It has been bothering me enough to start a thread about it; the constant abuse of my (and other) language(s) by those who are supposed to be natives.
Since I gather some of you on here are trying to learn Swedish, it might be good to point out a few mistakes you shouldn't make. For example, the awful habit Swedes have adopted of separating words that belong together when writing. Särskrivning in Swedish. I have no idea how to translate that (apart-writing?). Anyway, that particular habit is so bad because there are quite a lot of Swedish words that have been 'put together', so to speak, and will get a completely different meaning when parted. I'll just give you the most obvious example:
You're at a Swedish restaurant and spot a sign that says "rökfritt". You immediately understand that rökfritt means you're not allowed to smoke in there. Now you enter a second restaurant and spot a similar sign, only it says "rök fritt", translated as "smoke freely". So, smoke as much as you want then. You light up and you're immediately told by a pissed off waitress that it's forbidden to smoke in the restaurant, "didn't you see the sign?"
Could happen.
Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only language fascist out there (she said hopefully), otherwise this thread will disappear into nothingness (where it belongs). What mistakes/abuses/etc. really bother you when it comes to your language? Or English, as it seems to be something most of us speak/write...
Since I gather some of you on here are trying to learn Swedish, it might be good to point out a few mistakes you shouldn't make. For example, the awful habit Swedes have adopted of separating words that belong together when writing. Särskrivning in Swedish. I have no idea how to translate that (apart-writing?). Anyway, that particular habit is so bad because there are quite a lot of Swedish words that have been 'put together', so to speak, and will get a completely different meaning when parted. I'll just give you the most obvious example:
You're at a Swedish restaurant and spot a sign that says "rökfritt". You immediately understand that rökfritt means you're not allowed to smoke in there. Now you enter a second restaurant and spot a similar sign, only it says "rök fritt", translated as "smoke freely". So, smoke as much as you want then. You light up and you're immediately told by a pissed off waitress that it's forbidden to smoke in the restaurant, "didn't you see the sign?"
Could happen.
Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only language fascist out there (she said hopefully), otherwise this thread will disappear into nothingness (where it belongs). What mistakes/abuses/etc. really bother you when it comes to your language? Or English, as it seems to be something most of us speak/write...