Pet Peeves!

[DebW]

People who invent words, like

craptacular

Just joking, Kit.

People who confuse "formerly" and "formally".

People who whine about things they could fix. Eg. My son at 12 on winter hike, wants to rest, sits on rock, complains that he's cold. Me: "Get your butt off that rock!".

[Geonz]

Folks, there's a logical explanation for a lot of the errors that are pet peeves. Many of them are similar sounding words with similar sounding meanings.

Some years back, there was a very effective movement in education called "whole language." Well, it was effective at being adopted; it wasn't quite as effective when it came to educating.

The premise of whole language is that learning to read is all about making meaning from text - and it doesn't matter whether you get *exactly* the right word, as long as you basically get the meaning from the text... and, well, maybe it's not the *author's* meaning but as long as it means something to you, that's "right."

All that old-fashioned inane stuff about pronouncing words correctly and knowing how to break a word into syllables... oh, that is horrible torture and will make our children hate reading and never know the joy of literature.

It works fine through grade 3 or 4... and then we get words like granite and granted, vaccination and vacation, malevolence and male violence.

The educational journals even have this stuff - one highly respected book about teaching to underprepared college students begins with saying that whether you are "reading from the cannon" ... YIKES!!! and there's another homophonic blunder on the same page! (I'm glad to say that the actual articles in the book don't have such errors, so I suspect editing was not as rigorous there.) I wish I could say this were uncommon.

For me, it's a deep peeve, especially since the more I read of inexact English, the more likely errors are to invade *my* communication. I like communicating clearly. I treasure it.

Some of my students have specific difficulties with actually *hearing* the differences in the sounds of words; too many of them, however, simply haven't been taught to even care.

(I don't run around correcting every utterance - it would not be effective and it would be annoying and negative. It does, however, make my job and their learnign much more difficult.)

[bcipam]

It's funny but I actually like invented words. I have a very good friend who is incredibly funny and part of what makes him so funny is his ability to combine words to really express what he wants to say. Wish I could think of an example but my mind is blank right now but you understand. He's very clever.

Back to kids: I really do like kids and have no problem with kids being kids. What makes them so delightful and fun is all their noise making. What I don't like is when kids are being brats. You know what I mean. The kid that screams at his mom in front of everyone that she's a ***** because she wouldn't buy him candy or the kids that are running around in a restaurant while waiters are trying to serve food and I'm trying to enjoy my meal and the parents are just ignoring everything. The behavior I dislike is not the childrens but the parents. I dislike parents who let their kids run amok. A major peeve of mine.

Back to cell phones: Today I was in the elevator. Another woman's phone rang (BTW the ringtone was as obnoxious as her call). She answered and immediately starts screaming at the caller about being stood up the night before etc. Geez Louise... we are not alone here! I don't need to know you and your BF are fighting! Have the good sense and graciousness to let the phone take a message and then call the idiot back, in private.

Word play: The English language is abuse everyday and I'm as much an offender as the next person. But unless the offense is especially horrific, I don't get crazy. I mean, I hate it when someone says "Me and my friend.." but oh well, at least I understood what was meant. Let's save our ire for something really bad - like using a cell phone while going tinkle!!!

[Bluetree]

...or the kids that are running around in a restaurant while waiters are trying to serve food and I'm trying to enjoy my meal and the parents are just ignoring everything. The behavior I dislike is not the childrens but the parents. I dislike parents who let their kids run amok.

Reminds me of a time a few years ago, at an cafe in Beverly Hills. A friend and I were enjoying Sunday brunch, sitting near a large party of adults + one 2-3 year old. The adults were busy talking so the bored boy left them and wandered from table to table. He came over to our table, stared at us and then grabbed my food! The parents and their friends looked over and instead of retrieving him, burst out laughing. The boy was delighted to get attention so he started laughing and throwing the food in the air, which caused the adults to laugh even harder. The mother finally got the boy and lamely apologized, saying, "At least it's a buffet, you can always get another plate."

