Most Annoying Grammar Habits
Submitted by yvgeny on Wed, 01/04/2006 - 13:41
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- Hypercorrection. Use of "He and I" or "So-and-so and I" without regard for correct usage. It's rote, all they remember is that you can't ever, ever, ever say "that person and me." Never. I see this in movies, interviews, at work, etc. It's sickening.
- Literally. Not just that people use it incorrectly (the New Yorker had a good article about that) but that it is overused for emphasis. "He literally ate, like, three bananas." Really? Wow, three bananas. So far out of the realm of possibility that you had to qualify it with "literally."
- Quotation marks. Usually, store signs are the biggest culprits of using inappropriate quotes: "Big" Sale. This is nothing new. Many people have pointed this out.
I am not a perfectionist. I make plenty of errors. But some of these things are so damn obvious, it hurts.
By the way, I find that Lynn Truss book Eats Blah Blah Blah to be really condescending and bitchy.