Now, I don't mind when dogs bark. They are dogs. If something is going on or someone is walking by their property, the barking doesn't bother me in the least bit. But if you are going to leave your dog outside to bark constantly, why own a dog? Dogs are pack animals and want to be with their pack. And unless your name is Cesar Millan, your dog's pack is probably your family. They want to be ~with you~, not outside in the backyard for every waking moment. I love the people who treat their dog as family, because that's how it should be. Dogs need outside time, sure, but just locking them in the backyard all the time? Ugh. That's horrible.
While I'm on my venting trip, can I please urge the entire internet to understand the difference between 'lose' and 'loose'? Hey, I'm not the smartest one on the planet. I'm far from it. And you all know I have some terrible grammar usage myself - I'll be the first to admit it. But hopefully I use the correct word for the one I'm going for. I just don't know why lose/loose seems to be the most misused word out there, nor why it bugs me so badly. It's probably because it ~is~ my pet peeve so it is simply blaring to me.
Lose is a verb. ie: "don't lose your keys!" or "I would really like to lose weight." After you lose something, it's lost.
Loose is an adjective. ie: "These pants are really loose on me" or "I really need to tighten this knob, it's too loose."
People rely too much on spellcheck is what it is. There should be some sort of am-I-using-the-wrong-form-of-a-word-check. That would rule. A homonym check. But I don't think lose and loose are actually homonyms. To be a homonym, they would have to have same sound and spelling, ie: bear (animal) and bear (carry). A homograph have the same spelling, but not necessarily the same sound, ie: read (present) and read (past). A homophone has same sound, may be spelled the same, but have different meaning, ie: to, two and too or muscle and mussel. So I guess lose and loose are just two different words that people just fuck up a lot.
Ha. I just was googling and found http://www.loseloose.com/ which quotes "If someone has referred you to this page, you've probably confused those two very similar words. Don't be a looser." ~giggle~. That's fucking hilarious. A little excerpt:
- You lose your job when you get fired for making silly mistakes.
- You don't loose your job unless you release it from a cage.
- You let your belt loose after Thanksgiving dinner.
- You let your belt lose when it races with your tie.
- accept (receive)/except (leave out)
- advice (recommendation)/advise (recommend)
- affect (influence)/effect (result)
- angle (geometry)/angel (spiritual being)
- allude (suggest)/elude (escape, avoid)
- allusion (indirect reference)/illusion (something not there)
- born (given birth to)/borne (carried)
- cite (mention)/site (place)/sight (vision)
- cursor (computer marker)/curser (a person who swears)
- dessert (food)/desert (abandon/hot place)
- elicit (to draw out)/illicit (illegal)
- eminent (noteworthy)/imminent (impending)
- forth (forward)/fourth (after third)
- forward (to the front)/foreword (the preface to a book)
- gorilla (an ape)/guerrilla (a fighter)
- heard (through an ear)/herd (cattle)
- its (possession)/it's (it is)
- lose (misplace)/loose (not fastened)
- miner (of gold)/minor (a young person)
- principle (rule)/principal (main person)
- stationary (not moving)/stationery (what you write on)
- than (comparison)/then (time)
35 comments:
People using wrong words gets to me too. I didn't see these on the list and these are some big time wrongly used words
their (belonging to them)/there (place)
your (belonging to you)/you're (you are)
to (the preposition, drive to the store)/too (as in also)
I am guilty of using these wrongly at times too.
I totally agree on the dog front. I hate it when people do that. My dogs are my family and thats the way it is. I dont understand why people even get dogs when they dont want to be around them or take care of them. I have a chain link fence too and have neighbors behind me that are just the same as yours. Pisses me off to no end. I dont have much to say on the grammer front as I am horrible at grammer! What really bugs me is when people type an entire paragraph w/out using a period. How did these people graduate high school???
I hear you on the dog thing- our two ~are~ our kids. Hopefully they get that the baby will be their owner- not sibling! We're working on it... our neighbor's dog is indoor- but we hear him barking all the time- even when we know they are home with him- I think he is kept seperate which is just such a shame...
I always have to pause with affect/effect. It trips me up all the time, but I get someone else to read that e-mail, or letter or whatever, to see if I've used it correctly. I have a pet peeve about grammer & misused words too & hate when I am guilty of it!
