Worst spelling/grammar

02/14/2008 Justin S. says:

I think I'm going two start intentionally including more errors.

02/14/2008 Jason "Sheriff John Stone" C. says:

Justin,

Yoo shud konsidr teh rhamuphukashuns uv yir akshuns if yoo doo taht :)

02/14/2008 Jim "Buckin' a Bale of Hay" B. says:

Their are just to many. Its hard to pick just one. Irregardless, it doesn't bother me (check out "why you should read my reviews!)

02/14/2008 Justin S. says:

Oh! Jim! you used "irregardless"! I bow down to you.

Jason, great point.  It'd be awesome if some did all their reviews with peculiar partially-phonetic spellings.

02/14/2008 Nick "Nick" R. says:

H0w @b0t wrtng rvw n t?

02/14/2008 Ina K. says:

Omg Nick. That takes me back to my AOL chatting days in the 90's. Gross...!

My biggest pet peeve is the misuse of the word "literally."

02/14/2008 Nick "Nick" R. says:

Ha, I literally agree with you!  whenever someone says "Literally" inappropriately, I think to myself, "are you sure you didn't 'figuratively' do that?!"

PS  if you haven't read any of my reviews, you should know A)  I am responsible for 90% of all grammatical and spelling mistakes on Yelp and B) the Interrobang is my favorite punctuation eva.

02/14/2008 Jason "Sheriff John Stone" C. says:

Ina and Nick,

That's a peeve too. "Their food was so awful I LITERALLY died!"

Um, so is this your spectre telling me this?

02/14/2008 Jim "Buckin' a Bale of Hay" B. says:

Holy crap Nick. I never knew the name for the interrobang before! Why don't people say that name more?!

02/14/2008 Ina K. says:

I dare ask...What is the interrobang...?

02/14/2008 Ina K. says:

I answered my own question. Thanks Wikipedia. "The interrobang is a rarely used, nonstandard English-language punctuation mark intended to combine the functions of the question mark (also called the interrogative point) and the exclamation mark (known in printers' jargon as the bang). The typographical character is a superimposition of those two marks. The same effect is also frequently achieved by placing the exclamation point before or after the question mark; e.g., "How could you do such a thing!?" or "How could you do such a thing?!" "

I'm a fan of any punctuation mark that's known as "the bang!"

02/14/2008 Irena N. says:

"You are" versus "your". Kills me every time.

02/14/2008 Alicia G. says:

I second that, Irena. It reminds me of the Friends' episode where Rachel wrote that 18 page letter to Ross and he fell asleep. The next day when she finds out, he screams, "Oh-oh-oh, and by the way, Y-O-U-apostrophe-R-E means 'you are,' Y-O-U-R means 'your!'"

Heheheh.

02/14/2008 Heather M. says:

Front and back!

"I just feel bad about all that sleep you're gonna miss wishing you were with me."
"Oh, no no no don't you worry about me falling asleep. I STILL HAVE YOUR LETTER!"

Sorry, I'm kind of a Friends dork.

02/14/2008 Alicia G. says:

Hhahaha. I love it. (I have every season of Friends and watch them repeatedly...so no worries about being a Friends dork). My brother also just bought me the DVD trivia game. Yeah. Maybe we should have a Friends Quiz night! Haha.

02/14/2008 Kevin "Public Servant" L. says:

Hm.  That tempts me to write a review in l3375p34k.

I get irked when people use the word "caveat" as a verb.  Or use "data" as a singular noun.

02/14/2008 Betty "Snow Queen" M. says:

For me, it is the constant abuse of the word "theory." People often say, "I have a theory." Arggggg! I just want to go on a rampage whenever I hear it!

The definition of theory is something that has been proven scientifically and can be reproduced. The correct term here could be "hypothesis," "idea," "thought."

02/14/2008 MiRIAM "That One" w. says:

Compliment and Complement
It's and Its
You, Your, and You're
Affect and Effect

02/14/2008 Betty "Snow Queen" M. says:

Miriam,

Stationery and Stationary

Their, there, they're

When I was in college, I saw a flyer posted in Robinson Hall 2 that read "Think Your Pregnant? Please call....." It was very annoyed to see this in a place of higher learning.

