Hi All. I’m going to step away from my normal controversy of current events and give a small English refresher. The few listed below are obviously not the entire list, but a few that especially annoy me.
10 Items or Less: It won’t make you LESS of a person to know that FEWER than 30% of people get this right. Technically, since the number of items can be measured, the appropriate word to use is fewer. Less would be used in a circumstance where the subject is not tangibly measurable.
Irregardless : The simple utterance of this word makes my blood boil. Not only does the prefix and suffix cancel each other out, it sounds ridiculous. Basically the word irregardless means the same as regard, but people who don’t seem to have a basic understanding of English language, use it as a substitute for regardless. I wonder if they know how foolish they sound, REGARDLESS of how smart they THINK they sound?
I could care less: How many people have you heard say that? Well the next time you do, ask then how and why they care. The result will be that they will look at you and say “ Did I say I cared?” To which you would say, “Indeed you did! You said you COULD care less, which indicates at least a base level of caring.” At which time they likely COULDN’T care less about you correcting their linguistic ability.
Doggy Dog World: Well unless your first name is Snoop, all this malpropism will do is make you look as smart as a dog, and you likely won’t survive in this Dog EAT Dog world.
Literally: You may LITERALLY get heckled if you misuse this word, but you’d have to find someone who caught the mis-use first. Probably one of the most misused and not oft caught words in the English language. To use it correctly, it first must have some basis is fact. For example you could say “he was so tired he literally passed out in minutes. “ This is entirely possible, and someone who is very tired could pass out in minutes. What you couldn’t say is “ He ran so fast he was literally going as fast as a train”. Nope. Nada. Not a chance. This is a figure of speech, not a literal situation.
Affect vs Effect : This only one AFFECTS me in writing, because in speech we are ignorant to the difference, and it has no adverse EFFECTS, as most pronounce them the same, although they are technically pronounced differently. Affect is a verb meaning to influence, and EFFECT is usually an outcome, as in learning better English will have a positive EFFECT on your speech, and may AFFECT how other perceive you :)
Well that’s it for today class. Professor T signing off!
