Whine List #1

I think I’ll do an occasional whine list on my blog. That way poor hubby won’t get the brunt of my complaints. I’ll just cast my whines on the blog. So here’s the first one:

WORDS & PHRASES

When I was a kid in school, I had English teachers who demanded we speak and write correctly.

Now, I’m not the world’s best at this, but I do try. And with our ‘Cup publications going out to the world, we strive to do it right.

I know I do and say a lot of stuff wrong—including typing my emails in all lower case, simply because it’s easier to type that way. Probably drives some people crazy.

But there are some things being said and done nowadays (even on TV news reporting) that really get under my skin. And I’ll bet my English teacher, Mrs. McWhirter, would have plenty of red marks on THIS essay, but here goes.

“Going northbound”
This should be either “northbound” or “going north” –it’s redundant to say both.

“We are so happy to have he and his wife…”
The easy way to tell whether to use he or him is to drop the rest of the sentence. You wouldn’t say “We are so happy to have he.” You say, “We are happy to have HIM.” So to say it all correctly: “We are so happy to have him and his wife.”

“The gift was for my husband and I."
It’s still the same problem. I or me. Same rule as above applies. Drop the other person, “The gift was for I” or “The gift was for me.” Decide which sounds better, and then put the other person in without changing the rest of the sentence.

Fill vs. feel
I know this one is more of a southern pronunciation thing. It just sounds funny when I’m asked to “feel the cup” when it was really meant to be “fill the cup.” On the other hand, when I’m asked, “How do you fill?” I’m tempted to say, “With my fingers."

Alright vs all right
I was taught it was two words: all right. But I guess enough people misspelled it and now it is accepted as a proper spelling. (I wonder what Mrs. McWhirter would think of this.)

AM / PM
When you say “It starts at 3pm in the afternoon” you are being redundant. Again. You need only say PM or afternoon since both mean the same thing. Perhaps it would be better said, “It starts at 3 o’clock in the afternoon” or “It starts at 3PM.” Same goes for AM…it means morning. Actually 12 midnight to 12 noon is AM; 12 noon to 12 midnight is PM.

Bring vs take
When to say which one…my daughter is totally confused over this one, along with thousands of other folks. It's simple: You bring it here and take it there. “Take your umbrella with you today, it looks like rain.” (Not bring.) “Bring your whole family!” means I’m inviting you to come from where you are to where I am. Why does everyone use “bring” in all those situations?

I’m sure there are more words and phrases I could list here, but I am getting too whiny.

What are your words and phrases complaints? Let's share and whine together!