Episode 552: Grammar Pet Peeves is a lighthearted examination of what people say (and write) incorrectly—and why it bugs us so much. We are hard on ourselves as well (Tiffany finally tells Katy the mistake she makes that drives her crazy!)Â
What are your grammar pet peeves? And what mistakes do Katy and Tiffany always make? You can email us to let us know your grammar pet peeves, or to tell us what mistakes we are unknowingly making!
This episode is a peek behind the paywall, as it was originally intended as a bonus episode—shared just with our Patreon supporters. And if you enjoy this bonus episode, and what we do over here in this private, off-topic space, you could get access to two brand-new bonus episodes every single month (in addition to our sizable archive of past bonus episodes) by becoming a Patreon supporter, for as little as $5 per month! And you would be providing essential support to our independent podcast at the same time. If you love this show, please consider joining! Click here to find out how.
You can listen right here, or find the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, and elsewhere.
Related Episodes:
Episode 518: The Limitations of Language
Episode 430: Does Language Shape Thinking?
Here are 5 key points from the episode:
- The hosts discuss common grammar pet peeves, including misuse of subjunctive mood (e.g. “if I was” instead of “if I were”), confusion between “lay” and “lie”, and incorrect pronoun usage (e.g. “me and her went”).
- They highlight issues with written grammar and style, such as dangling modifiers, overuse of “RIP” in social media posts, and the tendency to list things in groups of three unnecessarily.
- The misuse of “less” instead of “fewer” and the evolving meaning of “literally” are discussed as examples of common language errors and changes.
- The hosts share personal struggles with pronouncing or spelling certain words, like “anemone” and “sarcophagus”.
- They mention listener-submitted pet peeves, including the phrase “thank you in advance” and overuse of transition words like “so” in speech and writing.
Full Episode Transcript:
Welcome to Rome. This is The Bittersweet Life with Katy Sewall and Tiffany Parks.Â
Katy
Hello. This is The Bittersweet Life. I’m Katy Sewall. You probably already know that some listeners to this show support it with a monthly donation. People like Sarah, who recently joined us, and those supporters get access to bonus episodes. Today we’re going to share with you an entire episode that happened in that special space. That special space where we and the donors have a pretty good time together. We hope you enjoy it. This is a Bittersweet Life bonus episode.Â
Katy
Hello. This is The Bittersweet Life. I’m Katy Sewall.
Tiffany
I’m Tiffany Parks.
Katy
This is a bonus episode. Thank you so much for supporting the show. And today we have some pet peeves that we want to get off our chests, and Tiffany’s gonna start us off. What do you got?
Tiffany
Well, I saw a little. I guess you call it a meme on Instagram a while back, but it stuck with me, and it especially reminded me of my sister, but also in a little bit myself as well. And it was this. It was something to the effect of this. My life is a constant struggle between wanting to correct other people’s grammar and wanting to have friends.
Katy
Yeah. Yeah, right.
Tiffany
My sister is really, like. She’s a, for lack of a better expression, kind of a grammar Nazi. And sometimes it’s like, you know what time and place. Right. What we really want to talk about is our grammar. Pet peeves. Yes. I have worked for more years than I even want to admit as a magazine editor, and I know that there are grammar things that I mistake and that I. Or that I don’t catch. So I’m not saying, like, I’m perfect, but that kind of job, it has made me so extra aware of grammar, particularly written grammar, but even spoken grammar, that it grates some of my nerves in a way that probably is too much.
Katy
Okay. I know. And so. And you can have grammar. Pet peeves in two different languages.
Tiffany
True. Although I don’t notice them as much in Italian.
Katy
Okay.
Tiffany
You know, because it’s not my native language, every so often, I do. I do notice something in Italian, but it’s rare.
Katy
So what’s something that pops immediately to mind when you think about this?
Tiffany
I cannot stand there. Oh, my gosh. There’s so many. But one of the ones that’s one of the really common ones is if I was Italian, I would, you know, do this, but it’s not if I was Italian. It’s if I were Italian.
Katy
Oh, I see.
