Sayings that really get me mad!

[keyholekatebaron]

I cringe every time anyone says "None of us is getting any younger"
Another I fail to understand is a building "raised to the ground".
Feel better now I've got that off my chest!
regards,keyhole kate.

[heathfield]

From ''A Dictionary of Modern English Useage'' (H.W.Fowler)
none. 1. It is a mistake to believe that the pronoun is sing. only and must at all costs be followed bt a sing. verb &c. ; the OED explicitly states that pl. construction is commoner.

[chakka35]

Same comment to you, heathfield, as I made to plautus. Fowler gives his opinion, and the OED does what all dictionaries do (I explained that last time) but neither can override simple linguistic logic.

Even if we didn't know that 'none' is short for 'not one' how can anything which signifies zero be considered plural?

[vivandorron]

Well said chakka.

I hate it when Sports commentators say things such as....Wales are playing England; The team are doing well; Manchester now have the ball; etc etc.

Ron.

[factor-fiction]

Mmm. I plumped for "None is.." but now I'm not so sure I agree with chakka35 as his/her point has made me think whether anything that signifies zero must be singular. What about the example where you say: "...we are having party tonight but no children are allowed"?

[MarkRae]

I think the problem with this one is the fact that, to lots of people, the correct usage just 'sounds' wrong.

E.g. the phrase 'none of them' ends with 'them', a plural pronoun, so people think that a plural verb should follow it, hence why they think 'none of them were there' is correct, because 'they were there' is correct.

Of course, just as many (if not more) people think that 'would of' is correct because that's what they say...

[MarkRae]

> no children are allowed

Indeed, because the word 'children' is the plural of the word 'child', hence it takes a plural verb.

[pussnboots]

I hate it when people say...."young baby" makes me imagine all the old babies.

[jd_here]

At his moment in time does my head in!

[pa___ul3]

Trim - same issue when people insist on calling chorizo "chor-eet-zo" as if it were Italian with 2 Z's, even the bloke on Come Dine With Me says it!

[GillyGee]

being a brummie the amount of people who pronounce my home city birminam and they say ( god that's another one!!) that brummies have a speech impediment lol

[MarkRae]

Paul, not to mention those who insist that bruschetta is pronounced
'broo-SHET'-a or that ciabatta is 'TSHEE-a-BAT-a.

Or, even worse, that Pavarotti's first name was 'loo-tshee-AAAAAHHHHH-no'

[Lore]

Pa__ul, I totally agree with you re: 'and he turned round and said...' One of my friends begins every sentence with it and even throws it in again on occasion.

Do you think its a regional thing?

[DTCwordfan]

The hard H gets me.....as in H-aitch

[vivandorron]

It's the silent Pee in swimming pool that bothers me.:-)

Ron.

[Bert]

Basically, it's people who begin sentences with 'basically' that annoy me. I heard a policeman on one of those 'Road Wars' type of programmes who began and ended a sentence with 'basically'. What they are saying, basically, is that you are too stupid to understand the full version, so I'll just give it to you in words you can understand.
'Actually' is similarly overused, actually.
And there's is nothing wrong with 'almost unique'. It here are only two or three of something left on the planet, then each is almost unique. What IS wrong is 'very unique' or 'more unique'.

[smart1]

this has been covered more than enough times I think - up hill and down dale!

[factor-fiction]

I hate cliches- I avoid them like the plague.

[tiggerblue10]

'You've never had it so good'! My mum has been saying that a lot lately and its really grating on me.

[Bert]

Oh! I forgot, when it comes to pronouncing Italian words, the only TV chef who pronounces 'tagliatelle' correctly is Gino D'Acampo. And then there are the people who pronounce 'machismo' as if it were an Italian word.
And we are on the point of losing 'there are' or 'there have', as almost everyone now says "there's" for 'there is' and 'there has', whether followed by a singular or a plural. I wonder if that's how French and Spanish ended up with one expression [il y a, and hay] for 'there is' and 'there are'.
A lot of people say 'brought' when they mean 'bought'. I heard Donal McIntyre say it yesterday.