A pet peeve is defined as an annoyance that involves complaints about specific actions or behaviors of others.
In other words, a pet peeve is something that irritates us.
Everyone has a pet peeve; some of us have more than one.
My pet peeve is when people use bad grammar in spoken or written communication.
I read it and hear it nearly everyday.
I try to ignore it but listening to someone misuse my mother tongue is ear-wrenching and it grates on my nerves; it's like the sound of fingernails scraping on a chalkboard.
Some of my "favorite" misuses of words in the English language are that of affect and effect, supposedly vs.
supposebly; me, myself and I, who and whom, the incorrect usage of "literally", literally; and the list goes infinitely on and on.
But I'd have to say my biggest pet peeve is the misaying of "you're" vs.
"your".
Seemingly, an overwhelmingly large part of the population does not understand the difference between the two yet surprisingly, the biggest abusers come from politicians, PR people, movie stars, lawyers, television and screenwriters, talk show hosts, and specialists of our language; educators, journalists, editors and professional speakers.
"You're" is always always always a contraction of "you are" and "your" is possessive and means belonging to you.
For example, "You're" a good person" or "you are" a good person".
"Your" hair looks pretty not "you're" (you are) hair looks pretty.
As I typed that last sentence, the grammar button on my laptop was feverishly trying to correct me.
In the grand scheme of things, with all the adversities in the world, perhaps this pet peeve may seem illogical but I do not understand how intelligent educated people, who know or should know better, continually misuse the English language? I especially hear improper use of "you're" and "your" in commercials, on television shows, in movies, in the songs we listen to; lectures, campaign speeches and everyday conversation, and I read it in books, magazines and newspapers.
I am not a self-appointed defender of the English language; at least that's what I keep saying to remind myself that I am writing about pet peeves; not language.
As the old saying goes, "Judge not lest you be judged" but sadly we are often judged by the way we speak.
I'm not talking about speaking too fast or too slow, or about dialects, inflections and accents.
The plain truth is that you are often judged by how you master the use of your (not you're) language.
So what can be done about bad grammar? People don't like being corrected, they don't appreciate constructive criticism and they will label you a language snob! I'm sure in this writing I have made a few grammatical faux pas but I do try to make a conscious effort to use the right words when I write and when I speak.
I am baffled as to why it seems to be difficult to write correctly and speak properly so I did a little research.
I was told by a few that "your" flows better off the tongue than "you're" so can the misuse of these two words be attributed to laziness or is bad grammar mimicked? Some said it was a "bad habit", "freedom of speech" and my favorite, "creative license".
Supposebly we could debate this issue for hours, literally, and some would agree that the use of bad grammar is an important issue while some would argue that they don't care as long as the point was made.
I guess it's time for me to step down from my proverbial soapbox lest I be accused of ranting, nit picking and being a snob.
Maybe my pet peeve doesn't bother others like it bothers me but I refuse to believe that people really enjoy reading and hearing the English language being butchered or perhaps I is wrong and the days of people using good grammar are went!!!!