Friday, April 2, 2010

For all intensive purposes, it was supposebly irregardless to the story!

Heh.

Those three words/phrases are my vocabulary pet peeve. ESPECIALLY when I hear someone in a position of authority use it.

Today it was the newscaster chick. She said "supposebly". Um, hello, news chick? There is no such word as "supposebly". Really. See? --> "supposebly - no dictionary results". Yet people use it all the time. And it drives me absolutely batty!

Irregardless is another non-word that is used a lot. But it's made it in the dictionary.

"—Usage note Irregardless is considered nonstandard because of the two negative elements ir- and -less. It was probably formed on the analogy of such words as irrespective, irrelevant, and irreparable. Those who use it, including on occasion educated speakers, may do so from a desire to add emphasis. Irregardless first appeared in the early 20th century and was perhaps popularized by its use in a comic radio program of the 1930s."

As you can see, it's a word, but REGARDLESS is all you need to say. Adding the Ir makes it a double negative.

But my absolute favorite word/phrase blunder if "For all intensive purposes". It's amazing how often I hear it. And every time I do, I crack myself up laughing. Which is pretty rude when someone says it to me face to face and I laugh and point right at them. For the record, it's "For all intents and purposes". I actually heard it come out of the mouth of a "Jeopardy!" contestant who was introducing herself. She didn't win.

Do you have a favorite word or phrase blunder? Does hearing someone say the had lose pants on make you want to loose your mind? (yes, I'm making the errors on purpose.) Have you ever read someone talking about angles in heaven? I didn't know geometry would be used in the afterlife. Did you?

26 comments:

..Soo.See.. said...

I PACIFICALLY hate it when someone uses PACIFIC instead of SPECIFIC. Gah! There's more, but that one is the first that comes to mind!

Miss Tori said...

I think it all comes down to what a person thinks they are hearing versus perhaps seeing it in print and realizing what they've heard is not how it is actually pronounced.

They are hearing supposebly, when it is actually supposedly, with a D not a B.

Another example is the should of or could of, etc., when it actually should be should've or could've, contractions of should have or could have.

I can't stand the use of yous. Yous guys. Or can I help yous? I heard this once from an executive secretary and I about died!

But it is funny to hear people talk and then makes you wonder what it is that you yourself are messing up and not realizing.

Miss Tori said...

Oh, another one. Per say instead of per se. But that is a spelling mistake rather than pronunciation.

elephantscanremember said...

"Prolly" does not go over well with me. Argh!

Mollie said...

Supposebly makes me cringe. And I can't believe irregardless made it to the dictionary!!

That's "a whole nother" story.

Breafixt for breakfast - from an adult, not a child.

"I been done that"

I seen her do that.

I know there are a bunch more, but when asked, I can never think of them!

Mollie said...

expecially, excape

nucular instead of nuclear

Conversate!!

i'm not sure if it's proper, but it really bugs me when i hear humor pronounced you-mer, or any other H word that is pronounced as "you"

Melissa said...

I HATE when people say acrossed, the word is across! Ugh, thanks for letting me vent!

jill said...

I have a coworker who says Irregardless all the time and it drives me crazy. I was so sad when I realized it was in the dictionary and accepted now. But Word picks it up as misspelled! yay :)

When I was dating my ex-husband he wrote me a poem in which he called me his "dark angle" (I have dark brown hair) many times. Ugh I was so embarrassed for him but I don't think I ever said anything.

areyoukiddingme said...

I thought my head was going to esplode (ha) reading your title!

My biggest pet peeve is a regional thing...here in the Midwest (well, let me qualify - south of I-80) when certain people did not hear what you said, instead of saying "What?" or "Excuse me?" they say "Do what?" Except, with the drawl, so it comes out "Do wuuut?" NOTHING!!! I didn't ask you to DO anything!!! Stop saying that!!!!

Christina said...

"I didn't do nothing" instead of anything. The girl that sits in front of me at work says it all the time!

Jennifer said...

Congradulations! It mostly bothers me in written form and is okay for a Graduation card. I get the pun...ConGRADulations for a a grad...cute, but I see it for everything. It's congratulations.

Just like it's Kindergarten not Kindergarden. :P

I hear lots of fun stuff down here in the South! I'm guilty of saying some of them too. I'm fixin' to take a nap.