Tiffany
It’s the subjunctive mood. And the subjunctive mood is not something that gets talked a lot about in English because it’s very, very close to other verb forms. So you can kind of not even realize that it’s there. But it is, you know, if you want to be accurate, you cannot say if I was Italian. You have to say if I were Italian. And I remember being at a pub, and this is years and years before I worked magazine editor or was even a writer or even an aspiring writer. And I remember I was at a pub. It was sort of my first year in Rome, probably when I spent a lot of time at this one particular Irish pub, because I had so few friends, and I’d made some friends there. And this guy was sort of accusing. This Irish guy was kind of accusing me of being drunk in a friendly manner. And I said, if I were drunk, I would. You know. And he’s like, wait a second. You don’t even have to finish that sentence. Because if you were drunk, you would have said, if I was drunk. Not if I were drunk.
Katy
That’s very funny. You know what immediately pops to mind when you say, that is a mistake that I have a problem with. It’s not like a problem I have in day to day talking life. But if I’m writing, this always gives me pause. And I can never remember what is the right way. And it’s lay versus lie.
Tiffany
That’s a hard one.
Katy
Cause I believe it is. You lay an object down, but you lie down. Is that right?
Tiffany
Right.
Katy
Sometimes you wanna fit. You wanna write like she lay down. No, she didn’t lay down. But every time I have to be like, what is it? What’s the right thing? And I don’t know why, but that’s one of those ones where I always have to double check and maybe google it. Be like lay versus lie. Just to make sure that what I’m thinking is right, you know?
Tiffany
That is a hard one. Yeah, I always think about that song. Cause there’s the famous old sixties song that gets it wrong.
Katy
Oh, there is.
Tiffany
And it’s. It’s. Yeah, it’s. I don’t want to sing it because I’m not even sure of the exact melody. But it’s lay, lady, lay across my big brass bed. Have you ever heard that song?
Katy
Oh, I love that song.
Tiffany
Bob Dylan.
Katy
Well, it’s a great song.
Tiffany
It’s lie. It’s lie. It’s not lay across my bed. It’s lie across my bed.
Katy
But it wouldn’t be as good if it was lie across my bed.
Tiffany
- Yeah.
Katy
I don’t know why. It just wouldn’t be. And he’s a great writer, so he probably knew that was probably a conscious choice.
Tiffany
Sometimes I think people do, in writing and poetry make conscious mistakes, and that’s a different, I feel like, topic for a different day. When you’re doing regular speech or regular, like, magazine writing or, you know, regular writing, I feel like there are certain things. Okay, here’s another one of my spoken pet peeves. I’m much stricter when it comes to writing. Right.
Katy
Yeah.
Tiffany
You can get away with more when you’re speaking. I feel sure this is, I think, worse than if I was. If I was a carpenter or whatever you want to. And that is. It’s a similar situation. I think it’s a subjunctive as well. If I would have. If I would have gotten up early this morning, I would have gone to the gym. No, no, it’s not if I would have. It’s if I had gotten up early or got up early, depending on if you want to use the british or the american past participle of get.
Katy
Yep.
Tiffany
If I would have got up early this morning. No, that is not right. If I had got up or if I had gotten up early this morning, that also drives me insane.
Katy
Uh huh.
Tiffany
Insane. Those are my two big. My two biggies.
Katy
That’s a. Those are good ones. Those are good ones. I know I’m a terrible offender at one that I’m sure probably bothers you. It definitely bothers my mom, because she can, I guess. Yes, she has corrected me about this. I don’t know, probably at least 500 times and partly 500 with good reason, because, you know, I am a person who talks on the radio, and occasionally I talk on the radio on national public radio. And so she’s like, you should say things properly. But I just. For whatever reason, I rebel against it, and I just can’t. I just can’t take it on. Do you want to guess what it is?
Tiffany
I think I know, because it’s the only mistake that I hear you make regularly, if at all. Okay, now, wait.
Katy
This is gonna be like. If it’s something different. If it’s something different. Oh, my gosh. What in the world? This is edge of your seat radio right here.
Tiffany
Yeah, it’s. It’s. I gotta admit, especially when I listen back.
Katy
Oh, no.
Tiffany
Episodes. When I hear it, I actually correct you out loud.
Katy
Okay.
Tiffany
When I’m listening.
Katy
You don’t like fast forward?
