Mispronunciation and extra punctuation
I've already ranted about grammar in general, these are specifics (not pacifics as Mrs Trellis pointed out below).

Superfly78 brought up Skellingtons.

I'll add another one to the mix - this does tend to be a Kentish dialect thing though,
Chimley - the thing on top of a house that allows the smoke out. Known in Scotland as a Lum.

It's a Chimney. No 'L'.

And errant question marks. I know we've taken on board a great deal of Antipodean culture in the shape of Kylie, Neighbours and Home and Away, not forgetting Prisoner Cell Block H, of course. It has been suggested that this has led to the rise of the Aussie inflection - every sentence is ended as if it's a question.

This spoken inflection appears to have invaded the written word too....Often sentences end with question marks yet a question is not being asked explicitly.

Generally the rule is that if a sentence begins with one of the following then it is a question:-

Who
What
Why
Where
When
How

Of course this is a general rule which means there will be exceptions to it.

However, if you could bear this in mind when you post I won't be cross?*









*Did you see what I did there? That was an example of a common error.

*Takes off teacher's glasses. Opens wine*
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Tue 6 May 2008, 17:39, 5 replies)

I also...
...really dislike when people write "could of" instead of "could have". That's just pure laziness, brought about by years of slurring their speech and not understanding what they actually write. Get out of the gutter, for goodness sake.
(webvictim is invariably at work, Tue 6 May 2008, 17:40, closed)

The two which irritate me the most
are:

torlet, instead of toilet, and proberly, instead of probably.

These may also be regional as I've only ever heard them used locally. They make me want to swing a length of 2 x 4 at the offender's head.

Oh, and have a click for "lum"
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Tue 6 May 2008, 18:03, closed)

Proberly
Gah!

"I proberly brought the chimley at B&Q?"



*Screams in rage!!!11111*


EDIT
And on Lum - my Dad (Scotsman through and through) settled an argument I was having with the girl who lived nextdoor when I was about ten. She insisted it was Chimley. I was having none of it. I turned to my father to tell us who was right...he said the L had got there from Scotland..."Lang may your lum reek"
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Tue 6 May 2008, 18:09, closed)

@TWW
"prolly" really gets me wound up. It's the worst of all worlds in the "probably" market.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Tue 6 May 2008, 19:46, closed)

if it's any consolation...
chickenlady, as someone who works as a copy editor (what you brits would call a sub editor), i feel your pain. those errors and more are found in horrifying abundance in the work of supposedly-professional writers for major newspapers. Its* depressing.
--tuqueboy
*an example of one of my pet peeves -- people not knowing the difference between it's and its.
p.s. have you read eats, shoots and leaves?
(tuqueboy has been in a medically -induced coma since, Wed 7 May 2008, 4:35, closed)