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

[Not a bee]

Notice this a lot, but when people write "women" instead of "woman" when they are talking about an individual woman.

 

[Kurt Eichenwald]

Probably a euro thing.

I think they would use a comma and write it "2,05".

 

[The Last Stand]

"Astrixes" instead of "asterisks."

Is it doxed or doxxed? How many words with double x'es exist in the English language?

 

[plgfarts]

Is it doxed or doxxed? How many words with double x'es exist in the English language?

It's either doxed or doxxxed.

And none I believe, unless you want to get into shorthand/slang.

 

[The Last Stand]

Why do ebonics use be improperly?

They be, you be, I be, she be. No.

 

[Chao Garden]

posting troon pronoun nonsense is probably cheating, but when troons talk about some other genderspecial who uses multiple alternating pronouns
ex. "This is my hawt trans gf AmHoleLicka69, they use they/xe/pup pronouns, please alternate between xe's pronouns or else pup will block you!!!"
It gives me a headache when they switch between pronouns, it is so confusing are you still talking about the same person??????
Edit: don't even get me fucking started on how confusing "its" pronouns are
also seconding "could care less"

 

[AnOminous]

Is it doxed or doxxed? How many words with double x'es exist in the English language?

It's doxed. St. Stallman says so too.

Doxing

stallman.org

 

[Neighborhood Curmudgeon]

One petty grievance I have is people mispronouncing autonomy as ontonomy. Same with autonomous as ontonomous.

 

[There Is Light At The End]

Not berserk, just annoyed
Loose/lose.
Loose is your mother
She lose her virginity to the pack of noggers

 

[DDR Yoga]

Using 'bias' as an adjective.

Feral beasts.

 

[Something Awful]

Mixing up i.e. and e.g. One stands for id est ("that is"), the other for exampli gratia ("for example"). Some people seem to use them interchangeably, I guess they remember it was one of those Latin abbreviations, but not which one.

"Based out of" (e.g. "this corporation is based out of Delaware for tax avoidance purposes"). It's based in Delaware, not out of it. "Out of" makes sense in some contexts, but usually not.

 

[Flatline]

It's doxed. St. Stallman says so too.

Doxing

stallman.org

OED confirms it's "dox," "doxed," and "doxing."

 

[Baraadmirer]

i think gendered languages are the stupidest fucking thing to exist in the world. not even because "woke" or whatever, i think it's retarded how languages like spanish, french, or... welsh use it

if you're from the country or have been learning the language for a bit, you'll start to know the difference.

examples:
gato/gata - male/female cat
abuela/abuelo - grandma/grandpa

those are perfectly understandable and i get the use of gendered nouns

but when you get into camisa/mesa, they use the feminine a BUT THEY AREN'T GENDERED. THEY ARE TABLES AND T-SHIRTS

From what I understand, it's masculine or feminine (or god forbid, neuter and other genders) depending on if they follow the same conventions for that language's man or woman. What's maddening is that it's arbitrary to each language. Compare le soleil (French, masculine) with die Sonne (German, feminine).

 

[AnOminous]

OED confirms it's "dox," "doxed," and "doxing."

I'm surprised >current year OED actually got something right.

 

[Haffhart]

Mixing up i.e. and e.g. One stands for id est ("that is"), the other for exampli gratia ("for example"). Some people seem to use them interchangeably, I guess they remember it was one of those Latin abbreviations, but not which one.

"Based out of" (e.g. "this corporation is based out of Delaware for tax avoidance purposes"). It's based in Delaware, not out of it. "Out of" makes sense in some contexts, but usually not.

Ideally those and other Latin contractions would be replaced with native English equivalents, f.e. "that is" contracted to t.i. and "for example" contracted to- well you see what. But that's a stylistic change that would confuse people so it would be a timewaster.

From what I understand, it's masculine or feminine (or god forbid, neuter and other genders) depending on if they follow the same conventions for that language's man or woman. What's maddening is that it's arbitrary to each language. Compare le soleil (French, masculine) with die Sonne (German, feminine).

Gender is annoying to learn for us English speakers but it's not just a meaningless cultural convention, it can be but it's mainly linguistic. It's a way to tie words to each other in complex trains of thought to keep track of them, mark different meanings, and so on. Like colored labels but for words.

 

[Friend of Dorothy Parker]

In a meeting yesterday, two different people mispronounced "asterisk," in two completely different ways. One said, "asterick," and the other said, "asterict." These were grown people, 40s, with the company 16-24 years, presumably college-educated, giving a presentation. ...Just fucking say "star" if consonants confuse you.

 

[ATI Escapee]

I hate when people say 'on accident' instead of 'by accident'

I am guilty. I never realized how wrong 'on accident' actually is. Thanks for enlightening me. I will do better.

My grammar annoyance is the word 'prolly'

 

[BirdUp]

serial commas for actions
passive voice

 

[The Last Stand]

I could begrudgingly accept "gonna" as shorthand for "going to," but using "gone" as a substitute for that phrase is unacceptable.

 

[deputydogshit2.0]

Using ‘’less than’’ when it should be “fewer than.”

It’s not hard to keep straight. If it’s an identifiable number of things use “fewer”. If the number cannot be counted “less than.”

“I have fewer M&M’s than you do”
“There is less candy in this jar.”