Every now and then on writers' loops, discussion arises about language pet peeves. There are things that bother others that don't bother me at all--like when someone answers "No problem" when someone else says, "Thank you." I confess that I'm guilty of No Problem, which is maybe why it doesn't bug me.
I have issues with other things.
I could care less. Um, no. It's I couldn't care less. If you say I could care less, it's denoting the opposite of what you're trying to convey. This makes me grind my teeth every time I hear it.
It's a mute point. The word is moot. There's no such thing as a mute point, thank you very much.
Strange apostrophe usage. As in putting apostrophes where no apostrophe belongs, or not putting apostrophes where one does belong. Prime example is its/it's. The car lost its hubcap. No apostrophe because I'm not saying: The car lost it is hubcap.
Irregardless. There is no such word. Regardless is the proper word. Go with it.
a lot is two words. all right is two words. It's not alright.
To be fair, English is a living language and it changes as people use it. In fact, I love how vibrant the language is. It's very possible that some day alot will be one word and alright will be in the dictionary. That's okay. I think the biggest change is going to come in computer tech words.
Copyeditors have continually changed my internet (lower case i) to Internet (capitalized). I don't think capitalizing internet is going to last much longer. They hyphenate my email to make it e-mail. I believe the AP Stylebook has already changed this to no hyphen. I don't hyphenate any of the "e" terms, not ebook, not epublisher, nothing. I can't wait for this change in language to happen. Right now I have auto correct setup to make these into "proper" usage when I write them the way I think they should be. :-)
One of my favorite things is when they report the new words that have made the cut for the dictionary for the year. I know, I'm a geek, but it's cool to watch words be born.
