Peeve

[timepiececlock]

Want to know what bugs me?

People who say "I could care less" when what they really intend to say is "I couldn't care less."

Think about that.

Comments

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's one that bugs me. What bugs me more?

When they write/say "try and stop me/whatever here", when they mean "try TO stop me". Because, people, you try TO stop somebody or you stop them. You can'd DO BOTH.

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

That should be "can't". I bent over to catch a paper being spit out by my printer before I caught the mistake and hit "post comment".

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I can see how that would be frustrating. I'm not sure if I've ever said that or not-- might have. It's not a sentence I usually say anyway.

I agree, though: you can't both try and do.

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

It shows up in all kinds of forms. "Try and make me do it", etc. and so forth. It's just ANNOYING as hell. I see it pop up a lot in fan fic I've read for some reason. And these are stories written by adults who should know grammar better. (I fully admit proper grammar and I aren't on a first name basis, but I try TO improve).

Do or do not, there is no try. Maybe that's what Yoda was really on about - BAD GRAMMAR. Ironic, considering how awful his own is.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Do or do not, there is no try. Maybe that's what Yoda was really on about - BAD GRAMMAR. Ironic, considering how awful his own is.

Yep. Trying is the present tense of not yet doing. If you're trying you still have a chance to do, but if you tried then you did not do after all.

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

The next incarnation of the "grammar icon" that pops up? the whole "try and [blank]" should be added into the list of DO NOTs.

[thisficklemob.livejournal.com]

Is it in dialogue, though? Because even thought it is utterly wrong, it is also what people say. When writing dialogue, you don't want to be illiterate, but you also have to try to reflect how people talk. Is "gonna" a word? No, as the spellcheck reminds me every time. But I still use it in dialogue, particularly when I'm writing a character who makes a habit of lackadaisical speech.

And while I haven't ever used "try and stop me" in a fic that I can recall, I have typed recently typed it in LJ. Not because I think it's proper, but because it is a phrase, and I used it whole as such to convey a certain insouciance. *g*

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, no. It bugs me so much, I often correct people when they SAY it. "Oh, you're going try to AND do it at the same time? Wow, you're amazing." (Because, yes, I am a smart-ass.)

I know it's rather accepted as all right speech - either written or spoken, like "gonna" - but it still bugs me. Major peeve-age.