I also cannot stand run-on sentences, fragments, and sentences that end in prepositions. I think MLA/APA needs to be a course requirement for all undergraduate degrees!

02/14/2008 Local L. says:

I STILL WORK WITH IDIOTS WHO SEND EMAILS IN ALL CAPS!  I die a little inside every time I get one.

02/14/2008 Betty "Snow Queen" M. says:

I meant to say that "I was annoyed" not "It." Lame me. This must be a sign that I need coffee or one of those Valentine Hershey's kisses someone brought in here at the office. All the guys keep walking past my door chomping away.

02/14/2008 Betty "Snow Queen" M. says:

Wow, all caps. That is annoying. Don't they realize that means screaming?

02/14/2008 Heather M. says:

I am no stranger to spelling and grammar mistakes. In fact, I have been known to make up words to fit my need for them. [Also, run-on sentences? Fuggedaboutit.] I do re-read almost everything I write at least once, though, because I'm a little OCD. And I face-palm pretty much whenever I miss something after a read-over.

Something that always makes me inwardly cringe when I see it is "definitely" vs. its incorrect cousin "definately."

I'm kind of passive-aggressive in my grammar nazi-city [see, there I go] in that I'll find a way to rectify the error in my response to someone. For example:

Someone: I definately want to go see that.
Me: Yeah, you definitely should.

Does anyone else find themselves doing that?

02/14/2008 Steve "I sing loud" G. says:

Heather, we must have been seperated at birth!

02/14/2008 Ina K. says:

I have a friend who insists on writing "kinda've." OMG. The worst part is that he knows it's wrong, but he uses it anyway. It makes me want to slap him. I also find it funny when people mistake "discreet" and "discrete."

And Heather - I agree with you on "definately." Oh, it sends shivers down my spine...

02/14/2008 Ina K. says:

I also find it really funny when people comment about others' spelling/grammatical mistakes and make a spelling/grammatical mistake themselves. *AHEM* seperated? :)

02/15/2008 Aisha M. says:

I mess up every review. It takes me a week to proof read them. When I'm having a prolific session all rules are out the door.

02/15/2008 Kathleen M. says:

I have a friend who writes "awe" instead of "aww." It drives me BATTY.

I also had a boss who sent her emails in all caps. During a lame seminar about inter-office communication, I mentioned that when someone sends an all caps email, I consider it screaming and I read it in a very different way. She sat there, completely oblivious, and continued to send her emails in all caps. Ugh.

02/15/2008 Allan N. says:

the funniest thing i've seen is "mine as well."

02/15/2008 Justin S. says:

Heather, I make a game of using a 3rd spelling when people do that to me.  It can be fun!

1: I definately like your style
2: Well I definitely respect your opinion, so that means a lot to me!
1: Really? You do?  That's defenitely a surprise, you're always giving me such a hard time.

Depending on the playfulness of the friend, things can get out of hand fast and end up looking like Jason's upper post.

02/15/2008 Gordon "fatboy" L. says:

Is it bad seplling or just typos that plgauing  msot people?  As in my csae I was drpoped on my haed as a baby so me wrods give me tuorble.

02/16/2008 Ina K. says:

"I would of given it five stars, but..."

03/05/2008 Ina K. says:

Not only is it Yelp spam, but it is poorly written: "Try there gyros they make there own tzatziki sauce." (Thanks Kevin!! Haha!)

03/05/2008 Jason "Sheriff John Stone" C. says:

Not so much spelling and grammar issues, but it deals with useless, pointless reviews on Netflix (some of which have doppelgangers on yelp):
http://forums.somethin...

03/05/2008 Alyce "What's in a nickname?" M. says:

I have serious homonym issues.  I know which word I mean, but that doesn't stop me from leaving glaring mistakes all over the place.  I have some sort of brain/hand disconnect with homonyms.  I've given up trying to be my own editor.

I'm not sure I've seen it here, but I can't stand when people complain about other people's grammer.

03/05/2008 Jalyn H. says:

Oh god!  "I would of as well" is like a chalkboard scratch for me!  Glad to see that there are plenty of grammarians on Yelp today.  I also cringe when someone says "Ekspecially."

03/11/2008 Kevin "Public Servant" L. says:

Has anyone ever heard the phrase "with respects to xyz?"  Didn't think so.  

