My editing pet peeve - what's yours?

could care less.... can't believe how many times I have seen/heard that one.

quarterback sack.... grand-slam home run...

"less than" when talking about whole units (people in a crowd... yards... etc.) instead of "fewer than"

 

Could care less is correct. I've written at length on this before. "Could care less" is likely derived from a (sarcastic) Yiddishism. "Couldn't care less" is technically correct as well, but really the phrase is generally meant to be sarcastic, so "could care less" is actually more popular.

 

Read one way (without detecting the sarcastic Yiddish you are suggesting), it is absolutely wrong.

So, write it correctly in every possible interpretation. Could not care less.

 

Think of it this way: If you say "I could care less," you're really saying, "it's possible for me to care less about this topic than I do," which is not what you're trying to say. If you say, "I couldn't care less," you're saying, "there is no way on Earth I could possibly care any less about this topic than I already do."

 

F_town, I think we all understood that the two phrases are seemingly contradictory, instead of synonymous as they are in popular usage.

I can't imagine too many instances where you would be writing it other than direct quotes or in a very conversational and hyperbolic piece (like in a column), so you should actually write what the person says.

 

Bingo.

Bingo.

and Bingo.

 

"under/fewer than" and "over/more than" was something that slipped through my education until later on. I did learn it, though.

 

Well, it isn't the first time.

 

I nearly forgot my biggest pet peeve -- adding unnecessary, confusing and/or obvious parenthetical information in a direct quote:

"We (the Podunk Plodders) are going to beat them (rival Crosstown high) by 20 points (in today's high school basketball game). I guarantee it, (darn)it," coach Randy Goat said.

 

Along the same lines, overexplaining in cutlines:

"Michael Jordan (left) shakes hands with David Stern after being named MVP for the sixth time."

 

Well, to tell you the truth, I don't even care if you can't see his name; ain't nobody going to confuse the two.