Tiffany
No. No.
Katy
Oh, goodness.
Tiffany
It’s. Let me think of an example.
Katy
And I know this is gonna be something different. I feel like it’s gonna be different. Okay. No, because it’s pretty hard. A lot of people do.
Tiffany
Oh, I’m just kidding. I don’t want to make you feel bad.
Katy
No, I’m ready. I’m ready.
Tiffany
You say me and her went to.
Katy
Yes, that’s exactly it.
Tiffany
Yeah. Yeah. You can’t say that. And it’s not about the order. You can’t put yourself first. Technically, you’re not supposed to put yourself first, but it’s me. You can’t say me went to the cinema. That’s an object. You know, you have to.
Katy
You.
Tiffany
If you’re going to the cinema, you’re subject. It has to be.
Katy
- Yeah, I know, but it can’t be like, I and Tiffany and her as well.
Tiffany
But her as well.
Katy
Yeah.
Tiffany
You can’t say her. You can’t. You actually don’t even say me as much as. It’s. It’s her. You use her when you should say she.
Katy
Oh, that’s interesting.
Tiffany
Not even the me. It’s not even the me. So it’s like, let me. But that’s basically what it is. So you. You know that. So I do know it.
Katy
I do. I am aware. And I would never write it. I would never write it.
Tiffany
I know. I know. I’m sure you wouldn’t.
Katy
But it’s like, you know, maybe let’s think about it as if it’s a generous thing instead of a terribly poor grammar thing. Terribly poor. Speaking. Speaking of which, terribly poor grammar thing. The.
Tiffany
That’s not. That’s not technically incorrect.
Katy
Well, I know, but it’s also poor grammar. It’s very awkward. One of the ones I used to say the most on the radio would be when I was talking about the host of my show and me. I would say me and Steve. Me and Steve went. Me and Steve. Me and Steve. I always say me and Steve. And I’m like, let’s think of it generously. If I put me first, I’m putting the emphasis on Steve. Don’t you feel like me and Steve. Me and Steve.
Tiffany
For me, it’s not about the order. It’s not about. For me, personally, it’s not about the order.
Katy
Yeah.
Tiffany
It’s about using the correct personal pronoun. Because when is the subject. You got to say he, she, I. Not her. Him, me.
Katy
Makes total sense. Yeah, because I wouldn’t say. I wouldn’t say Steve and me. Because that sounds weird, you know, because it would be Steve. And I went to the zoo. Not Steve and me went to the zoo, but me and Steve went to the zoo. You gotta admit that me and Steve went to the zoo.
Tiffany
I wonder if people in other languages make these same mistakes, because I always feel like in Italian, and I’m sure it’s just that I don’t. I’m not aware of these nuances, but I feel like in Italian, nobody would ever use like me instead of IO, you know, when they’re using it as a verb.
Katy
Right.
Tiffany
But I’m sure they have other things. I know that they. A lot of Italians aren’t very good with this. With a subjunctive mood. They use past imperfect, like Sandavo.
Katy
It’S.
Tiffany
Past tense, if I went, but it should be sandasi, you know, there is a separate tense for it, but it’s. It’s not so much the tense that’s difficult to memorize. It’s that when do you use it? That’s kind of difficult to understand. But I think most Italians, it’s more laziness. They probably. If they were writing, they would do it correctly.
Katy
Yeah, they do it like extra correctly if it was writing, because they’re so formal in their writing.
Tiffany
The business people are, for sure.
Katy
I have another thing that bothers me, but it’s not anything that would be in spoken word. And I guess that’s probably why it bothers me, because people would never say this aloud, but it’s so common, and that is rip. Rip, rest in peace. Why do we have to say rip? Because I always read it that way. Rip. Xoxo, or whatever. Just write rest in peace, for God’s sake, or something. I don’t know why. It really bothers me. It bothers you?
Tiffany
Well, I think I find it to be a little bit. A little bit irreverent.
Katy
Yeah.
Tiffany
Right.
Katy
Well, I’d be thinking reads is the word rip.
Tiffany
Yeah, it reads as the word rip. And it’s so commonly, like, so cartoonish, you know?
Katy
Yeah.
Tiffany
It makes me think of, like, the.
