Grammar and Spelling Annoyances

The treatment of collective nouns being singular creeping into British English annoys me greatly. I know it's standard in the US and elsewhere but over the last decade it seems to have become more normalised over here and you'll often hear it on the BBC.

E.g. "Labour is going to win the general election" or "ABBA is playing the O2 arena" rather than "Labour are..." or "ABBA are...."
 
My other annoyance is that old classic of "less" and "fewer".

I know it's so commonplace these days that it doesn't matter, but it's my hill and I'll die if I want to.
 
One that I always struggle with on my end (in that I get it wrong) is 'an' before 'historian' because I pronounce the 'h' in historian and it seems odd.

Oh, and I used to say 'hence why' a lot until someone told me off, so now I notice how often everyone says it.
 
Rowan Tree 🌳 said:
I don't really get annoyed at grammar errors anymore, especially when it's colloquial.

Language evolves and it's nice to ride along with.
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Yes, I struggle with this - and then with thinking but you have to uphold things or what's the point of anything?

When the whole literally/figuratively thing exploded a few years back I remember reading an article giving loads of examples of words and phrases we use now with a second thought which would have been considered incorrect generations ago.

And now I've confused myself by my use of 'which' there and if it should be 'that' instead. But I can't be arsed to remind myself of the rule.
 
I’ve been trying to start saying “None of them is going” rather than “None of them are going” just to be pedantic but it’s so hard and counter-intuitive :(
 
RJN said:
I always write "should have" but it for sure sounds like "should of" when I talk
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I have been corrected for saying 'should've' before which sounds exactly the same as 'should of' but is GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT. Sometimes you're just in a hurry, y'know?
 
lolly said:
When the whole literally/figuratively thing exploded a few years back I remember reading an article giving loads of examples of words and phrases we use now with a second thought which would have been considered incorrect generations ago.
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This STILL irritates me.
 
I understand how language evolves over time, but the issue with “literally” being misused as a point to emphasise an exaggerated statement, it is being used for the exact opposite of the official definition, leaving the word to be completely useless.
 
Ellie said:
I understand how language evolves over time, but the issue with “literally” being misused as a point to emphasise an exaggerated statement, it is being used for the exact opposite of the official definition, leaving the word to be completely useless.
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I am very conscious of my use of literally despite being just as guilty. I always remind myself "This came from Friends and I hate Friends".
 
I have the opposite of a grammar/spelling annoyance: the New Yorker's insistence on using those two cunty little dots in words like naïve and reëlect. Chic.
 
I find the transatlantic Spanish vs French thing interesting. Because we're next to France and all learn French at school we get annoyed with the niche/clique thing (and also croissant). In the US it's like that with Spanish and so they are baffled by our jalapeño (and also paella).

An American friend once questioned why we are so stubborn about using the French names for things (aubergine, courgette) when we apparently hate the French. :D
 
I'm still surprised when I hear the correct pronunciation of Chile. It sounds like a Lancastrian talking about cold weather.

I'm finally at ease with Kyiv not having the same pronunciation as garlic chicken.
 
Kate said:
I find the transatlantic Spanish vs French thing interesting. Because we're next to France and all learn French at school we get annoyed with the niche/clique thing (and also croissant). In the US it's like that with Spanish and so they are baffled by our jalapeño (and also paella).

An American friend once questioned why we are so stubborn about using the French names for things (aubergine, courgette) when we apparently hate the French. :D
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Oh ok. I guess I can’t moan about jalapeño with a hard J when I pronounce paella with a hard L.

That’s me telt
 
I watched a very well produced and moving film yesterday that had absolutely terrible mistakes on all the text overlays. Camel case etc. I didn't have the heart to tell the guy though.
 
Iguana said:
I find it odd that (some?) Americans say "I could care less". Right, so you do care?

One I can never get right is licence / license - I think it's more of a British thing to use both. Oh and also principle / principal. I always look both up just to be sure if I'm using them.
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As someone who works in the licensing industry, I do know the difference and make sure it is correct for every outgoing piece of correspondence. My colleagues however, not so pedantic and it drives me MAD.
 
This thread:

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"Definately" makes me want to die inside.

To be fair tho, I am not a a native speaker, so there are a few things that I'm bound to get wrong every now and then, so I don't want to cast too many stones myself.
 
"Whose/who's" is one of the most frequent apostrophe atrocities I come across, but the wrong one KIND OF makes sense as it's about possession.
 
Also I/me e.g. "it's important to my Mum and I"

I think a LOT of people get that wrong, and the rule of thumb is to take out the other person and go with the word you'd use if it was just you, so "to my Mum and me"

The Goldbergs Teacher GIF by ABC Network


Or just say whatever like @Rowan Tree 🌳 wants :D
 
The worst for me is "I love the 1990's ". You love the 1990's what? What did 1990 own that you loved? List plz.
 
In my day, we put pen to paper. The kids using just the internet need to learn
 
Also when said colleagues fuck up the genders and the endings of words that are "of 3 genders but of binary ending" (don't know how to explain this but most of the time the genders of the words predetermine their ending and in this case they do not).
 
I'd like to second Kindacool's shoutout to APOSTROPHE MISUSE :evil:

It is rampant, including - I am very sorry to say - frequently so on Moopy.co.uk. To the extent that I recently considered setting up an APOSTROPHE POLICE sock puppet account, that I would log in to each time I saw an apostrophe error to angrily quote post the offender. But ultimately it felt like too much faff, and not exactly good vibes.

Perhaps I will quote future misdemeanours in this thread though :disco:
 
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