I really cannot stand when people do not use proper English when speaking or writing. It causes the person who is speaking to sound completely ignorant and I automatically want to deduct about 15 IQ points. I understand that in some cases using improper English can and should be used for dramatic effect or is a matter of local dialect, but words should be used with their proper meaning, association, and order.
An example of this is people who include themselves at the beginning of a list of people rather than at the end. "Me, John, and Juan went to the concert." It should always be John, Juan, and I went to the concert." A person should always include themselves last in these situations, but hardly anyone every does this anymore!!
A second example that truly irks me is the use of the double negative in a sentence. "I don't got no money." First of all, "got" should not be used in this sentence or in any sentence where the proper word is have. This statement should always be "I do not have any money."
I realize that I may be guilty of these grammar mistakes on occasion, but if people really make a conscious effort to speak properly foreign visitors would not automatically assume that America is populated by idiots who cannot speak their own language, let alone a foreign one.