Grammar Pet Peeve Websites

Scott Roberts August 13, 2009 at 12:22 pm general Digg this Article

Bad Grammar Pet Peeves While I'm just as human as everyone else and have had my fair share of typos and mistakes on my blog (including a recent misspelling of the word "reminiscing" that stayed up for almost a week), blatant idiocy and ignorance of the written English language drives me up a wall. I'm not part of some "Grammar Police" and I'm not a snobbish, elitist know-it-all, but everyone in the adult population of an English-speaking country should know the difference between "your" and "you're" and also "there" and "their" and "they're."

What about when folks slip in unnecessary apostrophes, where the word ending with an "s" is neither possessive nor a contraction? I get physically mad when I come across stuff like this.

Here's an e-mail excerpt written by the receptionist at my work. Except for proper names which I've replaced by Xs, this is exactly how she wrote it:

The car's that are parked in the first two row's on the east side of the building on the XXXX Ave side please move your car's.
XXXXXXX is having there sign replaced.

I literally wanted to throw my laptop out the window when I read it. It bugged me that much.

Thankfully, I'm not alone in my disdain for grammar stupidity. There's a handful of great photo blogs that showcase bad grammar with aplomb and humor. If you're irritated as much as I am by this stuff then you'll love these.

Apostrophe Abuse shows apostrophes inserted into signage and literature for no reason:
http://www.apostropheabuse.com

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks chronicles pics of unneeded quotes:
http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com

The LOOK OUT, WE'RE JUDGING YOU blog covers all sorts of grammar flubs and misuse:
http://www.grammarbitches.blogspot.com

Literally, A Web Log featuring occurrences when people use the word "literally" when it's still figurative.
http://literally.barelyfitz.com

There's even one that gripes about the use of lowercase Ls when all other letters are capitalized:
http://lowercasel.blogspot.com

The Gallery of the Absurd describes itself as "a collection of weird - but real - advertisements, labels, and signs":
http://absurdgallery.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Comments

GoingLikeSixty
2009-08-13 12:43:37

Feel better?
Good.
Most of the sites you cite (or sighted) aren't about writing, they are about "notes."

I'm terrible with typos and grammar errors. I'm very bad with misplaced apostophes, and make the their/they're mistake often. Usually the result of haste makes waste.

My wish is for a Wordpress plug in that will delay sending the RSS. I always spot a typo as soon as I hit publish.

Nick1987
2009-08-13 12:58:20

It doesn't matter if it's "writing" or "notes", it's all communication in the English language. In the case of these websites, most of them are photos of signs, and because they're more public, more permanent and more important (because they're either trying to sell something or give instructions to the reader) these signs should be held to closer scrutiny than, say, a more private text message or an e-mail. Book and magazines are usually proofread by editors, so goofs are far less frequent. In the case of these websites there is very little at blame except the stupidity of the person who created the sign.

Anyway, good list, Scott!

Linda
2009-08-21 21:22:54

I totally agree. When I'm tired I'm prone to ever-so-few errors which I go back and say to myself, "WTF was I thinking?" But, most of the time I just shake my head at some people. One of the biggest irritations for me is the misuse of lose vs. loose. I love quizzes like the following: http://www.syntaxis.com/index.php/grammar_quiz/

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