I call them my GUPPies. They are my Grammatical and Usage Pet Peeves. And that was one: an acronym that is supposed to be memorable, but is lame instead.
An example of a good acronym: The DREAM Act, the federal legislation that provides temporary residency to undocumented residents who arrived in the United States as minors. The acronym says it better than the words it represents: Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors.
Here’s another peeve of mine: The extraneous use of “pre.” Examples include pre-planned, pre-recorded, pre-packaged. What would these words lose if they had no prefix at all?
Some people will apologize for their grammatical errors, saying that they made them “on accident.” That’s another of my peeves. We do things “on purpose” and “by accident,” not the other way around.
Then, usually by accident, some people create bizarre words, or maybe just badly mispronounce words that already exist. That gets my GUPP. Examples: supposably (for supposedly), simular (similar), athalete (athlete), irregardless (regardless), perscription (prescription), probly (probably), and, worst of all, libary (library).
Another of my GUPPies is unnecessary redundancy. Unnecessary redundancy is an example. So are these: past (history), (very) unique, cooperate (together), (exact) same, (final) outcome, GRE (exam), ATM (machine), ACT (test), (live) studio audience, (personal) opinion, (regular) routine, (sum) total, tuna (fish), and whether (or not). Using those parenthetical words makes no (logical) sense.
My No. 1 GUPP is the misuse of the word “hopefully.” People will use it this way: “Hopefully, the Wildcats will win another NCAA Championship.” What they mean is, “I hope the Wildcats win….” Hopefully is an adverb meaning “in a hopeful manner.” So the team may play hopefully, Coach Calipari may coach hopefully, and the fans may cheer hopefully. We all hope the team will win.
I am hopeful that I have made my peeves clear. Send me yours and I’ll post them in an upcoming column.
Neil Chethik, aka the Grammar Gourmet, is executive director at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning (www.carnegie literacy.org) and author of FatherLoss and VoiceMale. The Carnegie Center offers writing classes and seminars for businesses and individuals. Contact Neil at neil@ carnegiecenterlex.org or (859) 254-4175.