What are your pet peeves re English usage?

That would not be a "peeve," however, with the English language.

dlowan wrote:

Yes, damn your black, pedantic heart!!!!

My heart is light, airy, cheerful and happy.

And if I can help anyone else as I stroll along life's highway..... :wink:

Setanta wrote:

That would not be a "peeve," however, with the English language.

Following me around again? Fair warning - I have gas today.

I think if you reread the thread title it clearly states "English Usage".

Setanta wrote:

That would not be a "peeve," however, with the English language.

Following me around again? Fair warning - I have gas today.

I think if you reread the thread title it clearly states "English Usage".

What is odd and unpenetrable about English being the unofficial official language of the U.S.?

You think you're so smart and take such delight in twisting other people's words, it makes me sick.

We have no official langauge. We do, however, have lots and lots of hateful paranoids.

Or a rabbit . . .

The vermin and varmints here reveal themselves through their avatars.

Now, stoppit!!

And

No-one has answered my question nor responded to my last brilliant joke.

To say a phrase like "the old lamplighter" without uttering "thee" is to require a glottal stop. This has nothing to do with emphasis. It's simply easier.

That sounds like something a paranoid freak would say--i've been posting to this thread literally for years--get over your silly self.

McTag wrote:

To say a phrase like "the old lamplighter" without uttering "thee" is to require a glottal stop. This has nothing to do with emphasis. It's simply easier.

I don't know if this was directed to me, McTag, but of course there is more than one reason we choose 'thee' over 'the' and verse visa.

No, it was following on from something Andrew wrote.

What are the reasons for choosing an appropriate pronunciation of 'the'?
I know only two; or three, if you include rhetorical emphasis.