Katy
Tombstone and the tombstone in the Disney version of screeners. Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge. Yes.
Tiffany
The huge tomb that says rip on it. Yeah. I kind of agree. I don’t. It is a little bit disrespectful, maybe.
Katy
I don’t know.
Tiffany
I’m sure it doesn’t mean to be.
Katy
It certainly doesn’t mean to be because it’s like the kindest people writing it. But you would never just say, if you came to me and said, you know, my father died, I would be like, rip, Tiffany. You know? I mean, you just wouldn’t rip to your. Rip to your dad. You know? It just sounds. I don’t know, it’s just. I guess that’s why it bothers me.
Tiffany
That’s interesting. That’s interesting.
Katy
Is it? Yeah. I don’t know. I just. I just. And you see it so much because of social media. So many people, like, post on social media when someone has died. And so I think in the social media age, you just encounter it more and more and more and more, you know? And so it’s becoming a bigger problem in my mind than it would have been 20 years.
Tiffany
Well, each and every. Each and every has definitely started sticking out to me. I notice it all the time now. I’m sure I didn’t ever pay attention to it before, but now I’m like, wow. Everybody says that. Each and every person says that.
Katy
They do. It’s almost as if they can’t not say it. You know? They can’t not say it. I mean, even, you know, the president will get up and be like each and every morning, or it could be the Nobel laureate or something. And they’re like, each and every day I wake up to, I don’t know. It is the most common overused phrase.
Tiffany
But not technically a grammatical error.
Katy
No, I would say. Well, I mean, it is a bit redundant.
Tiffany
It’s a bit redundant.
Katy
It’s redundant.
Tiffany
But again, redundancy might be a flaw in style, but it’s not a grammatic error.
Katy
True. That’s true.
Tiffany
Here’s another one of mine. Okay. This is more of a writing one.
Katy
Okay.
Tiffany
Because it’s probably something that I wouldn’t notice if it were spoken. But as an editor, I always cringe when I read these phrases. And it’s the dangling modifier, or the. There’s another type of modifier. I can’t remember. Disconnected modifier. I can’t remember what it’s called, but it’s when you say something like this, a modern. Okay, this is just a random example that I’m inventing a modern bistro. The dish. Okay. No. Okay.
Katy
I see where you’re going with this. I really do.
Tiffany
I’m using, like, a restaurant description because that’s what I encountered most, whereas, like, these restaurant descriptions, where they’re talking about the food, but they’re also talking about the ambiance of the restaurant, and they’d be, like, run by the same family for 200 years. The dishes at this restaurant consist of, you know, such and such and such and such.
Katy
Uh huh.
Tiffany
So the modifier is run by the same family for 200 years or whatever it is. So that’s the modifier. What is it describing? It’s describing the restaurant. So the subject of the sentence must be the restaurant.
Katy
Yes. Yeah.
Tiffany
It can’t be the recipes. It can’t be the dishes. I see that all the time. All the time. I mean, even in professional, really, like, substantially important articles and important newspapers. You see that in magazines. And I think a lot of people don’t catch that anymore. It’s kind of something that, I don’t know is not just, it’s not on people’s radar, not on most editors radars anymore.
Katy
Yeah, that’s a good one. That reminds me, you see it in books, too. Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, but you’re right. The article, the newspaper article in the magazine is the greatest offender for things like that. I think it made me think of something, and this isn’t really a grammatical error, and I actually don’t think that this is wrong in most cases. I think it really works, but we all kind of have a tendency to, when we’re giving examples, to give things in groups of three. I don’t have an example because I didn’t plan this out, but I just remember working with this one woman on a podcast, and it was a podcast that was made to, like, we created it by me interviewing her. But I believe, and this was a long time ago, I believe I was mostly cutting myself out. So it’s mostly her just talking. And she would always try to come up with groups of three. It’s a great thing for, you know, I don’t know, I’ll make something up. It’s a great hike for grandparents and grandchildren and, you know, dogs.
Tiffany
Dogs.