Example:  "With respect to Spitzer's recent follies, his wife is either really strong, or a total moron to stand by him."

                               NOT
Example:  "With respects to Spitzer's recent follies, his wife is either really strong, or a total moron to stand by him."

Why is it that I see/hear "with regards to" all the time?  Same concept.  I'm pretty sure it should be "with regard to" - not "with regards to."

03/11/2008 Ben "Burger Brigadier" M. says:

Confusing "you're" and "your" always annoys me.  Also apostrophe-s to pluralize something. :(

03/11/2008 Kevin "Public Servant" L. says:

Alyce "What's in a nickname?" M. says:

I'm not sure I've seen it here, but I can't stand when people complain about other people's grammer.
---------------
I don't mean to be vindictive against anyone personally about grammar/spelling issues.  It does bother me somewhat when folks use improper English (and I know Justin's provided alternative viewpoints on the subject before), but it's MY language.  I feel personally responsible for using it properly.  Where possible, I feel obligated to ensure that others (especially native speakers) don't abuse the language out of ignorance.  It's one thing when I hear a foreigner mess up.  It's a completely different matter when I hear someone who's been speaking/writing in this language their entire life and they simply don't know or care enough to use proper English.

Maybe it's just a product of the poor education system here in the States.  (And I'm -so- allowed to say this, as someone who's gone to public school in Arkansas.)

(steps off soapbox)

03/11/2008 Jason "Sheriff John Stone" C. says:

Kevin,

Interesting points regarding English usage. I think I'd chalk it up to two things:

1) Internet-speak and the general "loosening" of grammar and mechanics which carries over to everyday usage.

2) Since the early 90s, a lot of schools tried pushing "whole language" which has a blatant disregard for rules and tradition. As long as you can figure out what the person is trying to express, it's "good enough." California was a big proponent of this for years, and allegedly it's one of the reasons their education system is so dismal, when it used to be one of the best in the country. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.or.... FWIW, pretty much after 7th grade, English instruction focused almost solely on reading for the sake of doing so (and for the sake of writing papers)... there was very little time devoted to spelling, grammar, or anything that smacked of "rote memorization."

03/11/2008 Ina K. says:

Ooh, it's getting serious now! When I worked on my school newspaper, my advisor's reasoning for having correct spelling and grammar was, "If your spelling and grammar aren't trustworthy, why should anyone assume that your facts are trustworthy?" I think that applies here, too. If you take the time to write a well thought out review of a restaurant, having correct mechanics contributes to the validity of your opinion.

And as I'm typing this, I noticed the little button below the "Enter Your Reply" box for spell check for the first time. Nice! :D

03/11/2008 Alyce "What's in a nickname?" M. says:

Hopefully it's understood that the part I can't stand in my last comment is when people complain about people's grammar but can't spell grammar.

I'm always shocked when I see 'IMese' in work related email!

I came from a pretty bad public school system in SC.  (At the time SC was ranked 49th in the country and we were all so thankful for MS!)  I swear we had 'reading' classes until high school.

03/11/2008 Jason "Sheriff John Stone" C. says:

Alyce,

I've known people from Arkansas and Alabama and they all have the same refrain: Thank God for Mississippi!

03/11/2008 Kevin "Public Servant" L. says:

LOL, Alyce.  OMG - we totally had the same thought!

03/27/2008 Ina K. says:

This is not necessarily a spelling/grammar issue, but I have to let it out...

Winner for the most over-used nonword: UNDERWHELMED.

03/27/2008 Tu-Van "wants a ROTD" L. says:

It might not be a nonword, but it should be.  It sends shivers down my spine when I see IRREGARDLESS.  That and NORMALCY are icky words in my book.

03/27/2008 Kevin "Public Servant" L. says:

I actually like the words "whelmed" and "underwhelmed."  As an engineer by education, I believe it's within my rights to create words.  They just have to be used with correct grammar.  :p

03/27/2008 Justin S. says:

at least "underwhelmed" has a semi-logical foundation. I don't think a miscommunication is likely going to result from using "underwhelmed" and as such, one has to wonder if it should be formally accepted as a word. It's definitely already in our vernacular.

03/27/2008 Kevin "Public Servant" L. says:

OMG, Tu-Van.  Irregardless gets me, too.

