Ahhhhhh, stop typing that!

[werk]

Orientate

I don't care if it is technically right, it's a bastardization used to make you sound smarter than you really are.

like irregardless...

 

[Thunderfoot]

Orientate

I don't care if it is technically right, it's a bastardization used to make you sound smarter than you really are.

like irregardless...

Actually, that was a military term used in jest that seems to have 'gotten loose in the wild', so to speak.

Before you use a map, you must orient the map - the pharse "make sure you orientate" was never supposed to be taken seriously. Then again, when I was a Soldier, you had to have a HS diploma just to enlist and most folks had degrees of some sort.. :\

 

[Cabled]

Grocery stores in the Pacific Northwest USA all have the "X Items or Less" line in their stores. Of course, everyone here knows that this is grammatically incorrect, right?

/except Albertson's, which is local to the area, I think. Their signs say "Fifteen Items or Fewer" but their selection is poor and their prices are high.

Well, Albertson's did start up here, though it has spr3ad all over now lik3 ev3rything els3.

 

[babomb]

I don't mind lol, but I can't stand roflcopter or lollerskates and similar words. lol is at least short for something, but in an age where we're shortening everything, how did people start ADDING parts to words?

lol doesn't bother me per se, but people use it when they aren't really laughing at things that aren't really funny, so it bothers me quite a bit.

Cyberspace has always irked me, probably because I've never seen it used by anyone who was computer literate. The dreaded non-word irregardless makes me want to scream, especially when I see it in professionally edited books.

A lot of people use literally to mean "figuratively", the exact opposite of literally! It irks me to no end, except when it makes me laugh.

There is a phrase I hear often, "That's so diculous, it's RE-diculous.". Oy! On the other hand, I quite enjoy meaningful back formation, such as sheveled, meaning "having tidy hair".

Verbing is an autological word that I rather enjoy, even if it [http://www.ourlocalstyle.com/images/uploadImages/2006/05/03/cnhVerbingWeirdsLanguage.gif]"weirds language"[/url]. But some verbs are just not meant to be, like efforting (*shudder*). There's already a perfectly good word for that: trying. Heart is pretty annoying as a verb, too.

I also find it amusing when quotation marks are used for emphasis, because it reads to me as though the people don't believe it themselves (or else they would assert it without resorting to quoting some unnamed source) and are being ironic. We don't have fresh fruit, but we have "fresh" (which is to say, rotten) fruit.

One of my friends uses commas as though they were semicolons, which is to say he uses them to combine sentences without a conjunction.

Some of you will enjoy this: http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif.

N. B., as you may have noticed above, I deliberately break the rules regarding punctuation going inside of quotation marks. I think my version makes a lot more sense, although I suppose the same could be said of the attempts at English spelling reform; my grammar house rule, if I may call it that, is simply more meager and arguably looks less ridiculous.

 

[Bront]

I've heard people who talk like that, but I can't fathom anyone writing that way...

I'm Ron Burgandy?

 

[Mouseferatu]

lol doesn't bother me per se, but people use it when they aren't really laughing at things that aren't really funny, so it bothers me quite a bit.

I've heard people--including some fairly intelligent folks whom I normally really like--using "lol" or "lolz" in spoken conversation!!

Every time I hear that, I want to bury my head* in the sand.

* (Or sometimes their heads.)

 

[Bront]

I've heard people--including some fairly intelligent folks whom I normally really like--using "lol" or "lolz" in spoken conversation!!

Every time I hear that, I want to bury my head* in the sand.

* (Or sometimes their heads.)

I've never heard that. That's just downright sad.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Here is Milwaukee, you get a lot of:

It's a mute point. (What, did Helen Keller first make the point in question?)
It's not my billy-whack. (Who is Billy and what--or who--is he whacking?)
I borrowed him some money. (Good--now, I'll learn you some grammar.)

 

[Pbartender]

The dreaded non-word irregardless makes me want to scream, especially when I see it in professionally edited books.

It's in the dictionary...

Main Entry: ir·re·gard·less
Pronunciation: "ir-i-'gärd-l&s
Function: adverb
Etymology: probably blend of irrespective and regardless
nonstandard : REGARDLESS
usage Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that "there is no such word." There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

 

[Lewis526]

Irregardless bothers me only a little less than utilize. I know it's also a word in the dictionary, but it's almost always a pretentious waste of syllables.

I also hate it when people use I as the object of a preposition, as in "Jim is going to the store with Jane and I." I realize most people don't have the interest in grammar really to learn when to use me and when to use I, but this is getting way too common among people who should know better.