today's grammar peeve

[mamajoan]

Today's Grammar Peeve: "all of the sudden," "should of," and their ilk.

I know that when speaking, these phrases don't necessarily sound like what they are. I mean, when most people say "should have" or "should've" it certainly sounds like "should of." But "should of" makes no SENSE, whereas "should have" is grammatically correct, for fuck's sake.

I don't even know WHERE people get "all of the sudden." I guess no one knows what the hell a sudden is so they can't know whether it's "a" sudden or "the" sudden. But still. Just freakin' look it up or something, I don't know. It annoys me.

And I might as well also take this opportunity to mention a pet peeve that is such a classic it can't even be the peeve of any one day; it's a continual peeve, a peeve of all days. And that, of course, is "taught thighs." Saw it again in a fanfic this morning. Geez. It just goes to show that people don't even know what the fuck they're saying. I bet these people don't even know what the word "taut" means. They just see it in lots of stories and figure it must be something desirable in a thigh, so they stick it into their stories. Kee-rist, why would you ever use a word in a story if you didn't even frelling know what it meant?

The other thing it goes to show, of course, is that you can't just put all your trust in spellcheck. This is why you need beta-readers, people. Pay attention. There WILL be a quiz later.

Comments

[calligrafiti.livejournal.com]

And that, of course, is "taught thighs."

Lex supposedly has had quite the carnal education. He might have well "taught thighs." Of course, I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon thinking about what they were taught and who got the pleasure of teaching them, and, well--thanks!

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

LOL!! Now you're giving me all kinds of silly fic ideas ... you BITCH. ;)

Re:

[calligrafiti.livejournal.com]

And my evil plan proceeds apace.

[jrosehale.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I actually type "should of," and then I hit myself in the head.

My weird thing--sometimes I say "boughten" instead of "bought." I think because of "gotten." It's like a mind-freeze. Caught my niece saying it a few weeks ago, and I was all pointing at her and squealing like we were in the 1970s Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Sometimes it's very hard to be correct.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

My mom said "boughten" the other day but immediately corrected herself. I do think there are some irregular verbs that can really confuse people -- like you said, if it's "get/got/gotten" shouldn't it be "buy/bought/boughten"? But noooo.

I think in some parts of the US (the South?), they use "boughten" as an adjective, as in, "Is this cake home-made or boughten?" But that's a colloquialism.

[ladyvyola.livejournal.com]

Please don't use the word 'colloquialism' for a while. While the whole "Muse" idiocy is bad enough, the flat pronouncements on "correct" word usage really made my hackles rise.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

*shrug* I'm sorry it pushes your buttons, but I don't see what the problem is with the word colloquialism, when referring to a word or phrase or usage that isn't in the dictionary but is used in informal speech and widely accepted. I wasn't playing grammar cop, decreeing that certain turns of phrase are verboten -- I can see how my phrasing "but that's a colloquialism" might rub you that way, but that's not how I meant it. My point was "the fact that 'boughten' is used in X sense colloquially, doesn't make it correct when used in Y sense non-colloquially."

Of course, upon investigation it turns out that "boughten" in the latter sense I mentioned (as an adjective antonymous to "homemade") *is* in the dictionary so it doesn't fit my definition of a colloquialism. But still.

And I have no clue what you mean by "the whole 'Muse' idiocy." Are you taking out on me annoyances that spring from another discussion of which I'm not aware?

[ladyvyola.livejournal.com]

No, sorry, you just pushed a button today. There's a person who has made a sweeping declaration about the creative process -- that "The Muse" is a touch of the divine, disconnected from and superior to the conscious mind, that a writer with "The Muse" is somehow better than those (and I quote) "who know not the Muse".

I could deal with that idiocy. But then she actually started using dictionary definitions -- she called the dictionary the "controlling legal authority" when it's no such thing -- for words like "fun" and "happy" (choosing only some of the meanings and not others) and basically slammed people who used them in regards to writing. She said she detested colloquialisms and that they diluted the strength of the language. Her whole attitude smacked of L'Academie Francaise and an artificial "purity" standard.

So, I was "kicking the dog", as we say in my house (your boss kicks you, you kick me, I kick the dog). I love the fluid and robust nature of the English language and reading this stuff just.... argh!

[tiggrrl.livejournal.com]

This sort of thing annoys me too. About a year ago I was dealing with a guy who wrote long, complicated essays full of word mis-usages like that, and it drove me nuts! Even if someone has great ideas, I can't take them seriously if they don't (for example) know the difference between there, their and they're or it's and its. (Random side rant - This was the person who, when I said that a mythical figure was "liminal" asked me if I meant "luminal" and then when I said that no, I meant "liminal" and actually defined what it meant and why that word was correct, changed it to "luminal" anyway! Hey buddy, just 'cause you don't know a word doesn't mean it isn't real.)

In other news -- your icon

[ladyvyola.livejournal.com]

Go here and see what you think.

Two that bug me to no end.

[munoz.livejournal.com]

These are my present peeves:

"I couldn't care less" -> "I could care less"
"Far be it from me" -> "Far be it for me"

And to be *totally nerdy* beyond reason:

"Far be it from me that I should..." -> "Far be it from me to..."

(Basically, "Far be it from me" is a reformulation of "Let it be far from me" and "to" cannot follow this construction...it requires a subjunctive, not an infinitive. "Let it be far from me" I believe originates in the King James Version of the "Old Testament" Bible.)

The other thing I hate is when people say "methodology" when they mean "method"...