What are your pet peeves re English usage?

No, no, Setanta. JTT received a divine message from Steven Pinker hissownself. Have some respect for your betters (and mine, too, of course). May whoever is the patron saint of language preserve us from pedants who claim to eschew pedantry.

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P.S. D'ye think JTT is really Bill Casselman?

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Snuck. I hate that non-word. It's "sneaked". But even journalists here are using it now. It's right up there with "dove" - not the bird but the past tense of "to dive". It's "dived" not "dove".

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Even Casselman showed a modicum of style . . . here, i'll google it, that's where all the answers are . . .

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sorry about the duplicate that SNEAKED in here somehow.

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Clever how you snuck that in, goodie. Smile

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snuk dove

snove duk

whatever it is im absolutely snukkered and about to dove under duvet

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I quite like snuck. It's kind of comforting to use, like chomped.

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Chomped I quite like. I mean it's so onomatopaeic - I probably spelled that wrong and I'm too lazy to look it up. Anyway "chomp" no worries.

MA - I couldn't resist it Very Happy

- but thanks for the wind-up blokes - just as well only a few words annoy the heck out of me Razz

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Dear friends,

I have heard «off of» often in England. It is my opinion that it is a common phrase. Smile

It is difficult for a foreigner to understand the offensiveness of this phrase to native speakers. It is perhaps possible for a native speaker to explain it?

Kind regards, Smile

Goldmund

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Well, it's a redundancy.

e.g.

"Take it off of the table" means the same as "take it off the table".

So, it's unnecessary, and most would say it's wrong. I do.

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Hear, hear! (Or perhaps, Hear!)

Mick Jagger - Hey, hey, you get off of my cloud... started the rot. Can we blame the Yanks here?

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Sir Michael is a Yank?

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I repeat: "Off of" certainly sounds wrong (to me, too). But if you examine its meaning, there is nothing grammatically wrong with it. It's just a bit redundant, is all.

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Merry Andrew wrote:

I repeat: "Off of" certainly sounds wrong (to me, too). But if you examine its meaning, there is nothing grammatically wrong with it. It's just a bit redundant, is all.

which is what i said but now Mc Tag and Clary have convinced me is grammatically incorrect too.

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Politically incorrect, mebbe . . . grammatically incorrect? I don't think so . . . get offen yer hobby horse, there, Limeys . . .

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hobby horses

what the **** that you colonial (but genial) dimwit

Smile

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Sometimes, these New Town people can't hide their rough social background.

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Actually, i've always Steve pulls it off rather well--and in any event, it would be ill-bred of us to take notice of his lack of breeding . . . (for the dimwits in the crowd, the foregoing is not a sexual comment)

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The word "that."

In speaking, it doesn't bother me at all, but it can be removed in 75% of its occurences in writing.

"The fact that you write poorly is easily recognized."
The fact you write poorly is easily recognized.

"I understand that you're upset."
I understand you're upset.

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What are your pet peeves re English usage?

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