this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2025
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Please state in which country your phrase tends to be used, what the phrase is, and what it should be.

Example:

In America, recently came across "back-petal", instead of back-pedal. Also, still hearing "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes".

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[–] brap@lemmy.world 136 points 1 week ago (10 children)

Americans saying "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less".

[–] proudblond@lemmy.world 47 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I’ve seen so many attempts at justification for that one online but I can’t help but think that those people just don’t want to admit that they’re wrong.

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[–] ptz@dubvee.org 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Obligatory David Mitchell

I also like the bonus "hold down the fort" at the end.

Because as you know, it's an inflatable hover fort and, once relieved of my weight, it might float off into the sky.

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[–] shyguyblue@lemmy.world 107 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (10 children)

"Could of..."

It's "could have"!

Edit: I'm referring to text based things, like text and email. I can pretty much ignore the mispronouncing.

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[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 79 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Please state what country your phrase tends to be used

Please state in which country your phrase tends to be used...

[–] GuyDudeman@lemmy.world 60 points 1 week ago

Casey Point

[–] HeckGazer@programming.dev 26 points 1 week ago

This reply deserves to be put on a peddle stool

[–] SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago
[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 67 points 1 week ago (6 children)
[–] Obscura@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago

Get two birds stoned at once!

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[–] theedqueen@lemmy.world 56 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

English/US - seeing “would of” instead of “would’ve”or “would have”. This one bugs me the most.

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[–] ptz@dubvee.org 47 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

"Chomping at the bit". It's champing at the bit. Horses champ.

"Get ahold of". It's "get hold of" or, if you must, "get a hold of"

"I'm doing good". No, Superman does good. You're doing well.

[–] Nemo@slrpnk.net 43 points 1 week ago (10 children)

You do things on purpose or by accident, you don't do anything on accident.

[–] adam_y@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I will follow you into battle.

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[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 37 points 1 week ago (4 children)

This thread peaks my interest.

I hope my words piqued someone else’s interests more.

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[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 37 points 1 week ago (2 children)

There is no fucking s at the end of "anyway"

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[–] Bosht@lemmy.world 36 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Idiots misspelling lose as loose drives me up the wall. Even had someone defend themselves claiming it's just the common spelling now and to accept it. There, their, and they're get honorable mention. Nip it in the butt as opposed to correctly nipping it in the bud.

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[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 35 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Pretty sure it's "Feral Intensive Porpoises"

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[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 34 points 1 week ago (6 children)

"For all intensive porpoises" is the one that really annoys me.

They're dolphins, not porpoises. Fuck, get your cetaceans right.

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[–] eponymous_anonymous@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 week ago (3 children)

“Toe the party line” To align with the interests of a political party; to get in line with the agenda of the leader of a political party

“Tow the party line” Something to do with tugboats

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[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Discreet vs Discrete used to crack me up on dating sites. All those guys looking for discrete hookups - which kind of makes sense but I am sure is not what they meant.

I literally ground my teeth today because I got an email from a customer service person saying "You're package was returned to us". Not a phishing email with an intentional misspelling, a legitimate email for a real order I made. If it is your JOB to send messages like this they ought not have misspellings.

So the context matters to me. I am more tolerant of spelling errors and mis-phrasing in everyday life than in a professional communication.

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[–] leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl 31 points 1 week ago (11 children)

affect vs effect.

the usual case for effect is as a noun, and for affect, as a verb.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago

Just to clarify the exceptions to the general rule:

effect as a verb: to cause or bring about

This policy effects change.

affect as a noun: a display of emotion

She greeted us with warm affect.

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[–] pomfegranate@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago (3 children)
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[–] Scott_of_the_Arctic@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I ~~could~~ couldn't care less

Hold ~~down~~ the fort

The proof ~~is in the pudding~~ of the pudding is in the eating

~~elon musk~~ Twat

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[–] BenLeMan@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Alot is not a word.

Also, the vanishing use of countable quantities: they are all amounts nowadays.

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[–] Venator@lemmy.nz 27 points 1 week ago (3 children)

My pet peeve is when people use "then" but they actually meant to use "than". I think it might be mainly due to flaws in predictive text on phone keyboards though.

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[–] witty_username@feddit.nl 25 points 1 week ago (24 children)

Niche is pronounced neesh and not nitch

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[–] SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social 23 points 1 week ago

Aisle. As much as I would love to take a boat to the breakfast food isle (a.k.a. island), I'm pretty sure that I need to look in the breakfast aisle at the grocery store.

[–] KittenBiscuits@lemm.ee 23 points 1 week ago (17 children)

Using weary/wary interchangeably. I am tired of people not being aware of the difference.

Also, "decimated". The original usage is to reduce by one tenth. It didn't mean something was nearly or totally annihilated, but thanks to overuse, now it does.

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[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

About 1 in 3 posters here say “loose” when they mean “lose”

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[–] Poop@lemmy.ca 23 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Using "racking" instead of the correct "wracking" in "wracking my brain". Not very common, but it annoys me... But not as much as "could of"... That is the worst, just stop it!

This is online and in person in Canada.

[–] credo@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago (5 children)

This one never gets me anywhere, but “begging the question” is actually a logical fallacy where you assume the result and use that as the basis of your argument. Otherwise, it raises the question.

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[–] Tahl_eN@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (3 children)

"You can't have your cake and eat it" The older form was flipped: "you can't eat your cake and have it" They both can mean about the same, but the older form makes it much clearer - if you've eaten your cake, you no longer have it. But you could have your cake, then eat it.

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[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I don't generally correct people's spelling or pronunciation but something I've noticed occurring more and more lately is people using "loose" when they mean "lose" and it gets under my skin for unknown reasons

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[–] bitchkat@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (4 children)

It's always going to be the "of" people. Its "would have", "should have" etc and not "would of".

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[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (6 children)

To "step foot on". I don't care that millennial journalists are now sullying the literal NYT with this, it's WRONG. It's to set foot on. To SET foot on.

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[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (5 children)

I'm still confused that reckless driving causes wrecks.

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[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (2 children)
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[–] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Those mis-stated phrases are called eggcorns. They’re a fascinating contributor to the evolution of language.

The term egg corn (later contracted into one word, eggcorn) was coined by professor of linguistics Geoffrey Pullum in September 2003 in response to an article by Mark Liberman on the website Language Log, a group blog for linguists.[5] In his article, Liberman discussed the case of a woman who had used the phrase egg corn for acorn, and he noted that this specific type of substitution lacked a name. Pullum suggested using egg corn itself as a label.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggcorn

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[–] JoeKrogan@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago

On accident, it is by accident. 🤬

[–] cokeslutgarbage@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Idk if this counts as a phrase, but on the internet, people talk about their pets crossing the rainbow bridge when they die. That's not how the rainbow bridge poem goes. Pets go to a magnificent field when they die. They are healed of all injury and illness. When you die, they find you in the field and you cross the bridge together. It's much sweeter the way it was written than the way people use it.

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[–] Nollij@sopuli.xyz 17 points 1 week ago (8 children)

"flush it out" instead of "flesh it out" when designing a plan

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