Katy
And sometimes she would only have two really good examples, you know, it’s good for this person and that person, let’s say. But there’s this feeling that you must give a third. And so then she’d, like, cast about for what the third would be, or it would almost be a repeat of whatever the first thing was. And so I finally just said to her, it doesn’t have to have three examples. You could just give me one. This is a great hike for grandparents. Great. You know, let’s just leave it at that. I do think that that’s a thing, too. And I sometimes check that in my own writing and be like, now you don’t have to come up with three different things that the person is hearing. You know, it could be just the cicadas and the macaques. You know, I don’t know. It could just be two things. It doesn’t have to be like, the breeze, the cicadas, and the macaques.
Tiffany
That’s a very good point. Something to remember.
Katy
Yeah. So I don’t know. That’s not really a grammar thing. It’s just something we also always do, like, each and every.
Tiffany
Yeah. You know, it’s a matter of style. It’s another. Those style things. Here’s another one I have a lot. The more I think about this, the more I come up with. This is another one that I think a lot of people mistake, and I think that they don’t know that it’s wrong.
Katy
Okay.
Tiffany
And that is people use the word less when they should be using the word fewer.
Katy
Oh, yeah. That one’s so common. Yeah, I use that one, too, but I always catch myself with that one there.
Tiffany
Yeah, there are less seats in the front than there are in the back.
Katy
Yeah.
Tiffany
It’s one of those ones that I. I always say it, like, under my breath or if I’m not actually talking to the person who says it. Like, if I overhear it or if it’s in a movie or something like that, I can’t help myself. I have to sort of correct them. But I wouldn’t do it to someone I was actually talking to.
Katy
Yeah.
Tiffany
So you’re just like, unless it’s my sister. Then I would totally.
Katy
Then you would totally do it. You know, and that is one of those ones that I wonder if one day the grammar will be changed to allow it. You know how sometimes that also happens where I become so common that the grammar changes?
Tiffany
Like, literally.
Katy
Like, literally. I mean, but has the grammar changed that? Well, they.
Tiffany
It’s been. It’s been put in a dictionary.
Katy
Okay. As meaning, like, not literal.
Tiffany
Yeah. Which is stupid, because it’s. Is literally. Is literally the opposite of what it means. You can’t have it be the opposite. And the. You know.
Katy
Yeah.
Tiffany
Unless you want to go for, you know, that. Those contronyms that we talked about many, many episodes ago.
Katy
And literally still one of your hardest things. So when you listen back and you cringe when I say me and Tiffany, do you cringe when you hear yourself say literally?
Tiffany
I do. I do.
Katy
You know, sometimes I cut that out. I think I’ve told you.
Tiffany
I know you do. I know you do.
Katy
And sometimes I can’t get it out. And so it’s just there, like this tent pole. Yeah. And sometimes it’s used in a very funny way, so you want to leave.
Tiffany
It I don’t think. Do I ever say things like my head literally exploded?
Katy
Yeah.
Tiffany
I don’t say that. Well, I don’t.
Katy
You would never say anything like that, but you. You frequently say literally when it wouldn’t actually be a literal.
Tiffany
When it couldn’t actually possibly be a literal thing.
Katy
Right. Yeah, I’ve done it, too. I think I just recently did it in an. I think I just did it in a recent episode, and I just left it, you know. Well, you’re not literally. Oh, you know what it was? It was when we did the show about Japan, and you said I was a kid in a candy store. And I said, literally a kid in a candy or. No, you said you were in this candy store. You’re describing being in this candy store. And I said you were literally a kid in a candy store, which I really.
Tiffany
I wasn’t a kid, but technically I was not.
Katy
But you were in a candy store.
Tiffany
I think I remember when you said that.
Katy
I know, literally.
Tiffany
Yes, I was a candy store, but.
Katy
No, not a kid, but a kid at heart. Yeah. Yes. Because how could you not be if you’re in a candy store, you know?
Tiffany
True. The last one I can think of is my mom.
Katy
If she’s listening, she is a supporter.
Tiffany
She is. She is the offender of this. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone else make this error. And I have started correcting her, and she is really trying. I have to give her credit. The last time we were hanging out, I was. I kept. Cause it’s something she says multiple times a day.
Katy
Okay.
Tiffany
And she said, this is what it is. It doesn’t manner.
Katy
It doesn’t manner.
Tiffany
It doesn’t manner.
Katy
It doesn’t manner.
