(slightly OT) My latest internet pet hate

My pet hate on forums is people moaning about others' lack of punctuation, typing errors etc. Slap in the middle of a post about a TV programme.

Do spelling and punctuation forum users have a moan about a crap TV programme slap in the middle of a post about exclamation marks?

We haven't all graduated from Oxford University with a BA Honours Degree in English Language.

You are right in saying this error results in mishearing/ mispronunciation. However, it is a grammatical error... since when has "of" been a verb?

Putting "should have/ would of", makes as much sense as putting "should from/ would from"-- or any other preposition for that matter! If you think about "should/would/could of" literally, it doesn't make sense at all semantically

You don't have to have a BA Hons in English Literature from Oxbridge to write/ speak an adequate standard of English language. I don't have an Oxbridge degree in English, and I write a decent standard of English (I hope!). Admittedly I am a cr*p typer at times

It's funny how students who study English as a foreign language, often have a much better standard of written/spoken language than native speakers

Remember that a uniform language is a bedrock of civilisation.

Blimey, rant over-- time for me to drink some hot-chocolate I think...

I was saying more of, I wasn't saying it wasn't a gramatical error. I can imagine one person thought one pronounced 'should've' as 'should have', and people copied this person. i think what i'm saying is, it develloped by someone mishearing, and writing something down, because of audible similarity—as opposed to someone struggling where to put words in a 'string' of a sentence.

anyway, I don't like this interupting a thread about a given topic, then someone pointing out a spelling error. If it does its purpose—which is to communicate an idea—what is the problem‫

The only reason i'm talking about grammar in this post, is because the thread is abou grammar.

I wasn't meaning to have a go at you personally, sorry if it came across that way Rob

I think we should should blame the Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Romans, Normans, Tudors (great vowel shift), Victorians (imposing Latin rules on English) and Americans for our inconsistent language/punctuation. William Shakespeare and the Celts play their part too.

Perhaps the biggest single culprit is Samuel Johnson, compiler of the first proper English dictionary. It is because of his carelessness and inconsistent spelling we have "deceit" verses "receipt", amongst others!

Good idea blame Mr Johnson.

What with there, their and they're. Your and you're. Dropping 'e' and doubling constants to add 'ing' and 'i' before 'e' except after 'c' when rhyming with god know what no bloody wonder we're confused.

I love how English makes no sense. It makes me feel superior to foreigners.

Says the guy who uses a hyphen instead of a dash.

A space after a forward slash, really? Tut tut.

Rob Del Monte wrote : Some of the answers on' Yahoo!Answers' is very bad! I defend wikipedia.

Hymagumba wrote : I don't think you're the type to lecture anyone on correct punctuation.

...or grammar!

Yep.. well spotted. I've edited it now. Least my username begins with a capital letter

That Samuel Johnson has a lot to answer for

I have good spelling and grammar! Even T.V. Forum made that same mistake (on that error message!)! I fired my inverted comma to soon (and before the space.). One of my pints was that this isn't an essay. There isn't a need to have perfect grammar, or punctuation or spelling, imo, so long as it communicates its purpose.

Roger Mellie, no personal attack was taken !

Did you mean "too soon"?


Did you mean "my points"?