I laugh every time I read someone saying, "please bare with me". I'll skip what I envision when that is said.

I know it's probably not polite to correct people but it happens so often that I thought I'd mention it 'generically' so nobody feels offended and I can ease my own anal nature:

Brown, black or white furry creature is bear

Women bear children

People run bare buck naked

Please [color:red]bear with me

I hope you'll all bare with me now in a moment of silence in respect for the difference.

:girlgiggle:

There was an ad campaign here in Australia by a niche department store that promoted their sleeveless vests with the slogan "Exercise your right to bare arms."

The expression carries more emotion in the US, but it was still pretty cute at the time.

I remember an episode of MASH where Radar commented that "we all have a bear to cross".

I have a few more on the list:

• "there" ≠ "their"

• "you are" ≠ "your"

• "alot"

and that's just off the top of my head. I bear with them (just barely), but they do make me want to bare my teeth.

OK, we're all sticklers. (My favorite book).

And let's not forget, "it's" is not a possessive!

a pet peeve of mine that can be seen quite a bit on message boards is some people writing without using capitalization. it seems to me that if pressing the shift key is too much hassle then why follow any of the rules. itisreallyefficienttowritesentenceswithoutusingthespacebar

in layout its' allright to allot alot of bear space hear and their isn't it?

There are actually a lot of terms like this in English language. I believe they are called homophones. Words that sound alike but differs in spelling and meaning. Sometimes it is really used incorrectly to express certain causes or points. If you are not fond of writing/reading, it would be hard to distinguish which is which. :)

See the link for list of them (homophones)

http://www.bifroest.demon.co.uk/misc/homophones-list.html

Isn't it sad that there is no homophone for homophone.

Ditto for the fact that nothing sounds like "onomatopoeia".

Isn't it sad that there is no homophone for homophone.

"E.T. home phone."

I am curious if the phrase 'bring to bear' is considered 'jargon'.. There are so many of those that bug me, but I've actually spent time thinking about this one in the past because it's such a common mistake for people to make...

I am curious if the phrase 'bring to bear' is considered 'jargon'.. There are so many of those that bug me, but I've actually spent time thinking about this one in the past because it's such a common mistake for people to make...

Which is it that you think is a mistake?

"Bring to bear" IS the correct form.

As in "this has no bearing on the matter"; bearing a burden; etc.

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/bring+to+bear

I have a few more on the list:

• "there" ≠ "their"

• "you are" ≠ "your"

• "alot"

Don't forget "noone knows" for "no one knows".