GreekChat.com Forums - Random on-line grammar rant

I did a search (yea me! http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/wink.gif) I decided that this was the proper thread to place an article from my local newspaper. I thought of GC as I was reading it earlier.

Monday, June 18, 2001
Readers relate discouraging words

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We axed, youse answered: Like, what common words just drive ya up the wall?

By Mike Pulfer
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Attention, students. Welcome to remedial English 101, where you will learn about the words and phrases that drive local people loco.

“As of yet,” for instance.

It's “driving me crazy,” fumes Hyde Park's Jesse K. Ware, who complains about repeated violations on Cincinnati television weather reports.

Or “irregardless,” “a non-word used by people to impress others without realizing they sound stupid,” rants Chuck Bingman, Blue Ash.

And then there's “Seen” for “saw”. “Arrrgggghhhh!” writes Peggy Campbell, Green Township, who compares it to fingernails scraping a blackboard. “Now that bothers me.”

There are more. Almost 100 readers responded when the Enquirer published a story in May about words ruled out by editors at nationally distributed magazines and asked for personal “favorites.”

Most of the respondents cited spoken words and phrases; some complained about written abuses.

In some cases, they disagreed on why the word or its application was wrong. “Irregardless,” for example, was attacked for being redundant and double-negative as well as for not being a word. (It isn't.)

“I'm not a teacher, but I know bad English when I done hear it,” quips Steve Weintraub of Loveland. His gripe: people who disdain helping verbs in comments like, “My car needs cleaned.”

Other words that showed up in multiple faxes, e-mails and letters, included “absolutely” for “yes,” “axed” for “asked,” “re-al-a-tor” for “realtor,” “Please?” for “What?” and “No problem” for “OK.”

Sometimes bad language can set people on edge more quickly than bad driving.

For a sensitive soul, a strategically uttered “youse guys,” for instance, is tantamount to swiping his parking spot at the grocery. A sentence with more than six “likes” is like cutting him off at the exit ramp.

In the company of linguistic perfectionists, bodies cringe when language is butchered. Blood boils.

“Irregardless absolutely makes my hair stand on end,” writes Linda Hayes, a commercial real estate specialist who lives in Reading. “I cannot count the times I've heard professionals — doctors, accountants, lawyers, people with advanced degrees use this incorrect adverbial anomaly ... trying to sound intelligent, just sounding more stoopid.”

“At the ages of 70, (my wife and I) feel (being) addressed as "you guys' by young waiters is disrespectful,” says Gary Crumrine of Springdale. “My wife, obviously of female gender, is not a guy at any age.”

Even sloppier variations (“you-uns,” “youse guys”) got additional complaints.

It's “Rude. Rude,” complains Jane Schilling, Cold Spring.

Misused and misplaced pronouns also were targeted.

“The word that bothers me most is “at” when used at the end of a sentence,” said Joy Johnson, College Hill. “It really, really irks me.”

“I work in a local garden center, and the expression that just drives us all up a wall is "Where's the mulch at?' ” says Wayne Beckwith, landscape designer, Denny McKeown's Bloomin' Garden Center, Blue Ash.

When it comes to local dialect, “I do not like “Please?” for “Please repeat yourself,” says Michelle Brooker, Montgomery. “Sorry, Cincinnatians. It sounds too Midwestern and demanding ... Have some class.”

“It is irritating,” chimes Jeni Wheeler, Amelia.

“As the mother of four teen-agers, I can tell you the words that put hair on my chest,” writes Chris Lemmon, *******. “My bad.”

For more on teen talk, there's this from Dixie White, Mason:

“Like, I thought that like Valley Girl talk was like a thing of the like past ... Do you like realize that like some people still like use too many likes in a like sentence? Like me?”

“One expression that bothers me is when a plane almost collides with another plane, and they say it was a near miss,” ponders Mary R. Backus, College Hill. “It seems to me that it was a real miss or it would have crashed.”

“The phrase "thinking outside the box' has got to be as redundant as ink pen or round-trip ticket to and from ...” says Judy Kuhn, a retired Walnut Hills High School teacher who lives in Pleasant Run. “Just what is the box?”

Whatever the box is, Mary Wernke, Sayler Park, was outside it when she called our attention to “Proper names that I've heard or seen enough of to last me for the next three lifetimes: O.J., JonBenet, Kennedy, Diana, Survivor, Beanie Babies, Millionaire.”

Way outside the box were Marjorie Roberts, Mount Carmel, who complained that the Enquirer uses hyphens in lieu of dashes, and Joan Dieckmann, Western Hills, who said, “It really bothers me when people use the letter "o' for the number 0.”

Louis J. Trauth III of Edgewood, is annoyed by the use of “co-ed” as a noun. “It implies that young women cannot be expected to be serious students,” he writes.

Kathy Jaeger of Wilder is bothered by people who utter “vomick” for “vomit” and “zink” for “sink”.

