Two Things That Bug Me...

Hello.

There are two things which people do to the English language which really bug me.
First of all, I can't stand when people mispronounce certain words. For example: Library and February are two of the words I often hear being mispronounced. People will say 'Li-bury' or 'Feb-u-ary', and both of these are so wrong. These words both have an extra 'r' in them which a lot of people tend to leave out. The correct way to say them is Li-brair-ee and Feb-roo-air-ee.
Secondly, it irks me when people misuse words by giving them the wrong meaning. Take the word Medieval (Med-ee-e-val). This word simply means 'Anything which pertains to the Middle Ages', yet people use it to mean 'being mean or hurting someone'. And the word Apocalypse, which means 'Revelation', and which some people use to mean 'disaster' or 'destruction'. Wrong, wrong, wrong!!! I do not understand why people do not see their errors in these two areas. To me this abuse is not logical. People, please, learn how to pronounce these words or learn what they really mean, or please do not use them at all!!!
Thank you, Anna

Etc.,Etc., Etc....Wrong!

Have you ever read a posting on someone's blog, a post comment, or even a news article, and encountered the phrase "and etc."? This is wrong. 'et cetera' is a Latin term which means: "and the others..." and should not be used with the word 'and'. If they are used together then the user is really saying: "and, and the others" which is a bit redundant. The term "etc." can stand on its own with out a conjunction like 'and'.  So, the next time you see "and, etc." in print, or even hear someone using it while speaking,  just remember that it is not right, and you might want to tell them so, in the nicest possible way, of course. Thank you. Anna