Mrslady1975 said...

"Ax" and in, "Can I ax you a question?" The just kills me. The word is ASK not AX. "Ascared " as is the I was ascared of the dark when I was a child. No, you were scared or afraid...not ascared. Anywho is another regional word and I hate it.

Kristin said...

Whew, I was so relieved when I read your post because the title had me cringing.

One huge pet peeve of mine is when people say prolly instead of probably...or axs instead of ask.

Robin said...

In the South, you hear people say across alot with the pronounciation "acrossed" or "acrost". I can't stand it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jenera said...

These bug me too. Though I always had doubts about irregardless. It didn't seem right so I never used it.

My darling husband likes to say "usually always" and it drives me insane.

Heather said...

I seen that.

Eckspecially.

Contractor talk can drive me crazy too. It's masonry, NOT masonary; and it's column, not col-yoom. Oh, and that hard stuff you walk on? It's concrete, not cement. Cement is to concrete what flour is to a cake.

Tanya said...

Unthaw.

Expect instead of except.

I also HATE when people say things like "I'm going to the mall want to go with?". With what?

Anonymous said...

Hands down, it's when people say "jive" when they mean jibe. I'll check and see if that meeting "jives" with my schedule. Really? You want to see if it will dance with your schedule?

Chocolate Mom aka Blupoetres said...

As a high school English teacher I found this to be so hilarious because I hear things like this all day long!! (and many times it's "supposebly" from other teachers!! lol

Anonymous said...

Your three drive me absolutely nuts too. My husband says "irregardless" and drives me just batty.

My mother in law uses "yous" and that is also a pet peeve of mine. "Are yous coming over for Easter?" ARGH.

Anonymous said...

My pet peeve has got to be sorted / sordid. As in "I'll give you all the sorted details."

Nancy, you should check out The Eggcorn Database. The database covers all kinds of errors like this - mostly stuff that sounds correct when said aloud but is commonly incorrect in writing.

http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/

Strawberry said...

My husband HATES when people use impact as a verb. I notice it now, too. And I hate when people use nucular instead of nuclear. I also cannot stand when people are too formal/too informal for certain situations. Which is weird, sort of, and I'm pretty sure it comes down to socioeconomics. But I am thinking about how, in some preschools, teachers make the kids call them Miss So and So. And that BUGS the HELL out of me. If you're going to go by your first name, just do it.

Glennformer said...

Gee, where do I begin! Among many of the ones others have mentioned, here are some of mine.

One pet peeve, maybe a little obscure, is "that begs the question" when people mean that it invites the question or raises the question or "makes me want to ask" the question. To "beg the question" is to commit an informal fallacy of logic that means you are assuming the result/conclusion over which you are arguing/debating. An example would be something like "the proof that God exists is that God performs miracles".

Some things might just be idiomatic expressions but "has gone missing" seems to have become popular just in the last few years by way of national news coverage. How is just "is missing" insufficient?

Are people too tired to say "needs to be fixed" instead of "needs fixed" and any other case where the "to be" is missing (whoops, I meant "gone missing"). I used to call it a Pennsylvania-ism but my niece, who grew up in Nevada, has picked it up.

I'm annoyed, particularly, when I know someone that didn't used to use such expressions is now using them. "Do you want to go with?" is one. Recently I got "If you don't know what to do with it, send." Send what? It? Are we speaking in telegram English now! Is this coming from text message speak?

ssbean said...

Oh my gosh, yours drive me insane. I live in the south, in TN, I've lived in GA and NC too. Let me tell you, w/ the southern accents there are so many that I have heard and hear that I HATE. It's so bad I have to ask some people to repeat what they say several times, before I just smile and nod. Where I am now, people will say you'ens; and I though ya'll was bad. I had a boss one time that instead of frustrated said flustrated. It wasn't accidental or anything, it was a serious discusion, I asked her to repeat it several times, and my coworker thought it was flustrated too. I just hope the school systems around here are better when my child is in school than they were when they were in school.

zach05kate95 said...

"there is go" As in, there my paper go. Really? Where is your paper going?

Bunnyslippers said...

Maybe they actually mean "supposably" (with an "a"), which is a word. But, no, they don't. However, in confirming that "supposably" is a real word, I came across this amusing article in the "Uncyclopedia" (Tagline: "The content-free encyclopedia...")