Why do people say "brought" when they mean bought?

My bug bear has to be - Me and Steve - NO it's Steve and I please
 
My pet hate is using 'your' instead of 'you're'. Although I don't suppose it really matters as long as you know what it means.

“i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!”
 
Perhaps this is more appropriate!

I have a spelling checker,
it came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.

Eye ran this poem threw it,
your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in its weigh.
My checker tolled me sew.

A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
and aides me when eye rime.

Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o'er every word
to cheque sum spelling rule.

Bee fore a veiling checker's
Hour spelling mite decline,
and if we're lacks oar have a laps,
we wood bee maid too wine.

Butt now bee cause my spelling
is checked with such grate flare,
their are know fault's with in my cite,
of nun eye am a wear.

Now spelling does knot phase me,
it does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
with wrapped word's fare as hear.

To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should bee proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaw's are knot aloud.

Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting want too pleas.
 
There any number of these rhymes. Have a look at http://www.spellingsociety.org/news/media/poems.php if you enjoy the idiosyncrasies of English.

A lot of the errors people have cited in this thread irritate me too, then I have to ask myself if I'm just being precious about it. English is dynamic and has been evolving and changing for hundreds of years under various influences. Spelling didn't start to become standardised until the late C18th or the early C19th, and regional/local dialects, vocabularies and pronunciations have always existed. What is right and wrong, or incorrect, is usually just based on a comparison with Standard English, which is a pretty artificial construct anyway. No doubt this will continue.
 
neenee said:
I did this once when abroad but my girlfriend quickly apologized for me to the waiter and since then I use pardon ;)
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We had this one at the start of the thread. I'm the opposite from you. "What?" is fine, but "Pardon/I beg your pardon" and "Excuse me" set my teeth on edge!.
 
As there's an article on the BBC website at the moment...my huuuuuuge one at the moment is...

"Haytch" instead of "Aitch"

I actually heard someone say "En Haytch Ess" the other day...:puke:

"Could of" is another big one, when I had a "real" job that involved computers, and people's writing..."could of" became the bain of my life.

That and the apostrophe catastrophe (as Lynne Truss puts it). I have been known to change greengrocers' signs... :nuts:
 
MartynK said:
There any number of these rhymes. Have a look at http://www.spellingsociety.org/news/media/poems.php if you enjoy the idiosyncrasies of English.

A lot of the errors people have cited in this thread irritate me too, then I have to ask myself if I'm just being precious about it. English is dynamic and has been evolving and changing for hundreds of years under various influences. Spelling didn't start to become standardised until the late C18th or the early C19th, and regional/local dialects, vocabularies and pronunciations have always existed. What is right and wrong, or incorrect, is usually just based on a comparison with Standard English, which is a pretty artificial construct anyway. No doubt this will continue.
Click to expand...

precious or precocious ???

Could be a new one :naughty:
 
kevin0410 said:
Why do an increasing number of people use the letter Z when they should use the letter S?
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No doubt the American influence, apart from the few of us who acknowledge the Greek roots rather than the more recent French meddling.

My 1940s Odhams dictionary is full of ~ize endings, so there!
 
kevin0410 said:
Why do an increasing number of people use the letter Z when they should use the letter S?
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I'm doing a business course at uni and have to read countless journal articles where 'organisation' is written as 'organization' and numerous other examples of 'z' replacing 's'. Completely understandable when it appears in an American journal but when the same thing creeps into English publications or, even worse, is used by my english lecturers in the presentations they produce themselves. Has me bouncing off the walls every time even after 4 years of studying business at various levels! :bang:
 
This sums things up rather neatly when it comes to -ize v -ise:

-ize, -ise
There are two groups of words here, and these should not be confused.

The first group consists of words which are always spelled with -ise in all varieties of English. The most frequent verbs in this group are advertise, advise, apprise, chastise, circumcise, comprise, compromise, despise, devise, disguise, excise, exercise, improvise, supervise, surmise, surprise and televise, to which we may add the nouns demise, enterprise, franchise and merchandise, some of which are occasionally used as verbs. These words do not contain the Greek suffix -ize and may never be spelled with -ize. British writers attempting to use American spelling sometimes slip up here and write, for example, *advertize, which is never acceptable.

The second, and much larger, group consists of verbs containing the Greek suffix -ize. Among these are realize, civilize, ostracize, jeopardize, organize and trivialize; there are far too many to list here, and new ones are coined almost at will, like hospitalize, finalize and prioritize. These words must be spelled with -ize in American English. In British English, the spelling with -ize is traditional, and is still preferred in many conservative quarters, for example at the Oxford University Press. But the newer spelling in -ise is now widespread in Britain and is preferred in other quarters. British writers may use whichever spelling they prefer, unless they are writing for a publishing house which insists upon one or the other.