My aunt and uncle have a neighbor who is guilty of leaving their two dogs out at all hours. The constant barking eventually started to bother them, so instead of bringing their dogs in and enjoying their company, they took them to the vet and got their vocal cords cut. We were devastated. I'll never understand people like that, OR vets who are willing to put a dog through an unnecessary surgery like that.
Like Hollie, I can't stand it when people mix up their/they're/there and your/you're. Also message/massage and college/collage.
~Heather
I confuse many words- even after learning them and knowing them, one day I'll just forget again. Sucks getting old.
However, I have my little list of "misused" words from my English Grammar class and refer to it often because as bad as I am at it, it is important to me to try (at least try) to learn it and get it right.
What bugs the hell out of me is the people who are soooo bad at grammar that they don't even use comma’s, apostrophe’s, quotations, returns, periods, nothing - and some people don’t even use spaces. Just total run-on sentences
Oh and another thing that bugs me so bad is when my friends email me with
R U going 2 the par-t 2night?
I freaking roll my eyes and want to tell them so bad to quit texting or e-mailing me like a teenager. (((sigh))) but I keep my mouth shut.
However I have started using “tho” instead of “though” in my typing to shorten it tho it’s really not a correctly spelled word ;)
My big one is using the correct punctuation/commas, apostrophies(I probably fucked up the spelling of that one!), and people who write in text. Like it's so hard to add the ' to I'm, so they just write Im. Or people who use a term that's one word(nonetheless) and seperate each word. Also, people who are bad spellers, as in not that they made a typo, but that they just spell easy words wrong constantly, and clearly think they are spelling geniuses b/c they don't even question their own spelling (sp?).
And...don't even get me started on those people with dogs who don't wnat them or think they are a cute/optional accessory or something for fun.
My neighbor's ex(a seriously toxic chick thru and thru) just HAD to have some $3000 pure-bred dog. Then, she barely ever let it outside, left it in the house for up to 12 hours at a time, all alone, and then made her then-boyfriend completely care for it. Then this dumb bitch had the nerve to bring home ANOTHER dog. Yep, she's now his EX!
Oh! And as far as the Dog thing goes, there was actually a news report on people locking their dogs outside, and I agree with you.
I boot my Cat outside because she needs it, but seriously she's out there 1 to 5 minutes at a time this time of year, but to just leave them outside is cruel, Even my dad has a nice set up for his 9 dogs, they stay pretty much in their group - he built a kennel that is 1/2 indoors and 1/2 outdoors, each dog pairs up into 1 kennel - so he has 5 kennels for 9 dogs, (one just died) and he takes turns with them bringing them in the house, going places, and he runs them and gives attention daily (he's a pro trainer) so even tho they are outside dogs, they are living the good life ( Including a heated barn) and are very well taken care of, he doesn’t own Dogs because he wanted a dog, he owns them because they are his babies and treats them as such.
I love dogs and have always wanted one, maybe someday I’ll get one, but at this time in my life, I do believe the dog will require more than I am able to give, so rather than get one for selfish purposes and end up neglecting it, I’ll wait until I know I’m ready.
So for now I have a Cat - and she is spoiled.
Right now my brain is taking a nap, so I can't think of what bugs me. But, I was surprised when I took an online quiz that focused on the commonly misused words, like what you're saying and did very well. I really was surprised, but I know that I make my share of mistakes when I type on boards or on my blog. I guess the simple ones bug me the most. Or, I knew somebody that said flustrated instead of frustrated. I made sure it wasn't just some speech issue, but she honestly thought and argued that the correct word was flustrated. The joys of living in the south, I guess.
About the dog thing. I can't believe they keep their little chihuahua outside all the time. My aunt has 2 dogs, one pug mix, who is in the house when the family is home, and 1 german shepherd that stays outside. The smaller dog would go crazy during the day when nobody was home, so they found that he is very happy outside with the other dog. I guess it goes back to the whole pack mentality. He doesn't want to be by himself. But a little chihuahua outside all the time is crazy.
Oh yes, I totally agree on the one big punctuationless paragraphs.
And Jewels - the typing like a teenager texts? Drives me up the freaking wall!!