Tiffany
But she says it in a way that, like, you can’t hear the n that much. It’s like, it doesn’t matter. It could almost be a T But I can. I know her voice so well. I know that she’s saying an N. And I sometimes say, mom, you know, it doesn’t matter. But you know that the word is matter and not manner, right? You know that, right? And she’s like, oh, yes, my daughters, my colleague, educated daughters, always correcting me. That’s. It’s like a different word. And the other thing she says, and this is not just her. Lots of people say this. They say, I would’ve. I would have. But it’s not. I would of. Yeah, it’s. I would have.
Katy
Right. I would’ve. I would’ve. Yeah. I’m sure that one would’ve, should have. Could have. Are there any words that you simply cannot say?
Tiffany
You mean beyond vulgarities, like.
Katy
No, only because I won’t let you on this show. No. That you like cannot pronounce. No matter how many times you try to say it, you can’t say it. I have an example, but I can’t say it.
Tiffany
You literally can’t say it literally.
Katy
I will spell it. I can if people keep saying it and then I can say it. But for whatever reason, spell it here, I’ll just say it wrong, because I just cannot remember what it is. Right. This is an ocean creature. It’s an anemone.
Tiffany
Anemone.
Katy
Anemone. Anemone. Anemone.
Tiffany
Anemone. Anemone.
Katy
I want to call it an. I want to call it an anemone. But it’s an.
Tiffany
No.
Katy
What is it?
Tiffany
Anemone. Anemone.
Katy
Anemone.
Tiffany
Anemone.
Katy
Isn’t anemone better though, the way I say it?
Tiffany
It sounds like enemy. It sounds like an enemy.
Katy
Hmm. So what is it again? I’ve never.
Tiffany
Anemone, Anemone. An m n. I know how it’s.
Katy
Spelled, I just can’t say it.
Tiffany
No, but I mean, just try to remember that it’s like anemone.
Katy
It’s anemone.
Tiffany
It’s alternating, alternating consonants. NMn. Well, I know that word because it’s one of my favorite types of flowers. Beyond that’s a sea anemone. And then there’s the anemone, which is the beautiful flower with a very, very dark blue center and usually white petals. Sometimes they can be colored and they’re very beautiful. So that’s funny. I have a word that I can’t speak.
Katy
Oh, I have lots of words.
Tiffany
I have a couple words. Like, I have a word that I have, you know, I write, I wouldn’t say frequently, but regularly. And it’s so bad that the spellcheck can’t even figure out what I’m trying to write.
Katy
I have this problem all the time, so. I know.
Tiffany
So my word is sarcophagus.
Katy
Oh, yeah, that’s a good one.
Tiffany
Speaking Italian has helped me a little bit, because when you speak Italian in Italian, these words that have the same root, the same latin root, in Italian, the vowels are so pure that you never pronounce a vowel in the wrong way. Like an a always sounds like an a and o always sounds like an o, whereas in English, an o often sounds like an a and an I can sound like an e, and they’re like, what is it. So I’m a little bit better now, but I still struggle with sarcophagus.
Katy
Well, that’s the only one I think you’re.
Tiffany
I’m sure there are more. I’m sure there are more. I used to have a really hard time with necessary when I was a kid growing up, and my mom just was like, you gotta, you gotta drill it into your head. And, and I got it. And the other one, I think it’s the C’s and S’s. It’s hard. It’s hard for anyone, not just kids. It’s hard to know when it’s a c and r n s. So the other word that’s really hard for me, but I finally got it, is innocence. And I just had to be like, it’s just two c’s. There’s no s’s in that word. It’s two c’s.
Katy
Yep.
Tiffany
And there’s one more. There’s one more, but I can’t remember what it is and I’m pretty sure that I still mess it up. And it’s an s’s, S versus C’s thing, but I can’t think of which one it is.
Katy
Oh, it’s a daily thing where I have some word that the computer is like, can’t help you. And sometimes what I do notice is that the search engines, and I don’t use Google for the most part, can usually figure it out. So I don’t know why the document can’t figure it out, but sometimes I am alarmed at how far off I am. I’m like, wow, that wasn’t even really close to what it, I mean, it started with the right letter, and even sometimes it doesn’t. Like sometimes I, with the first letter, I’m like, is it an e or an I? I often have that problem, like imminent. Imminent, yeah, I mean, that one I know, but yes, it’s that kind of thing where it’s like, is that an I or an e? I don’t remember.
