Your English pet peeve

[Dame6089]

What is the one mistake that you can't stand in English?

Personally, I hate when people use "ignorant" to mean "rude". It is actually comical because they are being ignorant by misusing the word ignorant.

[LauraM]

I have a lot of pet peeves.   But just to mention one, it's the misuse of the apostrophe.  More and more these days people omit the apostrophe where it's needed.  And even more commonly, people will add an apostrophe where it is not needed and, in fact, makes no sense.

Someone might say for example, "We brought the bag's with us." 

Obviously a confusion of the plural form with the possessive noun form.  Definitely not correct!

[Miya]

I get annoyed when people use "mines" instead of "mine"  :speechless:

[SpiralArchitect]

There is of course the universally condemned confusion between your and you're that a lot of people have. Annoys me to no end.

I've never really heard ignorant being used for rude people. Surprising really.

[Alfonso]

What is the one mistake that you can't stand in English?

Personally, I hate when people use "ignorant" to mean "rude". It is actually comical because they are being ignorant by misusing the word ignorant.

Well, being rude could also be a result of ignorance. There is a difference with a person who is cultured but decided to be rude and a person who doesn't know any better.

[Aheyz]

I did not realize this until yesterday but my pet peeve is when someone says "I could care less". This is saying that you are not at the minimum level of caring, therefor you care about the subject. You should be saying "I could not care less" which states that you are at the minimum level of caring.

[Baburra]

I try not to let these things annoy me anymore, but it sometimes still pricks me like a needle from time to time when I see errors that I personally dislike. I don't even know why I care, most of the time, but it's how it makes me feel. One of the things that I can't stand is the use of "should/could of" instead of "should/could have". I think it's because it always makes me stop while reading mid-sentence, so that's probably the reason why it annoys me.

[limon]

Ooh, these are all good ones.

I'd say my biggest one is the misuse of quotation marks to signify emphasis. As in;

"FRESH" VEGETABLES

or better yet

FRESH "VEGETABLES"

Which are apparently meant to entice, but usually just creep me out. Are those vegetables fresh, are they even vegetables? Is it sarcasm or a warning?

[pinkdrizzly]

Ooh, these are all good ones.

I'd say my biggest one is the misuse of quotation marks to signify emphasis. As in;

"FRESH" VEGETABLES

or better yet

FRESH "VEGETABLES"

Which are apparently meant to entice, but usually just creep me out. Are those vegetables fresh, are they even vegetables? Is it sarcasm or a warning?

I never understand that, either. It makes me think, "is it really fresh or are they just calling it fresh?" There is a restaurant here that has a sign that says New "Fresh" Baked Buns! Makes me wonder what it was before.

[sillylucy]

I hate the use of quotations to emphasize words and I hate the use of the word "fresh" when it is used by people who mean to say "cool." They say things like "It is so fresh today." I think they are taking it from the word "fresco" and translating it to fresh.

[Guest isabbbela]

I think I have way too many to be considered a nice person... 

Something that bugs me a lot, not with people that don't have English as their first language, but for the ones that do: using They're and their wrong. I mean... you can understand when a non-English native speaker confuses it, but it's surprising to me how many native speakers make that mistake!

[pandandesign]

There are a lot of people who use English in an improper way. It sometimes annoys me because I thought I am the one who have heard things wrong. For instance, I have heard some people say "Never a dull moment", which I can't stand that because people think their life is always good but boring. I have one person who actually comes to me and says he doesn't like the sound of that tone.

[Hardison]

Many of the things mentioned in this thread really get under my skin. Lately, I have noticed that some people say li-berry for library. I have been making a nuance of myself by correcting people. I know that I'm being annoying, but I can't stand to hear library mispronounced. Whenever I hear an actor mispronounce it on TV, I wince.

[Katya S]

Like most people, I hate it when anyone uses your instead of you're (or vice versa). Also there, they're and their. I understand these things in someone who's only just learning English, but it really irritates me when English is a person's mother tongue and they still can't use proper grammar.

[Dame6089]

I did not realize this until yesterday but my pet peeve is when someone says "I could care less". This is saying that you are not at the minimum level of caring, therefor you care about the subject. You should be saying "I could not care less" which states that you are at the minimum level of caring.

Oh this is a good one that I forgot. I used to say this until someone called me out on it. "I could care less" really doesn't make any sense at all, but tons of people still use it.

[Pawski]

Without a doubt when people say "me and jim are going out later" or "me and lisa are going on a trip next week" ITS FRICKIN "LISA AND I..." "JIM AND I..."

Haha I also love it when people say irregardless. It just regardless.

[JoanMcWench]

I am particularly aggravated by the pronunciation of 'epitome' by people. Where they say 'e-pi-tome' as opposed to 'e-pit-oh-me'. For some reason, I have noticed this happens most often when someone is reading aloud. Strangest thing.

[MissPotato]

I hate the misuse of your and you're, loose and lose, than and then, to and too, and others like these. Oh, and I hate when people use the term "antisocial" in the wrong context. Really.

[zambothegreat]

Besides the traditional errors that you'll see on the internet (your/you're, should of/should have, etc.), most new slang annoys me. When a person uses "swag" for any reason, I'll half-jokingly wish them out of existence. Here's one I found out about recently: using the word "though" at the end of a sentence for whatever f***ing reason. Example: "I'm so hungry, though". And it's usually spelled "tho". WTF is that? So, yeah. New slang.

[Monox D. I-Fly]

For me, it's the overuse and misuse of the word "literally".