Now, I don't mind typos, I can read through them, but you should know if you are not a good speller, so use spellcheck!
Heather - omg. They had their vocal chords cut? That's shocking! Do vets just do this? It seems like a form of mutilation.
Totally in agreement with you - lose and loose drive me completely crazy. It doesn't seem like that would be too hard.
My biggest confusion comes with affect and effect. I have to say the sentence to myself over and over before I settle on one of them. Then I am still usually wrong!
And about dogs - mine are part of the family. Quick funny - yesterday my hubby let them outside to go potty. Well, he forgot about them and after about 20 minutes my oldest started barking at the door. It was like she was saying "Hey! You forgot about me!".
I went to Catholic Grammar school so the nuns beat the grammar into us so I am usually pretty good at using the correct word.
My husband? Not at all...confuses
Their/they're/there, lose/loose, and my biggest pet peeve is using 's to pleuralize words. It's not pea's and carrot's!!
I also find a sort of joy when I catch poor grammar/spellings in printed articles. But I get annoyed when people use the wrong words in emails (casual emails I am forgiving on) work/serious emails...I get annoyed!
PS My dog is spoiled rotten!!!
The its/it's and your/you're irritates me! People write as they speak, but don't realize that when you speak, you're not speaking with apostrophes etc, so you have to be careful of those! And like Jewels - I'm always driven up the wall with that text messaging language. Even my text messages have full words in them!
Oh and dogs - I totally get what you mean. Our Simba is our spoilt brat, and if we have to leave him out in the backyard even for a while (mostly if someone visiting the house is terrified and the scene they create is stressful for Simba), we always apologize when we let him back in. He is more welcome in our house than some of our human acquaintances - we have in fact sometimes purposefully not invited people who create a fuss about him to our house, because we don't want to leave him out in the yard!
Shocked at Heather's comment - someone actually got their dogs' vocal cords cut??? OMG!!!!!
You are so freaking awesome I can't even tell you! I am blown away that you would even offer to send ~any~ of your stuff- silly girl- I don't expect anyone to buy me anything- much less ship it across country! I <3 you!
Oh- and my frugality is a result of running the cards up & paying for stuff too much too soon. (plus there was that whole year the hub made no money thing that happened...)
Seriously- if either of us is even close to the other's coast- we are sooo getting together! (and yes- I know you aren't really on a coast, but you are pretty much on the opposite side of the country, lol!
I screw up words all the time. Not an excuse, just a reality.
As a child we had a dog. His name was Harley Davidson (yeah original especially since my dad was a big time biker), anywho...my parents kept him chained up in the back yard year round. My sister and I used to sneak him in the basement sometimes in the winter, but when we got caught my dad would put him back outside. We would beg to at least put him in the garage, but they would have none of it.
Looking back, it was so cruel, and my parents now agree as well. But as the children in the house we didn't have much power over the adults.
I have vowed to myself to NEVER treat a pet like that. For christ sake, my cat takes up more room in the bed than me or T!
I also feel pretty strongly that pets don't belong indoors 100%. Animal's natural instinct is to hunt and gather. You have to give them some freedoms to be outdoors. Our cat comes and gos as he pleases (or as we open the door for him), and he is so much healthier for it. JMO
My pet peeves are misspellings (not typos. I commit plenty of those) - seems like the entire blogging world cannot spell definitely. Or separate(ly). But my all time worst annoyance is the one my husband uses all the time (and this is usually spoken only, most people get it correct in writing). He says supposably instead of supposedly. Makes me crazy and I can't even say anything about it!
I used to have 2 dogs, and I realized that I spent too much time at work or out, and they didn't have a very good life. They were inside and got walked 3-4 times a day, but they needed more human interaction. So I found them better homes, so they would be happy. I don't mind that people have outside dogs - my uncle has a farm and has always had outside dogs. Of course, as a farmer, my uncle was almost always outside. But a chihuahua? Or, in a fenced yard, where there's nothing to do and nowhere to go? That's just mean.
It annoys me when someone uses "would of" instead of "would have." For example, it should be, "I wish that I would have written earlier." When spoken, it is often contracted to "I wish that I would've written earlier."
It is never "I wish I would of written earlier." This just doesn't make any sense. "Of" is a preposition -- a past participle such as "written" would never follow a preposition.