“It irks me to hear people say "I could care less,' ” says Julie Pierce, an on-air personality at WAKW Radio (93.3 FM). “What they mean is I could not care less.”

Phyllis R. Dietz, College Hill, agrees. “ "Couldn't care less' clearly shows one has totally run out of patience and no longer cares at all.”

Twisted meanings were a pet peeve for Tom McDonough of West Chester, who complained about promotions that offer “free gifts.”

“So what other kind of gift is there?” he asks.

Gail Stegemeyer of Loveland challenges the frequent and familiar “How are you?”

“Most people who ask aren't really interested in a response,” she contends.

And just “When did everything that needs to be dealt with become an "issue?' ” asks Anne Wessinger, Miami Township, Clermont County, who says grammar is important. “I went to a parochial school where you got your knuckles rapped if your subjects and verbs didn't agree.”

One reader complained about a lack of language.

Too often, says Linda Loomis of Norwood you go to a retail store or restaurant, “hand over your money and there is complete silence from the employee. No acknowledgement whatsoever.”

Some said they would prefer silence to some of the following.

“Ya know,” “used primarily by athletes and ... people who phone in to talk radio,” says Joel L. Newberg, Hamilton Township, Warren County. “There should be a $100 fine assessed ... every time a professional athlete lets go with a "ya know.' The money could be donated to (a high school) English department.”

“The phrase "How ya doing?' should be stricken from everyone's vocabulary,” says Kurt Hultquist, Elmwood Place.

And the same for “screw,” “referring to anything besides a sharp pointed fastener,” says Mary Alice Ellis, Sardinia.

“ "What's up?' should be used only by teen-agers to greet other teen-agers,” proclaims Michelle Brooker, Montgomery. “I'm sick of it.”

“ "Arguably,' usually used by sportswriters, usually in situations where there is no argument,” says Hank Wagner, Union Township, Clermont County.

“One of the most overused and annoying buzzwords for me is “whatever,' ” says Eugene Embry, Hartwell.

“One of the ones that bug me most is “should of went,' ” says Ann Lukey, Indian Hill.

There were other gripes.

“I become totally annoyed when someone uses the verb "goes' in place of says,” says Doug Poe, Williamsburg, an English teacher at Goshen High School.

Ditto from Donna Kemper, Pleasant Ridge, who says, “ "Basically' has been overused and abused.”

“I think the word "ain't' is sometimes more offensive than the f-word,” says Pamela Staat, Batesville. “I could just scream when it is used.”

“It drives me nuts when someone begins a sentence with “Well, actually',” says Vickie Graves, Eastgate.

“ "No problem' seems to indicate that the person will perform a service only as long as it's no problem for him/her to have done so,” says Jerry Day, Loveland.

“Over and over, mostly on TV news broadcasts, I hear "lay' used when it should be "lie',” says Ruth R. Rosevear, Clifton. Also, “everyone often ends up with the pronoun "they' when everyone is singular.”

Aries Newton, St. Bernard, stiffens when he hears people say “I have no ideal” instead of “idea.”

Thomas Clark, President, CommuniSkills, wants to dump “words and phrases that are wordy and pompous: “at a future point in time”, “utilize and utilization,” “in the event that,” “endeavor to,” “recapitulate,” “effective immediately” and “as per your request”.

Don Weiss, Fairfield, dislikes using “done” for “finished.” “Sometimes even good newspapers, like The Cincinnati Enquirer,write like turkeys,” he says.

Speaking of the newspaper, Beverly Hahn, Lawrenceburg, complains about our use of the word “Tristate”, which “really irks me tremendously,” she says. “It shows up repeatedly in headlines and within articles and most often refers only to Southwestern Ohio and Northern Kentucky ... I do not become upset that Indiana is often not mentioned, but I do object to references to the "Tristate' when only two states are being addressed ... This really upsets me.”

Monday, June 18, 2001
Ten most frequent English errors

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Mike Pulfer
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati's Phyllis Martin, author of Word Watcher's Handbook: A Deletionary of the Most Abused and Misused Words (iUniverse, $11.95), has compiled a list of 10 frequent English errors.

• “between you and I” instead of “me”

• “it don't” instead of “it doesn't”

• “can't hardly” instead of “can hardly”

• “irregardless” instead of “regardless”

• “you was” instead of “you were”

• “somewheres” instead of “somewhere”

• “heighth” instead of “height”

• “youse” instead of “you”

• “Bruce and myself” instead of “Bruce and I”

• “alot” instead of “a lot”

“Back in school, they didn't coach you on what to take out,” she says. “Instead, it was always, "Add a word here and there.' I'd like to get rid of some of them.”

Her favorite anecdote from readers: A candidate for minister at an Alabama church couldn't help ending his sentences with “OK?” The committee conducting his review was tolerant to a point. But when the minister asked the congregation, “Shall we pray, OK?” his application was tossed.

I hope everyone enjoys it. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif
Heidi