I know that the English language is ever evolving (though I try in my own way to keep it from evolving into incoherency), but there are some popular phrases that just make my skin crawl. I hereby vow to never use these in any form, written or spoken:

• Across the pond
• Pout – to describe lips in general, not an actual pout
• Wow factor
• Culture vulture

Here are words and phrases that bug me because they’re actually incorrect:

• All intensive purposes (should be “intents and purposes”)
• “Incidences” to mean “incidents” (“incidence” is actually a technical word which is not pluralized)
• “Awe” as an alternate spelling of “aw” (I mean, it’s an entirely different word!).
• “Comprised of”, but I’ve talked about that one before.
• “Should of”, “would of”, etc.
• “Penultimate” to mean “the most ultimate” (it actually means “next to last” – very far from the way it’s commonly used, which is a shame because it’s a great word).
• “Reoccuring”

Posted in Language.