I use parenthesis far too often. Most of my uses could be separated as separate sentences, but they would interrupt two related sentences. If read without the content within parenthesis, it makes sense but sometimes the content seems necessary for comprehension.
I HATE "labtop" instead of "laptop." Do a search on eBay. It's quite common (Ohh! Quite / Quiet is another one). I caught two friends using it frequently a few years ago and laughed (Yes, laughed as a verb) them into shame.
"Duel" instead of "Dual" ticks me off too. I see people talking about dual CPU systems in a forum about dual CPU systems and yet HALF of them get it wrong! Talk of the announced "Nintendo DS" (Dual Screen) is fueling this yet again in the other forums I frequent.
Then there are people who think you have to pronounce every acronym. I even had a business English textbook which said that it is a rule that all computer and technology acronyms be pronounced. The writer obviously heard SCSI and GUI being pronounced. This led to "Eye-sa" and "Bmmp" instead of "ISA" and "Bitmap." How would you idiots asking how SATA (Serial ATA) is pronounced pronounce PCI-X huh?
It really saddens me to see that some of Nintendo's current staff grew up calling the Nintendo Entertainmens System "The Ness." It's pronounced "N. E. S." and always will be! The Super Nintendo was called the "S.N.E.S." NOT "Ess Ness" or "Sness." There are both NES & SNES emulators named off of this mispronunciation: NESticle and one pronounced "Sneeze."
I have never, even once in my life, even slightly considered replacing "idea" with "ideal." I spent six months in West Virginia and decided I'd try out the superior public schools while I was there. In my English class, our teacher and the textbook both instructed the students to never mix these up. The teacher even said something indicating that it was so common that people will understand you anyway (Half-excusing it's use). "WHAT?!" I exclaimed. "I've never heard anyone mix that up in my life." I sure did while I was there. EVERYONE in that area calls soda "pop" and idea "ideal." Now that I'm back home, there is one guy who will not stop saying it no matter how many times I correct him. He just says "That's how I was raised to say it" and continues despite knowing that it is an entirely different word. He's only twenty!
And it seems like no one knows what the hell a question mark is. IM conversations are so tedious...
This mistake is FAR too common: "I can't go
do to this" It's
DUE.
But the worst has already been mentioned: "Could of" and "Should of." It doesn't even mean anything so why do people do this?!
Originally posted by: ColdFusion718
I hate it when I hear people use the expression "tongue in cheek." I mean seriously, wtf is that???
I interpret it as "Hold your tongue" / "Bite your tongue." The meaning has changed but it seems to convey a reluctance to say something. Also, "tounge" is a problem in some places. (Ohh! Another one: "Interpret" and "Interpert")
Originally posted by: daniel1113
My favorite pet peeve was already mentioned, but here is another one that I hear all the time.
I hate it when you are in a conversation, and a question is asked, such as "Want to go to the store?"
It's "DO YOU want to go to the store."
"You" is assumed in a large number of correct sentences. You can legitimately turn this into a question without adding "do."
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