Listen to Lena

Perfecting the Art of Conversuasion

Their Not Interchangeable and Never Will Be

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If you caught the grammatical error in my post title, Hallelujah! We can be friends.

I found this post from August 2010 – almost four years ago to the day!

“Lately, I’m finding more and more people simply don’t take the time to use the words there, their and they’re in their proper context. Frankly, unless you’re in second grade and have yet to learn the subtleties of grammar and pronunciation, you really have no excuse. There, I said it. It all comes down to this silly notion that intelligence is constantly conveyed in everything that we do.”

Okay, I was pretty self-righteous, no?? But you know what? I’m not going to apologize for it. I am a proud grammar cop! And in the last four years, I can only say I’ve become worse – kind of like a crotchety old man on a park bench. Back to my post –

“I wouldn’t dare insult you by posting the different uses of the three words; I’m under the assumption that we all know what they mean and how to correctly insert them into a sentence. What I am going to say, especially to the violators, is please, take a moment to proofread your work. Anal-retentive perfectionists such as myself (who clearly have a lot of time on their hands) take offense to those who don’t show respect for the English language. Some actually exhibit a marked rise in blood pressure when confronted with this popular grammatical error. Trust me, they’re out there.”

I went on to bash people like only a blogger with mildly inflated readership can do, but over the years, I’ve learned to bite my tongue and reserve judgement for whale poachers and fashion criminals.

As such, I had put the post out of my mind almost completely – until recently, when Weird Al Yankovic validated every. freaking. word with his new single and video, Word Crimes. It’s like he wrote it for me, and other grammar snobs (we tend to stick together, since few people can stand us).

Do you have any grammatical pet peeves?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. remember this post from way back, and adding my pet peeves, which have also gotten worse :)

  2. hope “you’re” not the punctuation police because im <– to lazy to use them

    • I can allow the odd punctuation gaff to slide, so you’re good. However, I must point out that you wrote “to lazy” … because this grammar cop really, really wishes you had said “too lazy” :)

  3. Weird Al’s videos crack me up.

    Not a pet peeve but I see other word crimes with your/you’re, anyway, ain’t, and many spelling ones. Good to hear you’re exercising discretion on these word offenders over the years… ;)

  4. Like you I cringe every time I see grammatical errors… I have learned to bite my tongue most times – except when it’s going in one of my grandchildrens assignments or in a book.
    “To, too and two” is another pet peeve :)
    I think now with the internet and text or instant messaging, people have become a little more “lazy” when it comes to grammar :)

    • I think so too… and, we tend to let grammatical errors slide, reasoning that the person was typing in a hurry. Why is life always such a hurry??

  5. When I see poor grammar it makes me crazy! I had a 5th grade teacher named Mrs. Bunch and she was indeed a grammar queen!

  7. To many people don’t know where too use the appropriate two. I think their just showing they’re lack of education.

  8. You’re/ your drives me insane. To the point I will stop reading an article or book if it keeps happening. Seriously who exits newspapers and Magazines these days!!!???

  9. Misuse of apostrophes drives me nuts. I really hate seeing businesses or publications and advertisements with mistakes. Seeing a mistake on a business sign or advertisement makes me not want to shop there, because to me, they don’t care enough to pay someone to proofread, and that in turn makes me think perhaps their business is not very reliable, but I really love run-on sentences and often write them myself, as you can clearly see here. :-)

    • Oh me too! I was recently at a store in the mall and there was a handmade sign at the cash which read “We do not except returns of worn merchandise”. UGH!!!!!

  10. I enjoyed that video. I am almost scared to write anything down now, as I am scared I am going to make a mistake.

    • LOL no you can’t live your life in fear! We’re all judged in one way or another regardless of what we do or say :)

  12. we are loosing our skills
    Now with Twitter & the like I’m not sure many kids know how to spell

  13. I wing it.. and pray I’m not hurting the grammar addicts too badly <3 <3 <3 We all have our peeves and annoyances. I respect this one, as it's a bit quirky for me too.

    Thanks for a fab post beautiful you.

  15. I teach university students sometimes and I loathe the misuse of semi-colons the most. I am definitely a grammar snob when I’m in that role but in everyday life, I am (a bit) more easygoing.

    • Ah… I obsessively use semi-colons; you’ll have to let me know if I use them in the incorrect context!

  16. It bugs me sometimes but not a major pet peeve for me but I do think it is going to get worse now that there are more short forms, texting lingo etc being used.

  17. I’m what you could call a grammar nazi. Really hate the improper usage of “your” and “you’re”!

  19. Ive always been a fan of weird al. Hes pretty funny, and this is no let down! Lol’d when I first heard it.

  20. This was awesome! Nothing irks me more than bad grammar or spelling errors! Take 2 minutes to proofread. I also can’t help but absolutely love Weird Al! i have loved him from the beginning and I am glad my kids get to listen to him now too!

  21. Haha You have to love Weird Al :)

    I am 100% one of those people who cringes at the misuse of they’re, their & there (and wear/where).. It floors me actually how many educated people use the wrong one often..

  22. I’m a grammar freak too ;)
    My husband on the other hand … he’s terrible. Can’t spell to save his life lol.
    My friends said they knew it was true love when I was willing to overlook his spelling. Ha!

  24. I am horrible when it comes to proper grammar >.< Thank goodness for my friend who acts as my editor!

  25. Grammatical errors make me shake my head. Proper grammar was drummed into our heads in school.

  26. One of the things that bothers me the most is when people use the short form for words that you need to use in an environment like Twitter or texting, but use them in a normal setting such as a paper or in an environment where the number of characters is not really an issue.

  27. Oh my goodness….my daughter is my “Conan the Grammarian”, so I try to be very correct.

    I would love to complement you on you’re blog. It’s better then a lot. Their are many whom would agree its fabulous!

    (hehehe..I could go on and on..*sigh*)

  28. I loved the video. I do a lot of editing in my work and one of the things that really irks me is people who don’t know the difference between then and than. And I’ve also seen posts on Facebook, relatives I”m sorry to say who use our and are incorrectly.

  29. It can be funny to see your own writing from years ago. I think I’m a grammar queen, but everyone makes mistakes and learns from them. I can’t believe people still don’t know the difference between “your” and “you’re’

  32. I don’t like it when people say “I did good”. I am always correcting people saying, no you did WELL, lol.