Pet Peeves - The List Is So Long!

I used to drive my friends (and relatives) nuts by constantly correcting them when they hit upon my pet peeves, mostly about English usage. This had to be most irritating to them, so if I wanted to be invited to parties and even Christmas dinner, I had to learn to temper my urge to play the know-it-all. I said "temper"; I did not say that I have been totally successful.

So rather than have these peeves push up my blood pressure, I thought I'd share a few things that drive me crazy. I know I should worry about much more important stuff but sometimes I just can't help myself. I apologize (again) to those I correct or chide with these vastly unimportant and vacuous items.

Does it bother anyone else that it seems there are a lot more TV ads these days where the sales huckster yells instead of just talks calmly? That guy Billy Mays hawking various products drives me to mash the MUTE button so much I may break my TIVO control. I would like to "KaBoom" him.

Another ad peeve of mine is those grossly unprofessional ads done locally with the actual staff of the car dealership or jewelry store, or whatever. They do some inane skit and then usually end with the whole cast speaking in unison. Spend a little more and hire an ad agency, please. It will do wonders for your business and they won't have a cast of thousands, all yelling "Come to Boastfull Chevrolet where the deals are Best!!!!!!"

My real peeves have to do with the abomination of the English language. McDonald's has begun to educate the masses on hunger "pangs" not hunger "pains" as some are wont to use. I am not perfect but I know that "irregardless" is not a word, and that Realtor (a person who sells REAL Estate) is pronounced REAL-TOR, not REE-Letter.

I also know that "importantly" is an adverb which modifies a verb, so that you cannot say "most importantly" because you can't modify a superlative. OK, I admit, that one's a little esoteric and although it grates on me, it is not nearly as bad as REE-Letter.

Speaking of esoteric, and one fight that I know I won't win is the use of FORTE to mean roughly, "what one has a talent for, or is good at" (Hey look at me, ending my phrases in prepositions -maybe there's hope yet). The correct pronunciation is simply FORT, not For-TAY as so many say. There is no accent mark above the "e" so it is not For-TAY, but common usage has now made that pronunciation acceptable. But if I said, "English usage is my FORT", I would get looks of scorn, so rather than having to explain this to the ignorant masses, I do not use the word at all (So there).

And finally for today I will end with this mind numbing comment I heard the other day. "The staff interviewed over 1000 people for this study, 55% of them women, and 45% men." Wow, were there other choices?