Pet Peeves

I've been thinking a lot lately about a couple of things that kind of "bug" me...

People not knowing the difference between Standard Time and Daylight Saving Time designations
There are two time designations that we use in the U.S. - Standard Time and Daylight Saving Time.  First, I'll just say...it is Daylight SAVING Time, not Daylight SavingS Time.

What really bugs me though is when people don't understand when to use the designations for Daylight Saving Time.  So, here is a quick lesson.  Let's say you live in New York.  That is the Eastern time zone.  In March, we change from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time.  So, 4 p.m. goes from EST, which stands for Eastern Standard Time to EDT which is Eastern Daylight Time.  The same thing happens across the other time zones in the U.S.  In November, when we change from Daylight Saving Time back to Standard time, New York goes from EDT to EST.  Now...here's a little monkey wrench to throw at you...here in Arizona, we don't observe Daylight Saving Time.  So, since we're in the Mountain time zone, we are always MST (Mountain Standard Time).  Other parts of the Mountain time zone, like Utah, do change to MDT in the summer, but we don't.  So to avoid confusion with people who don't really understand time zone designations, often we in Arizona say we're on PDT - Pacific Daylight Time - because in the summer, Arizona is actually the same time as California and the other Pacific time zone states.

Using "I" instead of "me"
Let's say you're posting a picture of you and a friend.  It's incorrect to say "Susie and I" as the caption.  The appropriate caption is "Susie and me".  Think of it this way...if you were just saying it was you in the picture, would you just say "I" as the caption?  No, you'd say "Me".  Now, if you want to say "Susie and I went to the store", that is fine because you would still say "I went to the store" if it was only you that went.  Easy, huh!?

Using "she" vs "her" and "he" vs "him"
Same thing goes for this one...you should say "She and I went to the store" versus "Her and I went to the store."  You wouldn't say "Her went to the store", but you would say "She went to the store".

Not knowing the difference between to, too, and two
To - usually part of a verb/action or a destination - I went to the store.
Too - in addition to something - He went to the store too.
Two - quantity - We bought two apples at the store.

Not knowing the difference between their, there, and they're
Their - possessive - Their dog barked.
There - location - We had never been there before.
They're - a contraction for they are - They're moving over there.

People who think they are above everyone else and use the carpool lane without a second person in the vehicle.
Seriously?  What makes them better than you or me?  Sure, if they have a special plate that allows them to drive in the carpool lane with only one person, then fine, I'm cool with that.  But, if someone drives in the carpool lane just because they're in a hurry and the regular lanes are backed up - well, that is just wrong.

Okay, I got all of that off my chest.  Whew...

Oh wait one more....it's Voila!  Not wa-la. I hear this all the time!  Makes my skin crawl.

Okay, done.  Rant over.