Have you noticed how some people use the word couple without its companion of? It never sounds right to me so I checked a few places and it seems to have appeared only in the past couple of years. According to Organization Monkey, “I’ll be away a couple days” is not traditional but it is not incorrect.
I’m on the side of Everything Language and Grammar however, which says “This grammar error seems to be one of the most pervasive in grammar history…… couple of is ALWAYS the correct expression in ANY type of writing or speaking, not just formal. Couple is not slang or colloquial or conversational English; it’s just plain wrong, and we should stop making excuses for using poor grammar."
Do you have a couple of language pet peeves?
anyways - I have a friend that uses that all (of?) the time. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou don't hear that much in the UK - I think it's mainly a US thing and yes, it annoys me (just as 'enjoy!' without an object is becoming very common and I actually find myself using it when I feel it's what people are used to!)
ReplyDeleteOne of my pet peeves is when people use 'I' instead of 'me', thinking they are being very 'grammatically correct'ie to show that they know that 'me and my mum...' is incorrect so they say, for instance, 'he left all his money to my sister and I' :( That one really makes me wince!
ReplyDeleteI've got more pet peeves than you can count! One that drives me bananas is the misuse of the reflexive pronoun. It has become common for educated people who should know better to use "myself" instead of "me".
ReplyDeleteBarbara – one of my pet peeves is the use of the word “product” to mean any number of items when it should be plural. You hear it all the time. I’ll be in the hair dressers and she’ll ask “do you need any product?” as in, shampoo, spray, etc. Have you noticed this? I want to scream when I hear it. Love your blog.
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