31 March 2008

My Top Spelling Pet Peeve

"It's" is the contraction of "it is."

"Its" is the possessive form of "it."

"It's" and "its." It's its own spelling nightmare.

23 comments:

Nathan said...

I must drive you batshit crazy. I'm pretty sure I mix those two up all the time.

MWT said...

Trust me, it's rampant amongst the entire UCF community, and beyond. o.O

Anonymous said...

Mine is people who make a plural with an apostrophe ess rather than properly.. like peeve's rather than peeves.

I hope I don't do its/it's... aside from embarrassing comment typos I tend to be a spelling/grammar taskmistress myself.

Megadeus said...

You should've posted the mnemonic you told me. That's how I stopped getting them wrong.

Its is like his or hers. It shows possession, just like they do. Note how they do not have apostrophes.

Random Michelle K said...

It's a contraction.

That's how I remember.

Unfortunately, doesn't help me stop making typos.

Shawn Powers said...

I think I'm pretty careful with it too. "Then" and "than" really tweak my melon though... Ugh.

MWT said...

Megadeus: I was going to but I couldn't remember what I'd said. And I also told bakho something completely different (which I also can't remember). ;)

Nathan said...

Well if Shawn is going to start airing his peeves...

"I could care less"

If that's the case, it doesn't mean what you think it means.

MWT said...

OMFG I hate that one too. "It's couldn't dammit!" Unfortunately, trying to correct people's grammar while they're actually saying it ... tends to make them even madder ... >.>

MWT said...

Also: "irregardless" is still not a word. :p

vince said...

While irregardless is a double negative, I find it odd that the word (or non-word) irritates so many people. Other double negatives, such as debone (means the same as bone) and unravel (means the same as ravel) don't seem to arouse much, if any, such passion.

Nathan said...

But then there's flammable and inflammable...which are both acceptable. Pisses me right off. Pick one and let me hold my nose at the other. Either one. I don't care.

Tania said...

Congradulations. The next time I see congradulations I'm going to commit property damage.

Anonymous said...

rouge when they mean rogue *sigh*

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

The effect of an affect is awfully effective, specially when it leads to affection.

John the Scientist said...

I take "flammable" to be stuff like wood or alcohol that can burn.

"Inflammmable" to me means stuff like ether that starts burning if you look at it funny. But that may be usage of chemistry that does not carry over to everyday usage.

John the Scientist said...

"signifigant"

Common misspelling where I come from becuase that's how they actually say the word. (Right Anne?)

And the "could care less" is the most egregious because it's not just ignorance of grammar, which is a convention, it's evidence of a complete lack of logical thinking.

Nathan said...

To keep feeding the fire and fanning the flames, I submit that anyone who says they're "going to the liberry" shouldn't bother.

And John, I can live with your distinction between flammable and inflammable.

MWT said...

According to Dictionary.com, the original word was "inflammable" - meaning "can become inflamed." Then modern day chemistry/technical uses came into play, and They decided that the "in" in front might make people think that the stuff wasn't able to become inflamed, so they took it off for those uses.

I'd not seen "ravel" before, only "unravel." Dictionary.com explains: '1582, "to untangle, unwind," also "to become tangled or confused" (1585), from Du. ravelen "to tangle, fray, unweave," from rafel "frayed thread." The seemingly contradictory senses of this word (ravel and unravel are both synonyms and antonyms) are reconciled by its roots in weaving and sewing: as threads become unwoven, they get tangled.'

"deboned" makes more sense to me than "boned" because you're removing the bones from the creature. It's sort of like how "deplane" also makes quasi-sense (exitting an aircraft).

I've also seen "dethaw" - but generally that just gets laughed at. As should "irregardless" in my opinion. :p

John the Scientist said...

My usual retort to "I could care less" is "Oh really? How much less?"

Confuses the crap out of 'em.

Random Michelle K said...

I think it's actually useful, depending upon your emphasis.

As in
"I could care less."
"How much?"
"Not a whole lot, but there's a tiny bit there. About the size of my blackened, shriveled heart."

Tom said...

"Sleep, that knits up the raveled sleeve of care."

- Shakespear, "Macbeth"