Thanks for letting me vent.
--Kate
I need to lose some weight so that my pants will be loose. :)
I know I mix some...esp. affect/effect. I always forget those two. (lol ;) )
My Principal "corrected" a coma on my concert program that was actually correct. I REALLY bugged me. I looked it up and I was right.
a lot of those mistakes really bug me as well as several others. being a teacher i have this horrible habit of "proofreading" everything i read. thankfully, it doesn't bother me that much when people make mistakes in their blogs b/c it is not a formal writing. but my biggest annoyance is when people mess up there/their. ugh!
People who don't take care of their dogs (and that includes those who just put them in the backyard and ignore them) completely piss me off. My Cujo is totally a part of my family, and I couldn't imagine just sticking him outside. We have friends who just shove their dogs in kennels all day including a golden retriever who needs lots of exercise. I feel so sorry for those dogs.
LMAO! I always misuse then/than! LOL! And I'm really good at English--so it totally pisses me off! :) I saw loose misused today..so it's weird you brought it up..And from your comment on my blog--it *must* be the 3rd bday! LOL...I'm not even wanting to do a party--but I already sent out the Evites! GRRR!!!
The dog owner who leave their dog outside kill me. I get sad when I see them outside and it is cold and windy out (or hot).
I also agree with you on the grammar. I will be the first to admit that I make mistakes. I try to fix them if I see them but get missed. My pet peeve is when people use its instead of it's or your when it should be you're. My personal favorite is when people are talking and they say "ax" and not "ask."
I just had to add- I'm pretty tolerant to grammar errors, but I am shocked at how often people confuse using I and Me.
Example "I was surprised at how well it helped my husband and I"
NO
It would be "my husband and me"
Because if you take out the second party, you would NOT say "I was surprised at how well it helped I" No, you'd say "I was surprised at how well it helped me" therefore you’d say “I was surprised at how well it helped my husband and me”. That is one I see EVERYWHERE, it’s just one that sticks out like a sore thumb for me.
(obviously I just read an article with the misuse) :wink:
I CAN NOT stand grammatical errors, I hate it even worse when I make them because I hate it so much, does that make sense? They're and their, me and Jack instead of Jack and I (name completely fictional), just to name a couple, oh and I had to get one of the cell phones that flip up with the keyboard because I have to spell everything out, can not stand text lingo.
I dreamt about this post last night....second guessing what ever I was writing in my sleep (?). Thanks for the dream material~
Anyway, in my dream I was having issues with:
accept (receive)/except (leave out)
affect (influence)/effect (result)
..so I used the synonym tool and thesaurus in word to help me figure out which one was the correct one to be using...such an educational blog entry...
I generally don't make grammatical errors in my writing (which is prompting me to double-check this comment!). We had a grammar club in high school (which was really just to make fun of people's grammatical errors). And I don't really care for pets to begin with. Visiting other's pets are fine but we'll never have one. I'd rather spend the energy on children.
I love you!! You are totally my soul (not sole) mate. I led a whole session on proper writing and homonyms at our company conference this year because I was so sick of reading that we were loosing some residents due to lower rents at other properties. Ugh.
I agree with you on the dog issue as well. I used to watch the animal cop shows on AnimalPlanet, but had to stop because I'd get too angry and sad. Some people just suck a whole lot.
When people refer to a gestational sac as a "sack". OMG, can't stand it. *giggle* A sack is something like a backpack--something to carry things in.
I am always spot out grammatical errors because I can't help it! My mind focuses in on them. I've been an avid reader since the first grade and was one of those spelling bee nerds. It's just part of my personality to want perfect sentences! I don't demand it from others, but I try and make sure my sentences always make sense. :)
Also, I love your 36 week belly pic!
Oh, and in regards to the dog thing: that bugs me too. What is the point of having a dog if it's just going to be bored out of its mind? My mom's dog is a part of the family. She lives in the house and only goes outside to pee/poop and take walks.
Grammer mistakes drive me crazy!! I don't mind spelling mistakes so much b/c I'm a terrible speller and there's not always spell check. But it seems like people should know what their words mean. It especially cracks me up when I've seen bosses mix up words like there/they're/their or to/too/two. And I find it especially annoying when I see mix ups on "know-it-all" posters on message boards. Makes it hard for me to take anything they say seriously.