Tiffany
Oh, you know what you were talking about the difference between lay and lie.
Katy
Yeah.
Tiffany
For me, it’s effect and affect. The effect and the affect, affect, effect. And I have discovered a really, and I have to use this, this little phrase when I’m writing this word to remember. I used to have it pinned. I found it somewhere, like, I don’t know, I found it on a little piece of paper, maybe the newspaper, and I cut it out, and I used to have it on my, like, bulletin board over my desk, and it has like, a little image of an aardvark being shot with an arrow. And it says, the arrow affected the aardvark. So that’s aaa. The arrow affected the aardvark. And then the next sentence, he shows his eyes really big. The effect was eye popping. Okay, so the effect. The effect. The result of it was eye popping. So the verb is with the a, and the noun is with an e. So that’s my little trick now.
Katy
That’s good. That’s good. I do want to share one example that Nancy sent in. We started talking about this because of other discussion that we also had on Patreon. And Nancy wrote, I guess it was like I was talking about the pet peeve of certain things, and she said that she can’t stand when people say thank you in advance, which is grammatically correct. You can say thank you in advance, but she’s like, I don’t know why it bothers me so much. And I think I know exactly why it bothers her so much, because it says thanks you in advance, which means you’re going to do this for me. Thank you. You know, it’s basically like an order. It’s like a. It’s like a thank you, but an order. Thank you in advance for getting this done by Tuesday. You know, I. Well, I was thinking more Thursday, but okay, I guess I’m doing it by Tuesday. Yeah, totally. I totally get that one. As a pet peeve and Adri was saying, she also wrote in and said that she just uses the word so too often, which, from an interviewing point of view, so is my number one offender. You know, when I’m switching to a new question, I’ll say, so when it came to your move to Rome, you know, and oftentimes I just leave it. But I can ask every single question starting with the word. So if I don’t pay attention to it. So that’s great. So tell me that makes sense.
Tiffany
Why I.
Katy
It’s a transition, but it also completely.
Tiffany
Unnecessary, but it’s also a space filler. It gives you time to compose your next sentence.
Katy
Exactly. It’s like my equivalent of an um. So I’m also. Is me saying that’s interesting. And sometimes I’m like, I’m not saying it because it’s not interesting. I’m saying that is interesting. But me saying that’s interesting is me thinking like, but what is it about it that’s interesting that I want to follow up on? You know? So it’s like, I am actually literally saying it’s interesting because it’s interesting. But it’s interesting is also giving me the space to be like, well, why is it interesting? And where do we go from here? You know, so that’s another, so that’s another.
Tiffany
I was about to say that’s interesting, and I stopped myself.
Katy
All right, well, we should probably leave it there probably before we get too self conscious. Now I’m thinking, is everybody listening to this going, oh, you know, she says this thing all the time and it just drives me crazy. Or, you know, well, you should tell us. I really hate how she ends it by saying, let’s leave it there all the time. Leave what where? Oh, well, we are grateful for you. Thank you so much for supporting the show. We really couldn’t do it without you. And yeah, please do send us your comments. As you know, you can text us directly through the Patreon app. Send us your comments about all of this stuff, the whole thing, every bit of it.
Tiffany
Yeah.
Katy
Misspellings, welcome.
Tiffany
We have started a chat, an open chat on our Patreon that is just for our Patreon supporters. But I know that not all of you guys are on there. So if you’re interested in being part of that, download the Patreon app, because some of you might use Patreon just on your desktop, but there is also an app and you can interact with us that way.
Katy
Yeah, you can also comment below the episode because we look at those as well. But yeah, we’d love to hear all that stuff. Alright, we’ll leave it there and we will talk to you next month. Bye bye. If you enjoyed that episode, consider supporting the show at www.patreon.com/thebittersweetlifepodcast There is a link in the show notes. Your support is absolutely vital to the continuation of this program and there are so many fun episodes for you to discover. patreon.com/thebittersweetlifepodcast and thank you so much.
