Every now and then I like to unleash my readers' pet, "Peeve." While Peeve is a gentle dog in polite company, whenever he spots an error in grammar or usage, he attacks it like a chew toy. Grrrrr ...

Elmer Sullivan of Ewing, N.J., says his Peeve barks whenever he hears politicians and pundits say "unchartered" when they mean "uncharted," as in "BREXIT has led Britain into unchartered waters." "Unchartered," he points out, means "lacking a charter"; "uncharted" means lacking a map. Sic 'em, Peeve!

Art Frackenpohl's puppy pounces in Potsdam, N.Y., when he hears someone refer to "flushing out some new ideas" instead of "fleshing out" (making them more complete). He also snarls at using "ex." for "e.g.," as in, "I like several forms of dog food, ex., Alpo, Purina, Gravy Train."

Emailer Janit Romayko's hound howls when she hears "no problem" for "you're welcome," sentences that begin with "So..." and "passed" for "passed away," because it makes her think the deceased was a quarterback.

The bowwow of Lillian Handleman of South Windsor, Conn., isn't wowed by the use of "amount" instead of "number" to refer to countable items, as in, "The amount of pet peeves is increasing."

Raymond Poet's poodle in Portland, Conn., pounces whenever he hears TV weather folks referring to "tempAtures" instead of "tempERatures," while Frank Francisconi's terrier in New London tears up the use of "folks" for "people" or "persons," as in "weather folks." Oops.

Jon Paolone of Birmingham, Ala., has a chow who chews up the overuse of "due to" for "because," as in, "Due to rain, the pet parade has been canceled."

The thing is, is that Barbara Roger's malamute in St. Paul, Minn., wants to mute sentences that start redundantly with "The problem is, is that..." or "The thing is, is that..."

Ruth Edwards' greyhound chases the rabbit ears through Simsbury, Conn., whenever she hears a TV newscaster pronounce "reprise" as "ree-PRIZE," instead of "ree-PREEZE," and "ebullient" as "EBB-yuh-lint," instead of "ih-BUHL-yint."

In Greensburg, Pa., Peter Muse's mongrel mauls the overuse of "classic" to describe everything from superstars to suits to soda pop, and he chases "epic" and "iconic" as if they were cars.

Meanwhile, emailer Rick Wise's wise Weimaraner whines whenever he hears folks use "absolutely" or "perfect" instead of "yes," as in, "Rick, do you object to that?" "Oh, absolutely!"

Perfect!

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to [email protected] or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.