary, but this isn't one of them, I think.

To show concern isn't the same thing as being disconcerted at all. My take is that the commentators were saying they were concerned about the injury not confused by it. As the commentators have used it in your example, "concerning" is a present participle of "concern," not the same "concerning" definition as "regarding" at all.

I suppose the commentators could have satisfied you if they had said "Kobe's injuring causes me concern," but that's asking quite a lot from a retired basketball player who has bounced his head off the rim once too often.

A pro basketball coach worth his salary might be concerned when a star player gets injured, but he's not going to be confused by it--he's going to know exactly how to adjust to it.

 

[MayorReynolds]

As others have already mentioned, 'literally.'

"I literally stab people who misuse the word 'literally.'" (I don't.)

And nothing makes me click a back button faster than your/you're, there/their/they're, and to/two/too confusion. The English major in me is just petty as fuck about using correct spellings.

Literally.

 

[sr71plt]

"Virtually" doing things sometimes also is off the beam.

 

[MAF84]

Hung vs hanged

When people talk and say like after every other word.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I noticed a delightful one just now
"His callous fingertips" (that was the standout in a story rife with subtle hints that they author does not speak English natively)

 

[lovecraft68]

"from" also often gets transposed to "from."

Prime example of "from" that was supposed to be "form"

 

[lovecraft68]

I noticed a delightful one just now
"His callous fingertips" (that was the standout in a story rife with subtle hints that they author does not speak English natively)

Well, hey, sometimes those finger tips can be pretty harsh to people.

 

[patientlee]

vicious and viscous, as in "they were concerned with the viscous dog.

I really hate "literally" when it is used as: "I literally froze to death." This has now become acceptable, but it will NEVER accept it.

I spent my lunch listening to two high school junior girls. One of them literally said "literally" four times in twenty-five minutes. It was a good day. Usually she figuratively says "literally" eighty times.

 

[lovecraft68]

Sight/site seems to get switched up a lot these days(yours truly guilty as charged)

Peeked/peaked

Seem/seam

A lot of examples here are victims of auto correct as well as spellcheck not catching them. Also the are a result of the author no longer being able to 'see" his own story well enough to notice them.

 

[monoblanco]

Getting coffee this morning I was reminded of the fact that sometimes baristas (another one I'm not too fond of) have every right to hate us all when someone ahead of me in line ordered an 'expresso'.

 

[monoblanco]

Well, hey, sometimes those finger tips can be pretty harsh to people.

It's true.

My finger tips can be rather heartless at times. Especially when I'm trying to type in a hurry.