Sorry, this will be long, but I have NINE great pages to comment on and add to!
"Anymore" used at the end of a sentence annoys me, as in "People do everything by e-mail and text messaging anymore." Meaning, they don't send paper letters any more. (I'm find with it used the second way.) The other thing that bugs me about it is spelling it "anymore" as all one word. I was taught it was two words, but I've seen it as one word in books and newspapers, so apparently that's considered correct now.
Originally Posted by Baren*eh*ked-canadian
What drives me really crazy, is when people say 'yous guys' or something similar. ARRRGH!!!! It doesn't happen often and it's mostly people who are uneducated who say that around here. Maybe it's common elsewhere, I don't know.
It's classic Brooklyn, New York talk, at least among the less educated people. Commonly spelled "youse" here.
Originally Posted by BellaBoo
In rural south the phrase 'fixing to' is used in place of going to and 'carry' in place of taking.
I'm fixing to carry my aunt to the store.
I can't stand to hear the word day pronounced as 'dee' like in Mondee, Tuesdee, Wednesdee.... Say MonDAY, TuesDAY..... it will at least give the impression you do have some learnin! LOL
So are you saying you dislike the phrase "fixing to?" I spent my early years in the South, and I remember saying "fixin' to" all the time. I mean,
all the time!
"Lisa, finish your milk." "I'm fixin' to, Mama."
"Put on that sweater before you go outside." "I'm fixin' to!"
I've been trying to think what I replaced it with. "In a minute." "I intend to." "I'm planning on it." "Yeah, alright." I think I prefer "I'm fixin' to." <g>
Your comment about how days of the week are mispronounced reminds me of one of my pet peeves. I don't know when this started, but I hate it when people say "Thank you" and mis-pronounce it "Think you." Usually it's teenage girls who want to be cute, but they grow up to be women and don't leave that one behind.
Originally Posted by kpc
What drives me nuts is someone using the word issues for the word problem. Is the word problem outlawed.
Oh, I so agree! I've been told at multiple jobs to use "issue" instead of "problem" because "problem" has a more negative feel. At first, issues were questions or things that needed clarification or discussion, while problems were things that caused something bad to happen. When everything became an issue, they had to develop a ranking system to distinguish between the discussion items and the problems-that-we're-not-calling-problems.
Originally Posted by sandpat
Have ya'll read the uproar about our President using the word "unprecedented"?
I saw that! He's begun using it for things that aren't really unprecendented. [Disclaimer: This is not intended to be a political statement or to start a poltical discussion. It's only about the use of the word where it doesn't belong.]
Along the same lines, I had a professor once who used "essentially" at least once in every sentence. How annoying was that!
Which brings me to my next phrase gripe, the trend of saying "How ____ is that!" when what is meant is, "How ___ that is!" How did that wretched little piece of wording ever get started? Anyone know?
Another: "That's what I'm saying!" or "That's what I'm telling you!" used after someone else has said something the person agrees with - when the person hadn't yet said anything at all.