Misused Words

**WildChild** · 05-24-2011 10:56 AM

This is a peeve of mine. I like precision in language and am bothered by words used in the wrong context or just flat out the wrong word. There is a lot of this on the internet and in general publication anymore. Even many editors are allowing them to slip through.

Some are homonyms, words that are pronounced the same but have different meaning and different spellings, such as; threw and through or night and knight or there,their and they're. Others are words that are close in sound but have different usage and meaning, such as; then and than or effect and affect. Other are just flat out ignorance or carelessness. One of my favorites or most annoying, depending on your perspective, is saying public hair when the writer or speaker means pubic hair.

What are yours?
Let's capture them here (not hear) and perhaps we can raise the standards a bit?

**Texinator** · 05-24-2011 11:10 AM

"I could care less," for when when you don't care about something. If you could care less, than you're actually caring right now. "I couldn't care less" is the correct phrase.

"I'm out of pocket," for when you can't be reached. What the...? That seems to be becoming more popular, but "out of pocket" has to do when you have to pay for something yourself.

**ItsASecret** · 05-24-2011 03:15 PM

I hate illiteracy. One of my biggest pet peeves is definitely improper use of diction and syntax. Even on the most basic of level people seem incapable of sounding like they passed 3th grade English class. To, too, and two are different. Their and there are different. The comma is not a period and it is not difficult to actually use a period instead of making a long pointless sentence with no breaks in it. Period key is less than half an inch from the space bar. Do not use a space bar to continually make sentences, use the period to break up your nonsense. And for Heaven's sake do not replace numbers for letters, or capitalize when you should not, it makes it seems as though you have never been to school before. You are is not ur, me too is not me2. Love you is not luvU. Stop it. Also, if the red squiggly line underlines a word as you type it means something is wrong, fix it. Not that difficult. A key thing to keep in mind is there are sources out there if you do not know how to spell certain words, or use a thesaurus to write more grand words. Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com will save many people from too many red squiggly lines.

**ccraig42** · 05-24-2011 03:22 PM

their, they're, there
"Mine as well" or "Minus well" instead of "might as well"
My favorite was when some tried to call me a snitch because I was telling my boyfriend everything that he was trying to do. He said "Are you two like descendants or something?"
Should of instead of should've or should have.

**Texinator** · 05-24-2011 03:38 PM

"Mean either" instead of "me neither"

**LanaBear** · 05-24-2011 03:39 PM

LOL - I missed this...

Phrases I hear nearly every darn day that drive me nuts!

Do you have the "bandwidth" to do this?
What is the "action plan"?
Do you think you could have this by "COB" or "EOB"?
Can we have a "port mortem" on the issue?
I'll take this issue "offline".
Can we think "outside the box"?
I'll "ping" you later today.
What is the "value-add"?
Let's "touch base" on this later in the day.
This is a "mission critical" issue.

*sigh* When will it ever end?

**Texinator** · 05-24-2011 03:56 PM

Lana, it sounds as though you need to upgrade your motivation, so you can enhance your performance as a team player, and help the rest of the group analyze which best practices most facilitate the promotion of synergy among the stakeholders.

**jns** · 05-24-2011 09:45 PM

I usually try not to worry about misspellings too much. This is because my mother (8th grade education, but pushed all of her children to go much further) misspells a lot of words, but I'm just happy to get a letter from her when she writes. Misuse of words, especially from people who should be able to do better, is more annoying. I think "texting write" is going to have many people speaking a new Pidgin. Someone using "public hair" makes me smile as I find the misuse ironic.

**WildChild** · 05-24-2011 09:53 PM

Axe instead of ask

**WildChild** · 05-25-2011 12:31 AM

Using waste when you mean waist.

Speaking of misquoted sayings, one that bugs me is, "have your cake and eat it too". It should be, "eat your cake and have it too." Of course, if you have the cake you can eat it. Eating it and still expecting to have it, is quite another thing. People tend to do that with money and relationships.