Grammar No-Nos
Let's talk about my love of grammar for a minute. If you've been here with me for awhile, you'll know that it is very important to me and I'd likely hide under the covers for the rest of the day if I were to discover a typo in my post after publishing it. (Now that I've said it, it's bound to happen in this post.) There are few things that bother me more than glaring errors in what I read online, but reading blog comments is the worst. Let's run through a quick list, ok?
1. awe vs. aw: "Awe" means overwhelming fear or admiration (think awesome), while "aw", as in "awwwww....." means that something is super cute, like a puppy.
2. etc. vs. ect.: One of these is real and one isn't. The Latin term is "et cetera" from where you get the etc. Unless they change it to "ec tecera" it doesn't work.
3. congrats vs. congrads: "Congrats" is short for congratulations. Just because someone is graduating, it does not suddenly because "congrads".
4. An obvious one:
5. Amanda is right.
6. I can't remember where I saw this but it was brilliantly stated: apostrophe s does not make something plural, it shows ownership. "Father's Day" is correct. "All the father's went to eat" is not. It is only acceptable for single letters and numbers, such as "Look at all the A's!" For the love of grammar, stop using the apostrophe for wrong.
PSA: it is voilà, not wala or vwala.
— Amanda Cobb (@DragonflightGal) June 12, 2013
6. I can't remember where I saw this but it was brilliantly stated: apostrophe s does not make something plural, it shows ownership. "Father's Day" is correct. "All the father's went to eat" is not. It is only acceptable for single letters and numbers, such as "Look at all the A's!" For the love of grammar, stop using the apostrophe for wrong.
What's on your grammar no-no list? (or are you guilty?!?!)
As always, you know I'm right there with you on all of these! Ect. and congrads are definitely grammar issues that really grind my gears. The voila error also irritates me. I think that people use wala or vwala because they don't know how to spell the word properly. That annoys me on multiple levels as my mom is fluent in French and as a result I've learned a lot of French! However, I see that happen a lot. If there is a word that is a bit tricky, people will spell in phonetically. I saw an error on a blog the other day in which the writer had spelled recuperate as "recooperate." Yuck! My rule of thumb is that if something about the word looks a bit off, then look it up!
ReplyDeleteI'm awful at grammar and spelling. Thank God for spell check. But if something does look wrong I try to look it up. And if you're online there is little reason not to at least try to look something up.
ReplyDeleteHeidi’s Wanderings
I'm laughing so hard about #5. I can't tell you how many bloggers have spelled it "wah-la" or some such, and I just want to die every time they do. Like Heidi said, if it looks wrong then look it up!
ReplyDeleteI fear that the increasing use of the internet means that people are losing their ability to write proper sentences especially when twitter has a 140 character limit. I have blocked some people on facebook because their status updates are just filled with shortened words. It's JUST awful. They are changing language. I can't imagine what it will be like in 50 years.
ReplyDeleteRecently I have seen several atrocious versions of "capisce", including "capeesh" "kapish" and "capishe". Right up there with the voilá. Basically, if it's a foreign word and you don't know how to spell it (and don't know how to google??), please don't write it. Please.
ReplyDelete"Congrads" kills me- as does "kindergarden". What exactly are you doing to these small children?!
This is a store down the street from my college roommate's house. We make fun of it all the time. Is it just one kid's kingdom, or are they just idiots?? https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/734275_962178349892_1464089647_n.jpg Let me know if that link doesn't work, I'll send the pic to you! -Wendy
ReplyDeleteA good round-up, as always. You know I agree with all of these. And thanks for the shout-out! :)
ReplyDeleteFor whatever reason, "awe" in place of "aww" has always really bugged me! I certainly have room for improvement on the grammar front, but I am always googling something for fear of making an error.
ReplyDelete