See, this is why I don't have pets. I think having animals in the house is GROSS (jmo) and I also think it's cruel to leave them outside when it's all cold or extremely hot. So I just don't have pets. It's a simple solution.
And grammar mistakes--don't get me started. Constant, unnoticed mistakes make people look very..um..not smart. And the teeny bopper texting? Please. Drives me insane.
Steph
stephs_3_kidz
I thought people overusing "that" was your pet peeve. ;-)
I'm completely with you on the dog issue. My neighbors on one side keep their dog tied in the back yard to a dog house. It has about a 10' radius to roam. So sad. My other neighbor kept his growing Labrador puppy in a kennel that was so small that it developed hip issues (this one I reported to every authority I could think of, but no one did anything). I finally took the kennel and reamed the guy out. Assholes, all of them!
I will often switch words by mistake - I know what they mean but sometimes my mind gets ahead of my fingers. Of course spellcheck doesn't get it so I have to look like an idiot. I constantly want to post blog apologies for bad grammar/spelling.
And I am totally with you on the dog thing - I hate people who treat their dogs/cats like animals and not pets. It is like they don't understand it is easier to not have them at all.
Interesting…why do ‘some’ people own dogs?, personally I hate the bloody things. Saying that, I don’t actually hate the animal itself, I hate the owners. ‘Some’ (about 80%) of dog owners are just downright irresponsible, they only own the dog(s) because they can (“but I love dogs, it’s my right to own one”), yes, but it is also ‘my’ right to walk the streets without stepping in dog-crap, and not to listen to my unemployed neighbour in his council-flat screaming at his canines all day (one is called Gettere!, the other is Fukkindog!, although he only has two of them the names seem to be interchanged and used for both, sometimes with an extra whereyafukkingoingnaaw!, or gettchafukkinnoseaaaat! is used on either or both at the same time). A high proportion of dog owners appear to be illiterate, have a very low IQ, or are just plain ignorant, this accounts for why they can’t read the ‘NO DOGS ALLOWED’ sign on the gate of the children’s play area in the park, the one with a silhouette of a dog in circle with a red line through it.
The basic problem is that anybody can go and buy a dog from anywhere (potentially a dangerous animal) without any proof of competence, handling ability, or insurance (in case it attacks someone), I do know that they have to receive expensive injections in their lifetime, how does the unemployed ‘Staff’ owner justify this?. The worst scenario is now beginning to materialise in the inner-cities where ‘Staffs’ live in high-rise drug-dens and have no definite owner, they are locked up all day, get little or no vetinary care, are used to protect drug-stashes and sometimes used in muggings.
I long for the day when every single dog has to be micro-chipped by law, with the owners name, address, certificate of competence number and insurance, and where the dog lives (with written permission from the owner of the premises), until then, I won’t waste a penny on the RSPCA.
Don’t say it will never happen, look what has happened to the BBC’s coverage of ‘The Inbred Mutant Canine Display’ (Crufts).
heh... I'm an of/have girl.
Should of, could of, would of... drives me nuts... it's supposed to be should have, could have, would have.... or should've, would've, could've, which is WHY most people think it's OF... because we're all a bunch of lazy buggers!!
As far as the dog thing, I think some dog owners should be shot! Those included- the ones who let their animals run loose (that's LOOSE, not LOSE... :p), the ones who indiscriminately(sp?)let their animals do their business ANYWHERE when going for walks. (I live where it snows for almost 1/2 the year- yellow snow on my front lawn, where my daughter plays, is SOOOO not appealing), and the people who leave their animals out ALL THE TIME!! Why would you even bother??? I've heard people say it's for security. I'm sorry, an attention starved Shih Tzu is NOT a guard dog!!!!
Hello from Blog Bingo!
I LOVE this post. I LOLed. And I'm with Not in the Water on adding apostrophes to pluralized words! That is hands-down my biggest grammatical pet peeve.
As for the dogs - couldn't agree more. When hubs and I moved into our house, we had a neighbor behind us that kept their little dog in a TINY fenced in area all day long, and it barked. All. Day. Long. Every. Day. Poor pup! I had half a mind to loose her from her prison... :)
Post a Comment