Grammar and language issues that drive you utterly berserk - Pet peeves

[A Cat in a Minefield]

It's a german one but it drives me up the wall.

"Einzige" is an adjectiv meaning "unique", "sole", " only", "exclusive ", etc.

Many people say "einzigste" to emphasize the word in a phrase. This is wrong. "Einzigste" does not exist.
Imagin saying: "He is the onliest heir to the throne."
The superlativ is completely redundant. Same goes for unique. "Most unique" is commonly used but only to emphasize the uniqueness. Technically it's redundant as well.

 

[AnOminous]

Woman reporter sounds like a reporter that reports exclusively on women.
And it seems an awkward way to say that.

Reminds me of the "Man Follower" on Twitter who follows troons.

 

[goreconnoisseur420]

"oh, i know where that's at."

"hey, could you show me where the grocery store's at?"

as you can see, "at" is a completely unnecessary part of those sentences. and yet, tons of people say stuff like that. i believe it's called "dropping the participle"? but i'm not 100% sure, all i know is that it's obnoxious as hell.

 

[The Last Stand]

"oh, i know where that's at."

"hey, could you show me where the grocery store's at?"

as you can see, "at" is a completely unnecessary part of those sentences. and yet, tons of people say stuff like that. i believe it's called "dropping the participle"? but i'm not 100% sure, all i know is that it's obnoxious as hell.

You just reminded me of Boost Mobile's "Where You At?" tagline.

Now that I say it out loud, it sounds broken.

 

[AnOminous]

as you can see, "at" is a completely unnecessary part of those sentences. and yet, tons of people say stuff like that. i believe it's called "dropping the participle"? but i'm not 100% sure, all i know is that it's obnoxious as hell.

I think it's because people want to make a contraction out of "that is" to "that's" and then that sounds weird if you say "I know where that's."

 

[Ludwigappreciator]

I don't really have any I guess? I don't let little things like that upset me.

 

[The Last Stand]

I had wondered for the longest time of what "ain't" was supposed to represent.

Isn't = is not
Aren't = are not
They're = they are
Ain't = ???

Supposedly, you should not use contractions in formal writing. Closest explanation for this rule is to extend your word count.

 

[Kurt Eichenwald]

I had wondered for the longest time of what "ain't" was supposed to represent.

Isn't = is not
Aren't = are not
They're = they are
Ain't = ???

Supposedly, you should not use contractions in formal writing. Closest explanation for this rule is to extend your word count.

Ain't is short for ain't not. As in "He ain't not supposed to be touchin them chikkins lak thayat."

 

[Finnish Air Force]

"who has never took" "could agree more"

 

[Haffhart]

I had wondered for the longest time of what "ain't" was supposed to represent.

Isn't = is not
Aren't = are not
They're = they are
Ain't = ???

Supposedly, you should not use contractions in formal writing. Closest explanation for this rule is to extend your word count.

From Etymonline:

ain't​

1706, originally a contraction of am not, and considered proper as such until in early 19c. it began to also be a generic contraction of are not, is not, has not, etc. This was popularized in representations of London cockney dialect in Dickens, etc., which led to the word being banished entirely from correct English. Bartlett ("Dictionary of Americanisms," 184 reports that hain't for "have not" is "A contraction much used in common conversation in New England."

 

[The Last Stand]

I spell "cancelled" with two Ls. I see that word spelled with ONE L sometimes. Which is it? I know we have a rule for double consonants

Oh wow, the double L is an English habit. Man, whatever.

 

[An Sionnach Seang]

a senior position in the government of Bongland is that of Home Secretary, but in the spoken language, it gets mangled more often than not to "Home Seckerterry" or "Home Seckertree" - on national news, no less

 

[geppeto's woodclock]

No and Know are pronounced the same.

I don't know.

I don't, no.

The above examples have completely different meanings but sound the exact same.

 

[DoomsdayElite]

Kewpon. It's fucking COOP-ON.

 

[The Last Stand]

Why have who and whom? Who even uses whom?

 

[Hinttitroniikka]

There's a meme that goes something like, "The existence of x implies the existence of y," where x and y are words referring to opposite things, but there really isn't any such implication. Like, "Top hat implies the existence of a bottom hat." I know it's just a joke, but it sends me into a totally autistic rage every time. You may as well say that "The existence of a blue sky implies the existence of red dirt" is a joke and also the correct meaning of "imply." It doesn't even strike me as absurd or surreal, it's just dumb to me. I get so irrationally mad that anyone finds it funny or clever.

 

[jONALD]

I do not care about spelling mistakes and the arrangement of a sentence as long as I can understand it, within reason. My personal gear grinding happens when sentences such as "oh I hate that [character]!" or "oh I love [brand name]" implies, to my understandings, one would have strong feelings about that! One time I decided to question a friend who has made such claims that "they loved" or "I hated" only to find out that it was simple enjoyment or a mildly displeasing at best! Words have power but not the fun magical kind, they can imply a lot more than what is said initially. People speak with words so strong that they are suddenly at a loss for words more than ever and I fear that they are also altering perception at times. I hope that one day people will read more books, physical, electronic or even audio just to help broaden their vocabulary.

 

[The Last Stand]

No and Know are pronounced the same.

I don't know.

I don't, no.

I would say "no, I don't." Or even a pause between don't and no.

I hate double negatives in a phrase. They cancel each other out.

 

[Neo-Nazi Rich Evans]

overuse of the word 'cathartic'. not sure i see it as much, but a few years ago it was a huge trend i saw people using it all the time. was annoying, it's like okay we get it, you saw this word on reddit and you think it makes you sound smart.

zoomers using the word 'underrated' and 'ahead of their time' to simply mean 'i like this thing."

you know how common it is to see zoomers saying some band form 70s/80s/90s is "ahead of their time" when there is nothing ahead of their time about the band, it is simply a good band from the time. (only other explanation is that zoomers think that there was no good music pre 2008, so therefore if it is good it must be ahead of its time) same thing can be said about the phrase "underrated"

the phrase "full throated" as in "full throated support/apology". full throated sounds straight out of porn.

adding 'from' before the word 'whence' as in from whence he came. this one really bothers me.
and in general you could include any of the similar redundant word uses.

 

[Geddy Lee's Fee and See]

The entirety of the French Language, from the ways words are pronounced to how they are spelt, but especially the concept of silent consonants. It's just Germanic rapebaby Latin with Celtic cuckery tossed in. At least Romanians have the excuse that they are surrounded by Slavs. French "people" stop speaking that godawful language.