21 peeves that crush writers’ souls
Redundancies, made-up words, incorrect usage—all drive wordsmiths bonkers, and not in a good way. Abandon all hope, ye who click here.
That would probably be very entertaining for anyone who saw me, but not very useful. Blogging about them, on the other hand, is super useful, because if anyone is in the habit of using any of these and stumbles across this post, maybe they’ll stop.
A big thank-you to all the smart people who responded to my question on Facebook about writing redundancies and other pet peeves, making this post what it is:
1. “It’s sustainable, and it’s also profitable.”
” ‘Sustainability’ means meeting the needs of people, planet and profit.” —John Friedman
2. “When airline gate agents announce ‘the last and final boarding call.'”
“Umm, there’s a difference?” —Jim Parsons
3. “Long story short…”—Scott Kaminski
4. “My biggest pet peeve is we use the word ‘use’ incorrectly. Use and utilize do not have the same meaning. They are not synonyms. Google it.”
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