Or, if a man, alumnus.

not sure if this counts as grammar, maybe more of a vocabulary thing, but when people try to use words to seem smart, but use them in the complete opposite way.

For Example:

"That's germaine(sp?) to the conversation, why don't we stay on topic?"

Kind of like people who use "penultimate" to mean "absolute highest."

Along the same lines, it really peeves me when people use "myself" in place of "I" or "me." It often seems as if people do this because they think it sounds more educated (or, as my 7-year-old daughter said last night, "educationed."*) And I find it especially humorous when one uses "Myself" instead of "I" in the same sentence where one describes oneself as intelligent, as in "Myself and 9 other intelligent ladies are reactivating a chapter."** :rolleyes:


* She described someone as not having been "very well educationed." Then she paused, gave me a funny smile and a giggle and said "That's not a real word, is it?"

** Hey, at least I didn't crash the thread she started and call her on it there. :D

These 2 are my biggest peeves

Plural for man is men NOT mens. OY!

I can SO relate to this--don't EVEN get me started!

Regarding the apostrophe issue, an apostrophe may be used to form a plural if its use will avoid confusion. However, in irishpipe's two examples, I don't think the lack of an apostrophe would cause confusion.

Here’s one… not using periods!

There have been quite a few posts lately from people who appear to feel as though reaching their right ring finger down just a little bit from the L key is too much work. Or.. they think comma = period. THIS IS NOT THE CASE.

Oh, and then they whine and complain because GCers criticize their writing instead of answering their questions :rolleyes:

Ok, I thought of what I think is a new one. It bugs me when an ad says "Save 50-60% off". No, no! You take 50-60% off, and you save 50-60%. No off. Blah! I know what "take off" means, but what the heck is "save off"??

er.... isn't there a non-verbal, or i guess, non-written "...the original price" at the end of that phrase?

ie: "Save 50-60% off the original price."

It makes sense to me.

Hmmm I dunno...I think I would still say "take 50-60% off the original price." I can't wrap my brain around it...

Nah, you made sense to me.

Yes, I too loathe the use of "myself" in place of "I" or "me". I also hear this in restaurants when the server is taking your order: "And for yourself?" It drives me crazy and if I wasn't such a nice person, I would correct them publicly.

My other 2 favorites:
apart vs. a part and
"Congradulations" for those who are confusing "congratulations" with "graduation". SIGH.

My dad corrected a server once, but he was a real jerk about it. She said "For youself?" and he said "Myself would like some..."

We were really wary of eating the food that day.

Yeah, maybe I would mention it at the END of a meal, when they couldn't spit in my food anymore. :p;)

Oh, I was at a hockey game and they introduced a female Olympic gold medallist and they said that she was an "alumnus" of such and such university. Being that she was female, this annoyed me immensely. Then, being the nerd that I am, I looked here: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alumnus where it says:
" : a person who has attended or has graduated from a particular school, college, or university " (i.e. it doesn't say anything about male or female).

I wonder if "alumnus" is going the same route as the term "actor"; that is, they have done away with the term "actress" and just call everyone "actors" now. Thoughts anyone?

I think it's like gender agreement in other languages (French, Spanish, etc.) where use of the male gender is acceptable when not speaking about yourself or to the person directly. But I'm not sure.