**Begin Rant**
I have many pet peeves. One of which--I think most of you already know--is the blatant disrespect for the English language that has become so rampant in our day and age.
Seriously. It's downright shameful. I realize, of course, that I'm not an expert. However, I think I have enough experience and knowledge to allow me a few occasional rants when the need arises.
However, one sin that grates against my nerves, sets my teeth on edge, and makes me want to straight up B@#&H slap people is that no one seems to know the difference between the words: "further" and "farther". No one. It's as though they think the two words are interchangeable! It's not even that they think there's only one word--they USE both of them, they just don't seem to realize that THEY. ARE. DIFFERENT.
You will now sit still and take notes while I tell you why.
The word "farther" refers to PHYSICAL DISTANCE.
Example: "Wow. That house is much farther across that corn field than I was thinking it was."
Or even: "I think I need to move farther away from the city."
Are we clear now? Good. Moving on...
The word "further" refers to a measure of degree--such as how far along you are in a process, etc.
Example: "I think this relationship can go much further if we are honest with each other."
Or maybe: "My skills extend much further than the kitchen. I am also a great dancer."
Got it? Different words. NOT interchangeable.
I can't tell you the number of times when I've heard people--on television, in writing, and in person--who have--IN THE SAME BREATH--flip flopped back and forth between these two words. "Let's go further along this path before we take a rest, I noticed that we've walked a lot farther than we were expecting--but let's just go a bit further."
**(Eye twitching)** DIE!!! DIE IN A HOLE!!! **Deep Breath**
It's time to educate the world, because I'm tired of listening to crap like this. These people are only embarrassing themselves--and the human race.
So...spread the word, my friends. Let's save the world from itself, shall we? Thank you for your support. I know I can count on you.
**End Rant**
I have to admit. I get those mixed up sometimes. I feel your pain though. I get annoyed when people mix up "imply" and "infer" and stuff like that, or they only understand a word like "argument" in the very narrow sense of people bickering and fighting.
ReplyDeleteMostly it just bothers me when people are very sloppy with their words. Like you get people on the net who call people "pretentious" whenever they think someone sounds smarter than them.
Honestly, it's an easy mistake to make. But seriously, it's just kind of grated on my nerves for a while and it was time to rant a bit.
DeletePeople have just stopped trying to understand words before they use them. That is what really bothers me.
The one that I run across most frequently is people who don't know the difference between 'then' & 'than'. I see this used incorrectly by the sales manager at the company I work for to newspaper articles on a consistent basis. There are tons of others that I could go on about, but this is your blog, not mine.
ReplyDeleteEeewwww!!! I HATE that one!!! It seems so simple, but apparently it's just too much for some people.
DeleteOh, and you can rant as much as you want on my blog. Heck, you can write a guest post if you want. I'd be thrilled to publish it. :)
Affect and effect are ones that I see used interchangable as well. *blows raspberries at those people*
ReplyDeleteI agree! Can't people at least TRY to figure out why those words are SPELLED DIFFERENTLY? They're different words, that's why!!!
Delete*Blows more raspberries at those people, because they totally deserve it!*
Hone and home are ones I screw up all the time. I guess (and I'm still learning this) you don't "hone" in on something, you "home" in on it. At least according to my copyeditors.
ReplyDeleteSide note: I would make a terrible copyeditor.
Oh, that's something new for me to learn! Look at you teaching me stuff! You're awesome. :)
DeleteMaybe my friends are smarter than most, but I haven't heard many people mix up further and farther. I bet that would be annoying. I can't stand it when people mix up "where" and "were" when typing. One blog I follow ALWAYS posts things like "so my girlfriend and I where going to the store. We where in the candy section, and..." ...and kill yourself. You're 30 years old. You should KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.
ReplyDeleteSpelling errors always get my goat. I can be a bit of a jerk about it...
Delete