Peeved, Anyone?

I know there are more important things to be concerned with (like war, poverty, starvation, etc.), but has anyone noticed the amount of erroneous words and phrases making their way into the English language and, in some cases, the dictionary?

As always, I’m not claiming that I’m perfect; we all make mistakes here and there. After all, the English language is one of THE most challenging languages to learn and understand. I’m pretty sure I’ll die without ever really knowing the difference between “awhile” and “a while.”

But isn’t there at least one person in your life who ALWAYS says “supposably” in conversation or writes “then” instead of “than” in their emails and it secretly drives you insane? The first time it happens you think it’s a simple mistake, but then you realize the person does this all the time and yet you don’t ever correct him/her.

Believe it or not, I think I fall somewhere in the middle when it comes to opinions on this. While I do find myself getting highly annoyed by certain misspellings, misuses and mispronunciations, I’ve met some people who are much more unforgiving. (I guess I have to be more forgiving, though, because I haven’t come close to mastering the language myself. For example, even though I know they’re incorrect, I still say “gonna” and “a whole nother.”)

Getting back to my point, it’s recently come to my attention that some mistakes, when made often enough, eventually become widely accepted. Thus beginning the dumbing down of America!

Below is a list of mistakes that truly aggravate me. Some of them can actually be found in the dictionary, but others cannot (yet). I’ve left out some of the most common annoyances such as the misuse of the apostrophe. Again, I’m not saying I’m perfect. In fact, I encourage you to call me out on my own mistakes! Please post a comment as I’d prefer NOT to look like an idiot, thank you.

Irregardless
Yes it was listed, but thankfully http://www.dictionary.com/ has this to say about the word:

Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

Revert back
From the Department of Redundancy Department. The definition of revert is “to go back” so to say “revert back” is redundant. Leave “revert” alone.

Supposably
After doing some research, I’ve learned that supposably is an adverb, but it’s often used incorrectly in place of supposedly (this is what I find annoying). Apparently supposably can be used only when the meaning is 'capable of being supposed,' and then only in the U.S.

Expresso
No “x.” Just espresso. Make sure you get it right the next time you’re in Starbucks (or, better yet, an independent coffee house - hopefully your town has one).

Here are some phrases…

“I could care less.”
Oh, so you’re saying you COULD care less? That means you somewhat care. The correct phrase is “I could not care less.”

Vice-a Versa
There’s no “a” people; it’s just vice versa! As in “Miami Vice” or “I want to put my head in a vice when people say this incorrectly.”

“I feel nauseous.”
Nauseous means causing nausea or sickening so you are basically saying that you feel you make others sick. Next time say “I feel nauseated.”

“How does it look like?"
This may only be common among non-native English speakers (if that’s the case then I will be much more understanding) but you should be saying “What does it look like?” or “How does it look?”

And some common misspellings…

Definately – incorrect
Definitely – correct

Reccommend – incorrect
Recommend – correct

Seperate – incorrect
Separate – correct

Grammer – incorrect
Grammar – correct

Alot – incorrect
A lot - correct

So those are just a few of mine…what would you add to this list??