What are your pet peeves re English usage?

What about penkcil and chimbley?

(These may be purely Lancastrian aberrations)

i have a fondness for 'chimbley' .
when we came to canada , miss gill - an elderly lady from an irish family that came to canada in the 1850's - lived in the downstairs apartment .
we quickly caught on what a chimbley was , since she pointed at it !
learned another english word quickly .
hbg

According to DARE (Dictionary of American Regional English), chimbl(e)y, chimbli, chiml(e)y are variants of ''chimney'' used chiefly in the South and the Midland, occasionally in New England. DARE cross references Scots and northern English dialect ''chimlay'', ''chimblay'', used from the 16th century onward.

Citations for chimbl(e)y are given for the following states: NC, MO, KY, AR, GA, SC, MS.
Citations for chiml(e)y are given for: AL, TX, NC, OH, IL, KS, KY, New England.

Interestingly, one of the citations is from a well known book:
1885 Twain Huck. Finn 47, MO, I couldn't get up the chimbly, it was too narrow.

The Concise Scots Dictionary has this entry:
chimley, chimlay 16-
shimley la16-e17, e20
chimbley la17-
chemlay 17
n 1 = chimney 16-, now local Cai-Stlg. 2 a grate, hearth, fireplace la16-, now Abd. (source: blog on LEO)

you heard it from walter : 'chimbley' it is !
(i'm with walter) . hbg

What are your pet peeves re English usage?
When otherwise intelligent people use silly spelling for real words:

r
u
prolly

And, unless there is a specific, expressive reason of intent, not capitalization where required:

i told sally not to worry, that that singing her song, "sea shells" was not the same as selling it.

Here's one. People who cannot speak English being given U.S. Driver's Licenses.

Almost got T-boned by an asian woman in a Lexus today, who obviously didn't understand what that large octagonal red sign with the word STOP on it meant.

cjh, You too heh? I think Asians are some of the worst drivers around here! Don't tell anybody I'm Asian - please.

c.i. : your secret is safe with us !
(and please don't tell anyone that i'm still in possession of a german motorcycle driver's license issued in 1953 ! VROOM , VROOM , VROOM - oops , sorry i didn't see you !). hbg

And the knee-jerk racist pops up again.

Here we have a child left so far behind that one has to wonder just how far he got in elementary school before trying his luck in the adult world.

Is there a new remedial program that someone could suggest?

and sexist JTT, dont forget sexist.

Fu-k that. France tried to be politically correct. Look what that bought them. Wake up.

In California you can take your written DL test in english, spanish, mandarin, or even tagalog. What a joke.

And you missed it in all languages?

No, the ESL's at the DMV confused your test with mine.

At least my free essay was good enough to be posted (got even a royalty for it) on their wensite as well as in the printed booklets as example for how to write one.

tagalog?????? surely you jest?

Nope.

???

Sorry - actually I'm not sooo good in English, but ESL was thaught to be the abbreviation for English as Second Language ...

Yes, Walter, ESL is the acronym for English as a second language. You English serves you well, and is quite as adequate as that of any native-speaker who has nothing but drivel, and racist drivel at that, to offer.