[bcipam]

Reminds me of a time a few years ago, at an cafe in Beverly Hills. A friend and I were enjoying Sunday brunch, sitting near a large party of adults + one 2-3 year old. The adults were busy talking so the bored boy left them and wandered from table to table. He came over to our table, stared at us and then grabbed my food! The parents and their friends looked over and instead of retrieving him, burst out laughing. The boy was delighted to get attention so he started laughing and throwing the food in the air, which caused the adults to laugh even harder. The mother finally got the boy and lamely apologized, saying, "At least it's a buffet, you can always get another plate."

Oh lord, what is our society coming too! I wonder what those same parents would have done after the little brat grabbed something off my plate and I grabbed his arm and walked him back and sat his little rude booty back down with this parents and told them "barbarian behavior is just rude and crude and very sad, not funny" And don't think I wouldn't have done that either cause I would! Told you am old and cranky!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I don't think of it so much as not letting kids act like "kids"- I see it more like teaching kids how to act considerately of others around them. I was taught gently from an early age, and taught my daughters as well, about stuff like:

-- sitting patiently in a restaurant rather than running about from table to table.
-- not using a loud shouting "outside" voice when inside.
-- not interrupting people when they are talking (wait for them to finish a sentence and say excuse me first).
-- not insulting people because of how they look, etc.
-- not screaming in a tantrum fit when my mother didn't buy me something I wanted in a store.
-- not PUSHING ahead in front of old people when going through doors (i see this all the time), but holding the door for them instead and giving up seats on the bus for people who are not as strong as me.
-- eating with my mouth closed, and not talking with a mouth full of food.
-- saying please and thank you and excuse me.

I had no trouble learning these things from the time I was 4 or 5. They were repeatedly explained simply and kindly but firmly. I don't think learning to be kind and polite "ruined" my enjoyment of childhood or stifled me emotionally. I had a pretty unrestricted childhood.

[mimitabby]

I don't think of it so much as not letting kids act like "kids"- I see it more like teaching kids how to act considerately of others around them. I was taught gently from an early age, and taught my daughters as well, about stuff like:

-- sitting patiently in a restaurant rather than running about from table to table.
-- not using a loud shouting "outside" voice when inside.
-- not interrupting people when they are talking (wait for them to finish a sentence and say excuse me first).
-- not insulting people because of how they look, etc.
-- not screaming in a tantrum fit when my mother didn't buy me something I wanted in a store.
-- not PUSHING ahead in front of old people when going through doors (i see this all the time), but holding the door for them instead and giving up seats on the bus for people who are not as strong as me.
-- eating with my mouth closed, and not talking with a mouth full of food.
-- saying please and thank you and excuse me.

I had no trouble learning these things from the time I was 4 or 5. They were repeatedly explained simply and kindly but firmly. I don't think learning to be kind and polite "ruined" my enjoyment of childhood or stifled me emotionally. I had a pretty unrestricted childhood.

ah, DAUGHTERS..
my sons were not insulting (well, at age 2 they didn't quite get it yet) or disrespectful but they were noisy, hyper, annoying. They could sit still for a minute or two. . . and they didn't run through restaurants, but we did WALK a lot through restaurants and outside taking turns with the boys... because
it really was hard for them to sit down.

they really are a different animal...those snips and snails go a long way.

[Kitsune06]

People who invent words, like

craptacular

Just joking, Kit.

That's alright. I never really used such words until my ex and his friends got me into it. I argued that it was totally incorrect, and a way to 'cheat' in the English language- to screw with other words so you don't have to stretch your vocabulary to encompass the *correct* words to convey your thoughts... until one of his friends (physics major- go figure) told me that it was only as much of an insult to English as the way English takes/borrows words from other languages or 'verbs nouns' (i.e. to 'google' something or to 'xerox' a page). We bickered over it for awhile, but here I am... doing the same thing. Logical people. Gruh!

One other peeve of mine is when I'm with friends and we have inside jokes or a little 'language' between ourselves (bizarre words that have no meaning for anyone else, but make perfect sense within our group) and I start noticing the words working themselves into my normal vocabulary.