Linguistic Pet Peeves

Nurses General Nursing

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Okay, y'all. In spite of what some people will say, your use of language will influence what people think of you, and how intelligent and/or competent they think you are.

My current number one: You don't LOOSE your license, you lose it. (If your license is loose, you need to capture it...)

Don't even get me started on loosing YOU'RE license...

What are other some other linguistic "nails on chalkboard" for folks?

"Could care less."

I tried to explain how this was incorrect to someone in very basic terms - if you could care less, you would...and he still didn't get it.

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Plural vs. possessive ...I may be a dunce at math, but English is my bag, baby 

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"Could of". I just want to punch the person in the face.

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Specializes in school nurse.
Y'all is not a word, or even a proper contraction.

...used casually to illustrate that linguistic pet peeves do not have to mean one writes like a stick is stuck up one's buttocks. Is your post meant to provide EBP support for the adjective in your user name?

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Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.
meanmaryjean said:
Y'all is not a word, or even a proper contraction.

I love you, meanmaryjean but I must protest.

Y'all - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I do use y'all in speech and informal writing.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

OK- I get it. But the post was about pet peeves, and y'all is mine. And wikipedia is an anonymously sourced internet site- not EBP!

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Specializes in school nurse.
meanmaryjean said:
OK- I get it. But the post was about pet peeves, and y'all is mine. And wikipedia is an anonymously sourced internet site- not EBP!

And what are your thoughts about "all y'all"?

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Specializes in Private Duty Pediatrics.

So a lot of people, like, don't know how to write well, ya know?

It's hard to wade through a bunch of extra words that say nothing. I especially don't understand why so many people start their post with, "So".

I also find it tiring to read a post that does not use paragraphs or capitals.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

True story: In my previous life- I had a part-time gig grading papers for a university nursing program. I thought I had seen it all until I graded a paper that used 'b/c' for 'because' and 'd/t' for 'due to'.

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Specializes in Private Duty Pediatrics.
Jedrnurse said:
And what are your thoughts about "all y'all"?

"All y'all" is the plural of "Y'all". 

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Nauseous is the word for something that causes nausea. Spoiled milk is nauseous.

Nauseated is the word for someone experiencing nausea. A patient can be nauseated.

YAY! Someone else who knows the proper use of nauseous/nauseated!

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Y'all is not a word, or even a proper contraction.

Y'all is a proper pronoun here in the south. :)

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