Like Nails On A Chalkboard

"People who say that small things don't bother them have never slept in a room with a mosquito."
~Dennis Rainey~

I have several pet peeves but the one that causes me the most irritation - and it's only an irritation as opposed to making me angry or causing me to wipe someone from my life - is obvious bad grammar and the written word that is a wrong spelling of the correct word.  Confused?  Okay, for example, when someone writes "their" when they're talking about a place drives me nuts!

As for the grammar, I totally get it that not everyone knows when to use who or whom (I certainly don't!) or not to end a sentence with a preposition.  When I hear "what did you do that for?" or "where are you at?" I know they should be "why did you do that?" and "where are you?".  Those examples don't bother me so much.  It is EXACTLY like nails on a chalkboard, however, when I hear "I done that" or "I seen it".

Of all the things I hear that have the 'nails on a chalkboard' affect on me, the absolute worse is when someone uses "that" when they should be using "who".  Example?  Glad you asked!  When someone says "he's the one that did it" or "she's the one that wanted it" I mentally correct the "that" to "who" but keep my mouth shut. People are not things and therefore shouldn't be spoken about as if they were.  You wouldn't say 'that's the car who I want" would you?  Of course not!

And names - oh my gosh, it makes my skin crawl when I see "Michael" written as "Micheal".  I understand there are more ways than one to spell some names but not all of them.  I guess that one bothers me more than some others because it's my son's name.  My other son is Matthew and I don't care to see it spelled "Mathew" but I know that's a variation and not an incorrect spelling.

And then there's my name - Frances.  Did you notice that it's spelled with an "e"?  I absolutely hate it when someone spells it with an "i" and will not hesitate to correct them if I can.  I tell people all the time - e is for hErs and i is for hIs. I wish I had some cute little ditty like that to teach people to spell my son's name correctly.

Okay, in the grand scheme of things, all of this is as unimportant as a gnat.  I certainly don't judge the kind of person someone is by the grammar they use.  And I don't make a habit of correcting people because, well, like I said, it's totally unimportant in the grand scheme of things.  I recognize that it's my idiosyncrasy and has nothing to do with the other person.  Some people who I love dearly use some of  these examples every day but it doesn't diminish their value in my eyes.  It's people who matter - not grammar.  The world is not going to end because someone that doesn't care about grammar don't use it good.  (OUCH!  That hurt and took some self-control not to correct! lol)

Just a little ditty about a pet peeve by me... FrancEs  :D