words that make you grit your teeth

[dex]

"Invite" as a noun. This one drives me up a tree, and given the work that I do, I fight the battle against it *constantly*.

"Massclusive"--referring to the popularization of designer label items (handbags, clothes, accessories, etc.)

[beccaB]

But I'll confess- the other day I had typed "handelbars" instead of handlebars. I caught it just before I posted it though! I attribute it to too much exposure to classical music in my youth.[/QUOTE]


George Frederick Handel-
a German born composer who lived most of his life in England and considered himself English although he never developed a good grasp of the English language. It is especially noticed in his oratorios, the way not so important words fall on important parts of the measure. I LOVE music history! Trend setters, those composers are!

[Crankin]

As a former English teacher, I can assure you that very few people (except the extremely learned posters on this forum) get the homophone or apostrophe things. It was torture to teach these and to try to think of ways to get kids to remember the rules for these things.
My husband used to say "He don't" instead of "He doesn't" when we first met. I realized it was because his parents said it, so I just came out and said it sounded ignorant and wasn't proper English.
He never used it again.

[rij73]

acrosst.

Please, dear husband, DON'T say it anymore. It's not cute. It is ignorant.

Karen

That could have been me saying that!

[OakLeaf]

Funny how a lot of the things people are posting are just regional variations in pronunciation. I mean, really, repeat this sentence and the last one using phonetic pronunciation. I don't consider anyone's accent to be "ignorant," although sometimes it can be hard to ignore my own cultural biases. What's the difference between "nucular" and "iern," except that the latter is the majority pronunciation?

I go overboard with the ellipsis okay... I admit it... since we've digressed into punctuation with the apostrophes.

But to me (another overused phrase), I think slang is all about the context. E.g., the only time I write "ain't" is to make a point, and obviously I'd never have used that word in court when I was practicing, but I use it in casual conversation all the time, as do my peers.

[rij73]

The one that REALLY gets me is the mixing up of 'effect' and 'affect'. Drives me ABSOLUTELY bonkers!!!

[Smilie]

the only time I write "ain't" is to make a point, and obviously I'd never have used that word in court when I was practicing, but I use it in casual conversation all the time, as do my peers.

Ack! I despise that word. 'ain't'. Might as well scrape your fingernails across the chalkboard.

It always makes me think the people speaking it are trashy school drop-outs. (not saying you all are whoever says it, just makes my flesh crawl. )

[TahoeDirtGirl]

The soon to be ex husband always said ...horse duvers. I could really butcher that word if I spell it.

And then there is corporate speak.
"Are you engaged in this project"
"We need to take this offline"

[sundial]

"I seen....."

Grrrr!

[martinkap]

Aunt Flo

It drives me crazy when I see grown women talking here in various threads and they are not able properly identify one of the main functions of their body ... they are like little girls who are ashamed of grown up words and are hiding behind a 'cutesie name'! Please, be real women and call it as it is:

Menstrual periods or Menstruation

Martina

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Aunt Flo

It drives me crazy when I see grown women talking here in various threads and they are not able properly identify one of the main functions of their body ... they are like little girls who are ashamed of grown up words and are hiding behind a 'cutesie name'!

I admit that when I read "hoo-hah" it makes me laugh. I think it's rather endearing!

[SouthernBelle]

Conversate.

No. It's converse.

[Aggie_Ama]

ain't

My brother-in-law says ain't and it pisses me off. My own mother hates the word so much that if we refused to stop using it she spanked us. She came from a working class family that greatly valued education and she viewed it as ignorant.

The thing with my brother-in-law is he does it to be more "country". My husband refuses to use the word and hates when his brother does, he tells me his mom raised them much like mine. I also dread the day my little nieces start saying ain't to me.

[mimitabby]

and when my 40 year old niece corrects her 10 yr old daughter's English but can't get her own past participles right.

Ain't is not a word that I use, but it's very old English and IN the dictionary. My husband likes to use it for effect from time to time (yes, he's affected too ) . And one of my college educated grad student sons uses that word now too. Hopefully, again, just for effect.

[shootingstar]

Got nothin' new to add here.

Overuse of F word and "like" is tiresome. Hard to even want to listen to a speaker who uses either of these words for nearly every sentence.