Poor Engrish er English usage...

[SirWinner]

"IRregardless"... This is one is improperly used a lot. The REAL word is Regardless. When IR is added to the beginning it effectively means "NOT regardless"... which is NOT what people really meant to really say... but sadly the more this word is improperly used, the more people use it wrong.

"Added Bonus"... What in the heck? I hear this a lot in advertising... such as "As an added bonus, you get the nightstand at no cost when you purchase our mattress." It would be like saying "Plus Plus"... Which is it? "Added" or "Bonus"... Stupid advertising trash!

Let us hear your pet peeves when it comes to poor English usage.

[Heretic]

People pointing out such things as the usage of improper English

[Jeff250]

It depends on the context. You wouldn't want to use English like that in technical writing, where precision is valued over bombast, but using it in advertising seems appropriate. If the advertiser knew that saying "added bonus" versus "bonus" would get him 1% more of a response, then it would be hard to argue that he shouldn't use it.

[Alter-Fox]

"Added Bonus"... What in the heck? I hear this a lot in advertising... such as "As an added bonus, you get the nightstand at no cost when you purchase our mattress." It would be like saying "Plus Plus"... Which is it? "Added" or "Bonus"... Stupid advertising trash!

I think the advertisers mean to do just that -- in the math metaphor, they're adding an extra plus sign to distract you from the actual (probably low) value that's getting added.
At least it's not a double negative like IRregardless. We all know what that does in math.

Double negatives are what irk me, unless it's an accepted part of a local dialect (I love etymology and learning how languages and dialects and words evolve from each other -- the way languages are always changing). So I generally like to let it change and not interfere... but then there's irregardless which makes me mad because when intelligent people say it it makes them sound like idiots; and there was one other word which is on the tip of my tongue...
"Like" is an interesting case. I like it as a word, but, like, not like how it's used, like, as a, like, verbal tic or something...

[Sergeant Thorne]

I am a very detail-oriented person, so all kinds of English language abuses just absolutely grate on me. Verbal ticks, double-negatives, ... verbal laziness is my pet peeve. When people talk, their purpose should be to communicate or express a thought in as accurate and concise a way as they know how. People just don't care. They don't realize what this laziness does to thoughts improperly or incompletely expressed and so never truly let out. A poor grasp and use of language is an imprisonment to thought, and retards mental development, IMO.

I actually find the use of "irregardless" to be hilarious. I've thrown it in a few times myself just for laughs.

[Duper]

the usual for me. There, their, they're. who and whom i don't mind as it's had for most to "get". Effect and Affect are the same way.
As my job is Technical writing, grammar and diction matter.

[Krom]

I'm usually pretty forgiving, especially if it is apparent that English isn't the first language of whoever is messing it up.

But I'll still bug someone if they mix up "your" and "you're" when they should know better.

[roncli]

I used to be the guy that teased people for fail grammar.

Then, somewhere along the line, my typing got bad. Not terrible mind you, but just enough where I'm often making mistakes. Not just typos, mild dyslexia, too... where I mean to use a word here and use something else.

Now I get more mad at people who ridicule me of bad spelling/grammar than I do at the people making those mistakes.

[Sergeant Thorne]

I usually call one of the ladies at work out on her double-negatives (by taking them literally)... she treats me like I'm just side-tracking from the discussion or topic. Waits for me to finish my brief comment, and proceeds absolutely undetermined to change a thing. Maybe I'll get to her someday. I may have to resort to engaging in excessive double-negative use myself.

[snoopy]

I may have to resort to engaging in excessive double-negative use myself.

Please spare us...

I'm with Ron. My grammar is always perfect in my head, but on the way out onto the screen sometimes it gets slightly garbled. Sometimes when I proof read I catch the mistakes, sometimes I miss them. I have this thing where I'll insert a word every time I read something, so the sentence is missing a word, but I miss it because I insert the word.

[Tunnelcat]

How about the term "near miss"? Everyone uses it to describe 2 objects that almost collided. My take is that a "near miss" means a couple of objects didn't quite "miss" each other, but instead actually "hit" each other. A "near hit" means 2 objects actually "missed" each other because they nearly collided, but not quite.

[Duper]

someone at work brought that up when the asteroid went by. The phrase really got under her skin too.

[Foil]

It's semantics.

If "near" is a synonym for "almost", then "near miss" = "almost missed", and you'd be correct that it meant a hit.

If "near" is a qualifier, then "near miss" is a type of miss (e.g. opposed to a "far miss"), and still means a miss.

Most people use the latter interpretation.

[Enzo-03]

Pet peeves of mine:

- confusing there, their, and they're
- confusing your and you're
- confusing to and too.
- seeing "would of" and "could of" and "should of"
...
- the fact that the correct spelling of judgment does not have an 'e' after the 'g', like in words such as encouragement and arrangement.

[Foil]

...
- the fact that the correct spelling of judgment does not have an 'e' after the 'g', like in words such as encouragement and arrangement.

judgment or judgement (ˈdʒʌdʒmənt)

[Avder]

The only thing that irks me is when I read stuff online and it has those screwy extra u's that the british and other crown countries like to use. Crazy french spellings.

Otherwise, words get used, new words get invented, and if they stay in usage long enough they get added to the dictionary. I'm willing to bet that "irregardless" gets added to the dictionary at some point down the line because people actually use it, and even if it is a grammatically incorrect word, most people know what the actual intent is.

Hell, if "d'oh" can make it into the dictionary, there are a lot of other words that are qualified.

[SirWinner]

Thanks for the feedback.

Know that I have prepared an e-mail too long when after I have sent it that there are many misphrased statements.

Most of the time my attention is on what is meant not how it was stated.

[sdfgeoff]

Don't know if this fits properly, but here you can by 'Frank's Zesty Lemonade'. An inspection of the ingredients reveals no lemon, but around 15% lime!

[Enzo-03]

...
- the fact that the correct spelling of judgment does not have an 'e' after the 'g', like in words such as encouragement and arrangement.

judgment or judgement (ˈdʒʌdʒmənt)

Really? I have been blasted for putting an e after the g in stupid school assignments.

I'm willing to bet that "irregardless" gets added to the dictionary at some point down the line because people actually use it, and even if it is a grammatically incorrect word, most people know what the actual intent is.

It's funny. I didn't even know anyone said that at all until I heard it on either Family Guy or American Dad, I can't remember which. Ever since then, I've heard the word at least a few times a week and I have seen it in writing or typing almost every day. Pisses me off.