Pet Peeves Part 2

I have been getting some reading done, finally. Vacation was good for that. I read 3 1/2 books!! Awesome!! However, it was exposing me to individual writing styles. I get critical I know it. I sometimes feel like the grammar police when I am reading or the spelling police.

There are some violations I can just overlook, but there are some that are so flagrant, I just can't turn and look the other way.

I have two new pet peeves.

If you will recall, the first two I posted about were beloved and for. "Beloved" grates "for" it is tired and overused and if you recall. "For" when used as illustrated bugs the crap out of me.

I now add "past" and "thank you very much".

It is frightening to me just how often writers use past when they mean passed. For example, I will read "I past the car on the right" when it should be passed. While I have overlooked this in the past (correct usage), it is occurring more and more frequently and I find I have to add it to my Verbotten list. It just may prevent me from reading a book if I find it early enough on.

While "thank you very much" is in itself not offensive, I get tired of reading it over and over, thank you very much. See? See how I did that? And that is the issue. I was reading a sample yesterday and in the first chapter alone, or perhaps chapters one and two, "thank you very much" was tagged onto the end of three separate sentences. It smacks of attitude. Condescension perhaps? Arrogance? Just being a smart arse? Can't quite put my finger on it, but the phrase has now joined the ranks of That Which Should Not Be Written.

I do have an attitude, but I enjoy well written work and authors that fall back on these types of conventions repeatedly really get my goat.

So, I shall be saying nay to all the "beloved", "for" and "past", "thank you very much".