English battles one cannot win.

There are certain misuses of the English language that are epidemic. They are so common that most people think they are correct. Many of those who know they are not (like moi) cringe every time they are used. The most offensive being, "If I would have known" or other variations of the same illiterate construction. I don't understand why it has even entered our language when the correct, "If I had known" is so much easier to say and far more euphonious. I am astonished by the number of well-educated people who use this expression and seem to have no awareness of just how incorrect it is. In fact, I recently saw it used on a U.S.Post Office commercial. The other even more popular misuse is the expression, "I could care less" instead of the correct "I couldn't care less". If you could care less then you care. If you couldn't care less, then you don't care. How difficult is that? Another recent almost-everyone misuse I noticed recently (not being a sports fan it eluded me) was that people say triathalon and biathalon when the words are triathlon and biathlon. Even sportscasters, who should know better, add that inaccurate "a". But sticklers and defenders of the English language are generally considered uptight pedants, so I don't expect the general public to suddenly have great respect for our wonderful language and try to use it as correctly as possible. And ain't that a shame?