Phrases that people get wrong

by trillionaire » Aug 18, 2009

LOL! Spot on, FI''s mom is from New Orleans! I knew he got it from somewhere!

 

by Miscka » Aug 18, 2009

This one makes me disproportionately furious:

I have a temperature. I can''t come to work (or whatever).


WE ALL HAVE TEMPERATURES! ALL OF US! If yours is HIGH (meaning you are SICK) you have a FEVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, I know, I am rediculous

Also, ditto Viszla, I hate when people say "eXpresso". It is eSpresso!! My DH does that and it drives me batty. Now he does it on purpose.

 

by princesss » Aug 18, 2009

I just heard a new one today. "Obeast" instead of "obese" which actually gives me a REALLY funny mental picture. I heard three people say it!!! It took everything in me not to break down and correct them. Everything. In. Me.

 

by AGBF » Aug 18, 2009

I had never heard of the phrase, "to make groceries" before, but I think I do. At least, I can make an educated guess about it. The English in and around New Orleans is heavily influenced by the French brought by the Acadians who migrated there. In French the verb, "faire" means both "to do" and "to make". It seems likely that the French influence would make people more ready to use "do" and "make" more interchangeably in English.

AGBF

 

by Amethyste » Aug 18, 2009

I hear some people say " Can you borrow me this? " Hummmm... Isn't "lend me this"?

and I cannot stand the use of: So and so blah balh... Such as .... and this after that blah blah such as....

 

by blackpolkadot » Aug 18, 2009

Thanks, AGBF! Makes sense now!

 

by MonkeyPie » Aug 18, 2009

Something that the especially ghetto-fabulous where I live say is, when they are talking about giving their child a bath, they say, "take her a bath." WTF?

I mean, I know you dropped out of middle school to have your fourth kid, but come on

And I'm joking, just so you know. But that phrase REALLY gets to me. Even some of the smarter people I know say it, and it grinds my gears.

 

by monarch64 » Aug 18, 2009

For some reason, people around here say "I''m running a temperature." It''s the strangest expression. How can you "run" a temperature?

 

by Moh 10 » Aug 18, 2009

Good quality car.
Poor quality car.



Quality is high or low, not good or bad.

Good and poor could describe the car itself but not quality.

 

by LaurenThePartier » Aug 18, 2009

Oh, and when people say "they want to have their cake and eat it, too". Looking at this chronologically, the order is fouled up. Of course you can have your cake and eat it, but you can''t "eat your cake and have it, too."

The original statement was written in 1546 by John Heywood, "wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?"

 

by trillionaire » Aug 18, 2009

how about in school, when kids ask if they can borrow a piece of paper for class? Are you going to write on it and return it to me?

 

by princesss » Aug 18, 2009

OH! Ball/bawl, bulk/balk.

A child bawls when they lose their ball.
You balk at the initial cost when you buy in bulk.

 

by treefrog » Aug 18, 2009

I know, really! Are they going to take the bath tub to the child?

Everybody knows they need to draw a bath!

Can''t figure that one out. Do you take an easel in there with you?

Treefrog

 

by Amethyste » Aug 18, 2009

It''s a little out of context... but when I met my husband, he didn''t really know all of the words in English to describe some object...
When descibed an Air conditioner, he called it "freezing Machine"
and the toilet scrubber, he called it "Cleaning tool". It was so cute.

 

by Amethyste » Aug 18, 2009

Yeah and a Tissue.... no thanks - you can keep it

 

by kenny » Aug 18, 2009

This thread is cracking me up.

I also go crazy when people use some of these.

 

by AGBF » Aug 18, 2009

I feel your pain, trillionaire, but the custom of using "borrow" in English for certain items that cannot be returned has been standard for many years and is not peculiar to the modern and uneducated. My mother would ask a neighbor if she could, "borrow" a cup of sugar or two eggs. It was clear that she would not return the same cup of sugar or the same two eggs, but would rather replace them.

AGBF

 

by drk » Aug 18, 2009

It drives me nuts when people say that you "implant" embryos in IVF. No, you transfer them, and hope that they will implant a few days later. And I''ve lost track of how often I''ve heard nurses or people at work say that someone seizured. Nope, they had a seizure, or they seized.
Or the overuse of the word "like", valley-girl style.
How about "me and him went..." instead of "He and I went...".

I read a TON as a kid, so I think that I''ve nearly always gotten homonyms spelled correctly. It seems pretty rare these days though. I wonder if there are more of us on PS who get peeved by this sort of thing because we''re on average more educated that the population in general?

 

by trillionaire » Aug 18, 2009

I def misused this the other day, probably somewhere on PS . Stupid brain farts, I have got to stop posting at 3am!


Guilty as charged!

 

by AGBF » Aug 18, 2009

Well, I think that one thing that we can safely conclude is that we are among the literate part of the population, otherwise we wouldn''t be able to read a forum.

AGBF

 

by trillionaire » Aug 18, 2009

I''d wager that the average person who is researching how to purchase high quality diamonds is probably more educated than most. It''s a pretty high class hobby...

 

by princesss » Aug 18, 2009

Haha, Trill, I didn''t even notice! I just got an e-mail today from somebody talking about buying "in balk." And they don''t have the 3 AM excuse!

 

by Upgradable » Aug 18, 2009

ying and yang? I get a visual of Tweedledee and Tweedledum!!

 

by Cehrabehra » Aug 18, 2009

All intents and purposes was ''all intensive purposes'' for over 25 years of my life ::hangs head::

 

by Gayletmom » Aug 18, 2009

I''m thoroughly enjoying this topic! These sorts of things annoy me frequently. Here are my latest peeves:

When someone says "there were less people at the store yesterday"...no, there were fewer people and, perhaps, less money or less inventory. Fewer is for people.

My kids say "do you want to verse me" when they are playing ball or something. I think they must get it from hearing "Plessy vs. Ferguson" or "LSU vs. Alabama" but the whole "verse" thing makes me want to scream.

My husband and his colleagues talk about how to "incentivize" someone. When did "incentive" become a verb?

Such fun pondering the language!

 

by trillionaire » Aug 18, 2009

'I'm excited about our upcoming vowel renewal!'

 

by Rock_of_Love » Aug 18, 2009

Just had to say it...but, it REALLY bothers me when people say "axe" instead of "ask"!

Pretty pleeeease - look at the spelling of the word. You don''t a-XXXX-e a question, you a-SSSS-k a question!

 

by ice-queen » Aug 18, 2009

Play it by year / Play it by ear (I can''t believe this hasn''t been mentioned....drives me nuts!!!)

I also can''t stand when people leave out the words "to be"...For example, "My car needs washed." No, your car needs TO BE washed!!! Ugh, this is such a Pittsburgh thing. I love Pittsburgh (or Picks-burgh, as I often hear!), but I can''t stand the way people talk...Seriously, there could be a whole thread just for stupid Pittsburgh sayings/pronunciations/words!!!

 

by kenny » Aug 18, 2009

You know, with all the teenagers texting all those abbreviated "words" they say English is about to change dramatically when they grow up.

LOL!