Caren describes one of my usage pet peeves. Right on.

(Some other (mis-)usage pet peeve of mines: decimate, nauseous, imply/infer, less/fewer, disinterested, chaise longue, bemuse.)

(All cites above from this great page.)

It's so much fun being pedantic.

Comments

[Mark Hasty]

It's nice to know I'm using bemusement properly. But how come I can never get 'that' and 'which' straight?

[monk]

A few of my pet peeves: when people use the word 'nonplussed' to mean the exact opposite of what it means, and when people use 'literally' when they mean 'to a great extent': "He literally let the cat out of the bag". Oh, and "White supremist". It's 'supremacist', godammit!

[antigeist]

An evening with me would drive you mad. I'm a famous language mangler. However, enough of a hypocrite that it pisses me off when other people do it. I mean, they're just wrong...I'm a neologist. *laughing*

My #1 peeve? Irregardless. That one, tied with those who put "er" on the end of words that should have "more" or "less" in front of them. As in "uncomfortabler." Or God forbid, both: These new chairs are more uncomfortabler than the old chairs.

[Ayelet]

How 'bout "a whole 'nother." That one drives me up the freakin' WALL!

Here's another great site for us word geeks:

http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/mispron.html

[Vidiot]

Oh yeah, "literally" is one that gets misused all the time. My boss said that someone "literally hit the roof" a while back. I had to keep myself from blurting out "This I gotta see!"

And heck, AG, I've spent evenings with you and it wasn't bad. Besides, misusing these things in print is a whole 'nother level of annoyance (oops!) than in casual conversation.

And I'm a hypocrite too. (But not, as one local newspaper recently spelled it, a hypercrite.)

[Seo]

Can someone plesae describe and/or post a link to the gag bit and mule bit? Ive heard a lot of different bits called these names so I just want to see what is being referred to in this thread.I understand spurs on walk trotters I was one of those kids who had to have fenders cut on western saddles to make the stirrups short enough and whos legs barely passed the flap of a hunt saddle LOL! So I get it. Especially because most of the true, safe walk-trot horses out there are lazy!A braided snaffle rein is frowned upon in a hunt eq class? Ive never heard of that one. And I dont see it in the rulebook (but then again Im not looking really hard). Is it just one of those unwritten rules? I always had a braided snaffle rein and a plain curb rein when I rode hunt eq. :-/ Hmm Ok, seeing formal saddle seat attire before 6pm BUGS ME!!! Riding saddleseat eq I never would have dared to enter the ring in formal attire before 6pm. Championship or not. Even today I wouldnt dare (not that I have a saddleseat horse anymore) entering say a Ladies class or Am class before 6pm with a tophat on my head. No way. Heck, I still tape my gloves LOL! Eq had a lasting impression on me Is the formal shirt with regular hunt coats a newer thing? Ive never noticed it. I think its just another way to spice up the dreary old hunt ring. I know a lot of people are against the light coats/dark jods thing, but as long as the colors dont clash with the horse, I think it can look nice. I dont own any dark jods, but I own a light colored coat. I get A LOT of compliments on it; its on of my favorites. Two of my pet peeves with hunt: Funky colored jods (purple, etc) and black saddle pads. I hope Im not offending anyone who uses/used a black pad, but I think they look terrible. Id rather see a hunt horse with no saddle pad than a black saddle pad. Bleh.