And more peeves get you more

JUNE CASAGRANDE

In past columns, I’ve covered reader peeves. I’ve covered writer

peeves. I’ve even done writer’s co-workers’ peeves.

Still, the peeves keep coming.

Abuse of the English language is rampant. But annoyance at real

and perceived abuse is even more widespread. And evidence of this

annoyance keeps showing up in my e-mail inbox.

Welcome to Peeve Soup, a mishmash of leftovers and supplemental

morsels of annoyance from readers, co-workers and maybe even a few of

mine if we can get to them.

A lot of these peeves were inspired by my last column on that very

subject.

“Today you used one of my pet peeves: ‘seized on,’” a reader wrote

last month.

The reader went on to explain that seize means either to grab or

to stop working, as in “the gears seized up.”

Then I opened my Webster’s New World Dictionary and saw this at

the end of the entry: “seize on (or upon) 1) to take hold of suddenly

and forcibly, 2) to take possession of, 3) to turn eagerly to (an

idea, etc.)”

I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who gets annoyed first then

asks questions later.

Jean Wenke didn’t like my use of “went and” in the phrase, “... a

word I got right in a column last year then went and goofed up six

months later.”

“It’s something that bothers me,” Wenke wrote.

She’s right, of course. But I’ve got the bully pulpit here, so

I’ll defend my use of this colloquialism as just that and vow to

continue to use it whenever I’m so inclined in the future.

In the same column, I quoted a casual comment from my city editor,

whose choice of words didn’t sit well with reader Barbara Nielsen.

“Why in the world would a Daily Pilot city editor, Danette Goulet,

begin the suggestion to you that you reported in today’s paper with

my pet peeve: “Hey”?’

Hey, she didn’t even know she was speaking on the record, so I’ll

cut Goulet some slack.

Pam Allen hit on one that I know drives a lot of people nuts:

using the verb “to go” in place of “to say.” “For example,” Allen

wrote, “people describe conversations by using ‘he (or she) goes’ and

then adding what the person said.”

I consider that youth slang. Though this misuse is wrong and

grates my nerves, too, I try to stay away from passing judgment on

youth slang.

Often, it’s deliberate defiance of the previous generation’s rules

-- an attempt to define one’s own generation by bucking the rules.

When kids are using language wrong because no one taught them how to

use it correctly, that’s a problem. When they’re speaking the

ever-morphing language of their generation, despite knowing better,

it can be a very positive way to challenge authority and redefine the

world they will soon inherit.

That’s cool with me.

Pilot staff member Lolita Harper’s peeves include use of the word

“entitled” in place of “titled.” According to newspaper style,

“entitled” means only “deserving of” or “having a right to.” Book

editing allows its use to mean “titled.”

A lot of people challenge me on my very frequent habit of

beginning sentences with the word “and” -- a defiant little habit I

picked up in college.

“There is a widespread belief -- one with no historical or

grammatical foundation -- that it is an error to begin a sentence

with a conjunction such as ‘and,’ ‘but,’ or ‘so,’” write the authors

of the revered Chicago Manual of Style. “In fact, a substantial

percentage (often as many as 10 percent) of sentences in first-rate

writing begin with conjunctions.”

Of course, the Chicago people are the same people who seem to have

no problem with using “entitled” instead of “titled,” so feel free to

take that with a grain of salt.

In fact, I suppose the moral of this whole column is that there’s

always someone out there who would be annoyed by everything you write

or say.

Me, I can’t peeve all the people all the time. But, hey, I try.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].