As an ELA teacher, there are certain things that make me irritated. Most of those correspond with written communication. Over the years, I have developed these dislikes more and more. And yes they go far beyond the misuse of certain words being used incorrectly, such as your, you’re, there, their, its, and it’s. Even beyond the random use of the ‘s for creating a plural. No, these are much greater than that.
IDK
This has become a frequent answer from many of my students who would rather state, IDK, instead of even trying to answer the question. It gets them over with the work quickly, and I have a useless paper.
Firstly
When did this become a thing? I see it so often, even with my 6th and 7th grade students when writing their papers. I’ve seen it online. I’ve seen it in articles. Why? Why not just use the word First? Why Firstly? It just feels so wrong, and it stops me in my tracks when reading like a huge red flag has just sprung up. Even Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style tells us not to prettify up our numbers with -ly. Just don’t do it, people! Each time I see someone who is a “writer” use it, I want to toss them a copy of Strunk and White’s book.
Textspeak
I get it. When you are texting your friends, you don’t want to write out full words. It is much quicker than writing out the full word. However, most of us don’t use flip phones that require you to press the button multiple times, and chances are you have a larger text limit than 140 characters or less- especially when writing my essay. If I see another u or ur or btw, I think I’ll scream.
What are your pet peeves in the classroom? Does it involve writing, or behavior (I know I could write a book on the behavior)?