03/27/2008 Justin S. says:

IRREGARDLESS isn't a word, last I checked.  I could be wrong though.  I think the best way to counter the use of IRREGARDLESS is to immediately work similiarly stupid words like "undishonest" into your response.

03/27/2008 Ben "Burger Brigadier" M. says:

Our Dear Leader Bush seems to think irregardless is a word.  He's as undishonest as one can get!

05/15/2008 Ina K. says:

Misuse of the word "so" at the beginning of sentences.

05/21/2008 nat "auschick" h. says:

I get bugged by:

"alot" rather than "a lot"
"definately" rather than "definitely"

and when the following are used incorrectly:
"effect" and "affect"
"insure" and "ensure"

and @ Kevin re: whelmed:
you have been watching far too much 10 things I  hate about you :-P

05/21/2008 Ben "Burger Brigadier" M. says:

I like using obscure definitions of effect and affect.

Also as an engineer of German heritage, I feel it's acceptable to string together words to make new words.

05/22/2008 Lola S. says:

my biggest peeve is not so much in the grammatical errors (because who are we kidding?  i type like a 3rd grader) but more the constant use of capitals...it drives me batty!

05/22/2008 Lola S. says:

oh jeez...not really that funny had i known yelp automatically lower cased all caps.  i'll go back to being quiet now. :)

05/22/2008 Saurabh "Eligible Bachelor" G. says:

"Winner for the most over-used nonword: UNDERWHELMED."

'Underwhelmed' isn't a word? My Dictionary would like to disagree. It says that the word originated in the 1950s. Sure, it's classified as humorous/erroneous, but I am not sure why it would annoy someone, or even be considered one of the worst errors on an ONLINE communications medium.

Same goes with 'irregardless'.

I guess some of you hate Shakespeare as well, now.

:)

05/28/2008 Ina K. says:

My insides are spilling out of me as I read this review. http://www.yelp.com/bi...

05/28/2008 Su "On vacation till Monday" K. says:

Conjunction junction, he knows not thy function.

07/22/2008 jennifer h. says:

there's a store near my friend's house called "Simply Younique: Where the Dresscode is Strickly Inforced". It "literally" kills me everytime i see it.

07/22/2008 Lydia "whatchu talkin bout Willis?" M. says:

Jennifer,

When I was in Manhattan @ school, there was a Chinese Restaurant called CHINA DINERSTY. Everytime I saw it I laughed... ;-)

07/22/2008 olivia "is it 5 yet?" d. says:

come come now haters... people who can't spell are people too!
grammar nazis.
but that dinersty thing does kinda crack me up.. hahaha...

07/22/2008 Lynn "Gigi" Z. says:

I'd agree with almost all of the above. But besides poor grammar and word confusion/usage errors, I am seriously annoyed by some Yelpers' overuse and gratuitous use of four-letter words (which apparently some people think is "cool" or "funny") and the emphasis on "big words" that are nothing more than reflections of the writers' over-inflated egos.

07/22/2008 Rivkah B. says:

"So I was going to the store to buy some donut's, and then I went to Michelles house because she can make really great latte's with awesome expresso!"

ay ay ay

07/22/2008 Jamie B. says:

I've been pretty happy with Yelp and Yelpers, but then, I play a lot of online PC games, where, shall we say, u r lucky if u see ne thing that makes much sense.  If you want to really come to despair over the state of education, go purchase World of Warcraft and listen to the chat for about 15 minutes.  (For bonus points, be sure to yell, "Which video card do you think is best?" before leaving, as this will start a 45 minute chat war.)

It's basically apathy + "Generation Me" -- the rising generations of people who apparently have no consideration for others and only want to know what you can do for them.  One aspect of this is sloppy communication -- they saved time by writing in a sloppy fashion and they don't care that it means more work for the reader.

I'm no grammar specialist.  I type like I talk and take vague jabs in the direction of correct punctuation while doing so, but it's the thought that counts.  Sometimes I make big goofs.  If it's big enough, I will create a new Yelp account which has a picture of me in a mustache and I will type everything in a fake Italian accent and pretend to not know what you're talking about if you claim to recognize me.  (I think it's important to plan for these sorts of things.)

