your you're to too grrrrrrrrr!

[timwoowoo]

why do so few people, lots around AB, seem not too know the difference between your and you're? is it to much trouble too learn in the first place? You're answers are welcome.
(please don't pick me up on my mistakes they are a joke or possibly hyperbole )

[Buenchico]

It also irritates me to see "your" and "you're" mixed up.

However, we have to accept that English is constantly changing, and also that many changes come from the United States.

On UK message boards "your", as short for "you are", is still unacceptable by those who treasure the English language. However, US message boards seem to be accepting "your" as a suitable abbreviation. I predict that it will eventually be accepted by US educators and, later, by the OED.

As an analogy, most Brits still refer to a TV "programme" but happily accept that PC software is a "program". I wonder how long it will be before we accept the US spelling universally?

Chris

PS: Slightly off-topic, but I do find that spelling errors can conjure up some interesting pictures in my mind. At the school I used to teach at, there was a filing cabinet drawer labelled "PE stationary". Now that really is a whole new concept in education ;-)

[jno]

'tis but a way station on the road to acceptability for UR

[spudqueen]

I agree timwoowoo, also were for where, aloud for allowed (recently seen on AB), of for off, there for their etc etc etc

[Solarjunkie]

I believe it is something to do with people thinking about how the word sounds, not how it looks. There is a sort of quiz I have seen that asks you to count the number of "f"s in a passage. Some people do not count the ones in "of" because it sounds like "v". Same kind of thing I suppose.

Running about equal with "your welcome" is "loose the way". Easily done, if you think how you pronounce "hose" it is no wonder that "lose" so often gains another "o".

[kettledrum]

My personal bete noire is could of, should of, would of. I think the problem is that grammar is no longer taught in schools, so people spell phonetically with no thought for the meaning.

[taichiperson]

I complained a while ago about 'nothink', which is not just said by people who really ought to know better (ie BBC newscasters), but is also spelt the same. One might expect certain people to say 'nuffink', but it's so annoying to see it spelt incorrectly too. Perhaps it's all down to the autocue writers? It seems well on the way to universal acceptance.

[Aschenbach]

I'm most irked at the moment by people who try to add particular emphasis to their point with 'definately' which serves only to emphasize their lack own of education.

Also anyone who thanks you for your 'advise' is unlikely to have been really listening.

[Aschenbach]

Hope you like myabove ironic joke about lack of education.

(definately intended it was)

[gen2]

There was a shop near me selling 'Wedding Stationary' (sic). It obviously wasn't going anywhere because it closed down last month!

[jno]

I believe stationery shops were originally ones that settled down in a particular area - around the printing quarter, which in London was St Paul's - rather than going round the country to all the fairs and market days. Somewhere along the line the word acquired two spellings. So maybe modern writers are just reuniting them.

[chakka35]

As one who was involved in the early days of electronic digital computers I can tell you that it was a deliberate and considered decision to use 'program' in the computer field so as to distinguish it from 'programme' everywhere else.

[beryllium]

Are we loose or lose? lol...

[Suzyboo]

Had an email last week from my team leader about A level marking record forms asking that if we hadn't already, to send "your's" and my pet hate is when people abbreviate et cetera as ect thus showing that they actually have no idea what it is short for!

[Narolines]

Pretty close, Jno; "stationery" dates from as early as the 14th century. At that time most retailers were itinerant or market traders, and of the few permanent shops that existed the majority were booksellers. Hence "stationery" was stuff you bought from such a permanently stationed shop. The Company of Stationers, a Livery Company looking after the interests of the sellers of books and writing materials, was founded in the 16th century. However, that does not excuse the confusion between the "-ery" of the noun and the "-ary" of the adjective. (I know you weren't suggesting it did!)

[Ethel]

People stick 'of' in very strange places - get off of my chair, for example.
That makes my toes curl.

As does 'loose the dog out'.

[THECORBYLOON]

Many folk pronounce "lose" to rhyme wi "hose" and "dose" and if folk pronounce the "h" in words such as "when,""where," "white" and "whale" their ability to spell will improve.

[Narolines]

"Hose" and "dose" don't rhyme with each other in the first place......."hose" and "doze" do.....

[THECORBYLOON]

Scots folk pronounce "dose" to rhyme wi "hose."

[timwoowoo]

Thanks all for lively debate, I posted this and then wasn't around to join in.

I always remember being told stationery has an e for envelope, nice and easy but is it pronounced en-velope or on-velope? My dad always said on-velope but then he was of a generation that also said an 'otel and indeed wrote an hotel.

I find 'phone naked without the apostrophy but phone seem to be okay these days.

[fairkatrina]

Damn all this descriptivist "let's let language evolve" nonsense - rules regulate the fun! Prescriptivism all the way baby!!! I personally carry a piece of chalk in my handbag so that whenever I go into a pub I can correct their "Quiz on Tuesday's" notices, but maybe that's going a bit far...