Your single biggest grammar pet peeve?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the omitting prepositions thing a regionalism? (I.e., "I'm done work", "I'm done dinner" etc.) It sounds totally wrong to me, but I've never ever heard anyone talk like that.

It is one of those things like “We are going down the shore” they say in NJ.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:When people put a qualifier with “unique”, which means one of a kind so it cannot be compared. It is incorrect to say very unique or a little unique or less unique. It’s just unique.

Also forte is pronounced without the e, like fort.

I thought it was pronounced "for-tay"

Only by rubes or Italians.

According to Merriam-Webster, both pronunciations are correct.

DP. Yes, now both pronunciations are correct but that’s only because people so commonly mispronounced it as fort-ay for so many years that the incorrect pronunciation became accepted. This happens often…people mess up a word so much that it becomes the common parlance and is actually eventually accepted into the lexicon.

They're saying "pianoforte," which is what pianos were first called. Then the term got shortened with frequent use.

It's like "motorcar." Use the whole thing now and you sound ridiculous.

"Fortay" = "loud"
"Fort" = "strength"

In all of the old Jane Austen movies by BBC they say “piano fortay” - so what say you about that?

Forte existed before the pianoforte that. It means play louder than typical.

Right, but in music lessons and in Jane Austen they don’t say “play this part fort” or “I can play the pianofort.” They say it “for-tay.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going to hospital.

Got a call from a friend who is a no native speaker who said “sorry I missed you. I’m in the hospital.”

I said “oh no, what happened?”

She said “My aunt is sick!”

I said “Friend, you are AT the hospital!”

[Anonymous]

Myriad of

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When people put a qualifier with “unique”, which means one of a kind so it cannot be compared. It is incorrect to say very unique or a little unique or less unique. It’s just unique.

Also forte is pronounced without the e, like fort.

I thought it was pronounced "for-tay"

Only by rubes or Italians.

According to Merriam-Webster, both pronunciations are correct.

DP. Yes, now both pronunciations are correct but that’s only because people so commonly mispronounced it as fort-ay for so many years that the incorrect pronunciation became accepted. This happens often…people mess up a word so much that it becomes the common parlance and is actually eventually accepted into the lexicon.

They're saying "pianoforte," which is what pianos were first called. Then the term got shortened with frequent use.

It's like "motorcar." Use the whole thing now and you sound ridiculous.

"Fortay" = "loud"
"Fort" = "strength"

In all of the old Jane Austen movies by BBC they say “piano fortay” - so what say you about that?

Forte existed before the pianoforte that. It means play louder than typical.

Dictionary.com has the first pronunciation as fortay.

[Anonymous]

Tossing "whom" around like dinner mints to sound classy and educated.

"Tomas, whom works for VanderHoovens...."

[Anonymous]

Me and I

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know it’s common now, but I hate when people say “myself” when they mean “me.”

“Please come talk to Sarah or myself. Thank you!”

This x 1000! This is rampant in my corporation. Somebody high up must use this grammatical, mistake, and I hear it everywhere. From highly educated people too. It drives me batty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going to hospital.

Got a call from a friend who is a no native speaker who said “sorry I missed you. I’m in the hospital.”

I said “oh no, what happened?”

She said “My aunt is sick!”

I said “Friend, you are AT the hospital!”

You are a bit pedantic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When people put a qualifier with “unique”, which means one of a kind so it cannot be compared. It is incorrect to say very unique or a little unique or less unique. It’s just unique.

Also forte is pronounced without the e, like fort.

I thought it was pronounced "for-tay"

Only by rubes or Italians.

According to Merriam-Webster, both pronunciations are correct.

DP. Yes, now both pronunciations are correct but that’s only because people so commonly mispronounced it as fort-ay for so many years that the incorrect pronunciation became accepted. This happens often…people mess up a word so much that it becomes the common parlance and is actually eventually accepted into the lexicon.

They're saying "pianoforte," which is what pianos were first called. Then the term got shortened with frequent use.

It's like "motorcar." Use the whole thing now and you sound ridiculous.

"Fortay" = "loud"
"Fort" = "strength"

In all of the old Jane Austen movies by BBC they say “piano fortay” - so what say you about that?

Forte existed before the pianoforte that. It means play louder than typical.

Right, but in music lessons and in Jane Austen they don’t say “play this part fort” or “I can play the pianofort.” They say it “for-tay.”

I say for-tay when it's included in sheet music. I say fort when talking about a strength. Well, actually I don't use fort at all anymore because I just get eyerolls or confused looks when I don't pronounce it for-tay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When people put a qualifier with “unique”, which means one of a kind so it cannot be compared. It is incorrect to say very unique or a little unique or less unique. It’s just unique.

Also forte is pronounced without the e, like fort.

I thought it was pronounced "for-tay"

Only by rubes or Italians.

According to Merriam-Webster, both pronunciations are correct.

DP. Yes, now both pronunciations are correct but that’s only because people so commonly mispronounced it as fort-ay for so many years that the incorrect pronunciation became accepted. This happens often…people mess up a word so much that it becomes the common parlance and is actually eventually accepted into the lexicon.

They're saying "pianoforte," which is what pianos were first called. Then the term got shortened with frequent use.

It's like "motorcar." Use the whole thing now and you sound ridiculous.

"Fortay" = "loud"
"Fort" = "strength"

In all of the old Jane Austen movies by BBC they say “piano fortay” - so what say you about that?

Forte existed before the pianoforte that. It means play louder than typical.

Right, but in music lessons and in Jane Austen they don’t say “play this part fort” or “I can play the pianofort.” They say it “for-tay.”

I say for-tay when it's included in sheet music. I say fort when talking about a strength. Well, actually I don't use fort at all anymore because I just get eyerolls or confused looks when I don't pronounce it for-tay.

As you should.

[Anonymous]

I hate when people use worst when they mean worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What? I have never heard anyone pronounce forté as fort. How long has this been going on?

The e is accented so you know it's silent and not long a. /s

You are giving out misinformation. A simple Google search on pronunciation would end this silly argument.

There is some controversy over how to correctly pronounce forte. Common choices in American English are "FOR-tay" and "for-TAY," but many usage commentators recommend rhyming it with fort. In French, it would be written le fort and pronounced more similar to English for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who don't understand that English has different dialects, and use that as cover for racism and xenophobia.

This, but add classist. And those who harp on aks have clearly never read Chaucer.

[Anonymous]

Interchanging "fewer" and "less."

Fewer - when the number is countable (people, jobs, grapes)
Less - not countable (milk, water, sand)