07/23/2008 Matt D. says:

I am in complete agreement with you Jamie. I feel like the concept of grammar died a long time ago. I always give my email messages and yelp reviews a once over because I know if I don't most likely there will be a spelling or grammar mistake. I'm convinced not many people can write a complete sentence anymore. It's good to know that there are people on Yelp that care about grammar. I can't stand people who use all caps for anything. Unless it was a truly horrifying experience, don't use them. A horrifying experience does not include being ignored by a bartender or they ran out of mojitos. Another pet peeve is people never capitalize proper nouns anymore. It's not dunkin donuts, it's Dunkin Donuts.

07/23/2008 Ina K. says:

Did anybody catch the newly-posted business listing of "Duncan Donuts" last week?? OMG...

07/23/2008 Matt D. says:

I think that goes back to the point Jamie made about people being sloppy. The person who put up the business listing couldn't take the few minutes to see if they had the correct spelling. As a Dunkin Donuts fan, it hurts me to see their name misspelled.

07/23/2008 Cyrus "They took the stone from here" N. says:

This isn't a Yelper mistake, but the menu at Javan in Bethesda makes mention of a dish with "yellow pees."

07/23/2008 Jack "Dis wompf es fredesche" F. says:

I must advocate against the continued usage of "and/or."  This phrase will single-handedly destroy the civilized word as we know it.  It's one or the other - not both.  You can't have "pees" AND carrots while simultaneously having peas OR carrots.  The word "and/or" is simply a lazy and ambiguous way of telling other people that you don't have a clue.  

Take this sentence for example, "Heinz Organic Ketchup is available in the condiment aisle, and/or the organic section of your supermarket."  Does that make any since?  Can you find the ketchup bottle on both aisles or just one of them?

07/24/2008 Mary Kay "(Well) Seasoned Yelper" S. says:

Actually it does make sense.  Not everything is black/white, either/or.   Your example is shorthand for saying you can find this ketchup in the condiment aisle, or in the organic section if there is one, or even both.  Seems fairly efficient to me.

But, to each his own, so long as it's not incorrect :D

07/24/2008 olivia "is it 5 yet?" d. says:

yellow pees? mmmmmmmmmmmmmm delicious.

07/24/2008 Lydia "whatchu talkin bout Willis?" M. says:

It's just not that serious to me... ;-)

07/24/2008 K Sera S. says:

A food one that makes me want to pull out a Sharpie and correct the menu:

"with au jus"

or even better

"with au jus sauce"

The sandwich comes with with sauce sauce? AWESOME!

07/25/2008 Ina K. says:

On menus at five different Asian restaurants, I've seen the word: "Appertizers." Is it that hard to get a native English speaker to edit?? Or even spell check??

07/25/2008 Su "On vacation till Monday" K. says:

This place:
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
Has this on their menu's
Real Fruite! Only location service it! You can created any mix flavor! Most drink can also be service hot!

And they printed so many copies.

08/07/2008 Monty C. says:

Let's lower the bar for everyone...

http://www.timesonline...

08/07/2008 Su "On vacation till Monday" K. says:

thx fro teh lnk

08/07/2008 Ben "Burger Brigadier" M. says:

Mon\ty, that makes me way angrier than it really should.

08/07/2008 Monty C. says:

Its definately dum!!!!!

08/07/2008 Craig R. says:

That article makes me incredibly angry.

08/07/2008 Craig R. says:

I need to add on to my last post:

How hard is it to use spell checker?  Honestly.

08/07/2008 Debora W. says:

Has it ever occurred to you that some people may not be native English speakers/writers?

As a person whose native languages are German and Italian and also speaks French, English and Spanish let me tell you, that in 7 years in the United States I have probably seen a handful of French or Italian Menus that are spelled correctly. (If you are running such a restaurant in an international city, wouldn't you make it a priority to ensure that you spell your food right?)

On a different note, It seems that American English is focused more on efficiency, rather than longwindedness. It seems to go along with the general mentality of "getting things done". For example, in Europe you would rarely see (or nobody would think about) abbreviations X-ing for crossing. And so many interesting plays on words are seen on license plates, or places such as AIM or even YELP where people trade accuracy for speed.

There is one particular word that a lot of people seem to confuse both in the written and spoken language: ingenious vs. ingenuous. Ingenuity is "the demonstration of inventiveness," while ingenuousness is "the display of the innocence" (http://www.bartleby.co...).