Whichever spelling you prefer, you must, of course, be consistent, and use it exclusively, not only with the verbs but with their derived nouns like realization and civilization.

There is a complication with the verb exorcize, exorcise. Historically, this word contains the suffix -ize, and so it should be spelled exorcize in the style that uses -ize. However, many people no longer perceive this as containing the suffix, and so it is sometimes spelled exorcise even in the style with -ize.

Note also the unusual word capsize, which is spelled -ize in all varieties.
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from 'Mind the Gaff. The Penguin Guide to Common Errors in English'. by (Prof) RL Trask

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/13/messages/785.html
 
This item, from this morning's Today programme on BBC Radio 4, illustrates how pronunciations have changed over just a few decades.
 
MartynK said:
We had this one at the start of the thread. I'm the opposite from you. "What?" is fine, but "Pardon/I beg your pardon" and "Excuse me" set my teeth on edge!.
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When I was at school the teachers all came down on us like a ton of bricks if we said "What?" - it was considered very rude.
 
Sonriendo said:
My bug bear has to be - Me and Steve - NO it's Steve and I please
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This is another common misconception. "Steve and I" or "Steve and me", (depending on the sentence) is the generally accepted useage. But "me and Steve" is also perfectly acceptable. It's considered good manners to refer to yourself last, but by no means a grammatical rule.

I actually get more would up by people saying "Steve and I", when it should be "Steve and me".
 
MartynK said:
English is dynamic and has been evolving and changing for hundreds of years under various influences.
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English may well be dynamic and has change over hundreds of years. But the changes over these past twenty or so years have largely been due to poor education, bad parenting, and lazy apathetic people who look to every excuse around for their failings in life instead of getting their heads down and learning.
 
MisterE said:
English may well be dynamic and has change over hundreds of years. But the changes over these past twenty or so years have largely been due to poor education, bad parenting, and lazy apathetic people who look to every excuse around for their failings in life instead of getting their heads down and learning.
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Or you could look at a more realistic explanation, which is that the access to global audio and visual communication has hugely increased over the last 40 odd years, thus increasing the rapidity of the uptake in changes of linguistic trends.
 
photon said:
"Uni" is an abbreviation I can't stand. I'd never use "varsity", but imagine it has a similar effect on many.
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I've never heard 'varsity' used outside of university sporting events. I'd certainly be surprised if it was used in the same context as 'uni'.

Bringing up shortening of words makes me think of a glaringly obvious one that I absolutely hate...'tog' or 'togger'. Sounds absolutely horrible in my opinion.
 
neil_g said:
Grammar-Nazi-2.jpg


:p
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Nikon Nazi: http://haha.nu/consumerism/gadgets/hitler-on-nikon-d3x/

:)
 
Whilst I'm feeling grumpy, so to speak, may I also add phrases like "A quick heads up for you guys", "paradigm" and a multitude of other American/English management speak terms that to me are the verbal equivalent of fingernails scraping down a very long blackboard.

I'm feeling better now, it must be the tablets nurse brought me a while ago. :)
 
photon said:
No doubt the American influence....
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The Yanks saying 'math' instead of 'maths' drives me completely nuts. :bang::bang::bang:

So does 'rout' instead or 'route'. :bang::bang::bang: A rout is what happened at Agincourt - it's not a means of getting from A to B on a map for God's sake!

'Seperate' instead of 'separate'. :shake:
 
Ozei said:
The Yanks saying 'math' instead of 'maths' drives me completely nuts. :bang::bang::bang:
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That's one of mine too. And a trend they have in using "have" in a question and "don't" in the answer e.g. "Have you got any bread?" "No, I don't".

One of the worst Americanisms is "Do you got any bread?" Or "What do you got?"
 
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Secretaries who call themselves a "secketary".

Unless they look nice...

Broadening the subject: yoofs who have to pose as if they're in some `hood across the pond, complete with the twisted arms and hand gestures. Weren't the stupid "rabbit ears" enough to spoil a snap?
 
MisterE said:
That's one of mine too. And a trend they have in using "have" in a question and "don't" in the answer e.g. "Have you got any bread?" "No, I don't".

One of the worst Americanisms is "Do you got any bread?" Or "What do you got?"
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This is seriously getting ridiculous now.
 
Don't think I've ever noticed folk saying 'brought' when they mean 'bought', but I'm always amazed at the amount of folk who say 'loose' when they mean 'lose'. That one does my head in.

The whole there/they're/there is annoying too.
 
MisterE said:
One of the worst Americanisms is "Do you got any bread?" Or "What do you got?"
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Another one is the nonsensical use of the word 'would' - e.g. "When I would travel by air ....." instead of "When I travelled by air ....." :bang::bang::bang:
 
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