Ugh! English Bloopers!

I remember the excitement generated by Lynne Truss’s book Eats, Shoots and Leaves on the massacre of the English language in modern society.  Pedants across the world rejoiced and nodded their erudite heads approvingly.  I count myself among them. “That’ll show ‘em,” we thought.  “About time someone owned their ignorant asses.”

Here’s my list of aggravations, observed quite independently of the book, that make me grit my teeth with irritation.  I guess I’ll keep adding to it over time.

Your instead of You’re Example: “Let me know where your going”.  Common on juvie forums across the internet.

Martha and I I imagine this is a peculiarity of American speech.  Reminded often that you say “Martha and I are going there” and not “Martha and me are going there,” Americans overcompensate and use “Martha and I” everywhere.  “He invited Martha and I for dinner.”  Urgghhttt!

She has came Common Indian howler.  Since things are in the past tense, the assumption is that everything in the sentence must be, too.  Result: “The doctor has came.”

“Of” overuse We will provide as detailed of a coverage as we can,” the lady says.  I’ve heard this mostly from Americans.  I believe the correct usage is “As detailed a coverage”, and adding the extra “of” makes it sound grammatically incorrect — and silly.  Another example: “jump off of a building”, instead of “jump off a building”.   Wuh?

“Moot” misuse This is common in a lot of Indian sources. An example: “The moot question is, who is the culprit?”.  Moot means irrelevant or of no practical importance.  But reporter after reporter seems to use it with a meaning diametrically opposite.