08/07/2008 Ben "Burger Brigadier" M. says:

Okay, the minority of non-native English speaker/writers certainly have an excuse.  That doesn't excuse the native speakers.  American English may have some focus on efficiency, but at the same time, if you saw an entire Yelp review written in AIM speak you'd probably very quickly skip it.  Good communication skills are something that are useful throughout life no matter what you do or where you are, so why not work on them?

08/07/2008 Chlo S. says:

Debora- it's not just ingenuity and ingenuousness, people add -ness to the end of any word. I've been guilty a few times too, but sometimes it's just way too ridiculous. Speaking of which, the difference between "too" vs. "to" escapes some people.

This isn't on Yelp (who knows, maybe it is), but I've seen "highering". As in "to make higher"- highering. There is no excuse for that. Ever.

08/07/2008 Keely R. says:

The whole literally/figuratively discussion reminds me of an episode of "How I Met Your Mother" that deals with the same peeve.

08/07/2008 Craig R. says:

From the comments on the article:

As the guardians of the only language of future Earth, it behooves us to adhere to the rules! Permit a gradual variation over time - "program", not "programme", & a few other simplifications legitimis(z)ed, by usage in major populations, rather than the murky pool of uneducated SMSing youth.

Antonio, Estepona ,

Andy,

I am a foreigner, and I can say I was very suprised when I came. These are not spelling errors that an educated foreigner who speaks English as a second English would commit.

Grace, London,

08/07/2008 Debora W. says:

Ben- I agree with you that good communication skills are imperative. That is definitely something we all can work on.
By the way, I do not think that non-native English speakers/writers are a "minority" in Washington D.C...

08/07/2008 Robert "snackin' between snacks" F. says:

I don't know...there's not as much emphasis on proper grammar nowadays...sad but true. lol!
Also, our vocabularies are pretty pathetic now.  Just watch an old movie from the 50's...or even a twilight zone episode...it's amazing how limited our vocabularies are today.  But I suppose with less face to face human interaction, there's less demand for complex expression of feeling, emotions.  such is life.

08/07/2008 Lynn "Gigi" Z. says:

Ben writes: Good communication skills are something that are useful throughout life no matter what you do or where you are, so why not work on them?
******
I couldn't agree more. In fact, I work in the communication and HR fields, and most definitely people with better oral and written commmunication skills go farther in their careers.

08/07/2008 Ina K. says:

Robert says: Just watch an old movie from the 50's...or even a twilight zone episode...it's amazing how limited our vocabularies are today.

Two words: Dawson's Creek. ;-)

08/07/2008

This post was removed because the yelper who wrote it has violated the Yelp Terms of Service and is no longer a registered yelper.

08/08/2008 Trang "Hooked on Yelp" O. says:

My pet peeves:
- insure and ensure used interchangeably
- irregardless (two negatives, ir- and -less, make one positive?)
- its instead of it's, their instead of they're, and vice versa
- "I could care less" when the writer meant "I couldn't care less"
- "me and my friend" instead "my friend and I"

And just because a person is a non-native English speaker, it still does not give him/her an excuse to use bad grammar or neglect to check for correct spellings. If you go through the effort of learning a language, learn to use it correctly!

08/08/2008 Keely R. says:

The whole me/I thing was explained to me by my grandma....you'll figure out which you are supposed to use if you take the 'my friend' part out.

Ex:
"He was very rude to me and my friend."
"My friend and I went to an awesome restuarant."

08/08/2008 olivia "is it 5 yet?" d. says:

their, their, people. don't worry about people who can't use the language properly. there just uneducated.

08/08/2008 Su "On vacation till Monday" K. says:

Trang O. says:

My pet peeves:....
- "me and my friend" instead "my friend and I"
------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------
Makes me think of that Russell Peters joke:
Russell: Me and my friend will be right back.
Chinese store owner: Your friend and I

08/14/2008 Monty C. says:

I'm not sure this is the appropriate thread to post this link, but I figure any word nerd can really appreciate some of the entries in this year's Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. The goal of the contest is childishly simple: entrants are challenged to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels.

http://www.sjsu.edu/fa...

There are some real humdingers in there.