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”.
Americans saying “I could care less” instead of “I couldn’t care less”.
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.
I say “I couldn’t care less”, but I used to think that “I couldn’t care less” was used in context where someone seemed like they don’t care and they give that as a snarky remark, implying that they can care even less.
I care a tiny bit. I could care less, but not easily.
Doesn’t this make sense if someone says it in a sarcastic manner?
I say “I could care less” and then follow it up with, “but I’d be dead”. Correcting “I could care less” is dumb because you literally can care less about lots of stuff, but saying the phrase indicates you just don’t really care.
“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.
Also they’re/their, your/you’re, here/hear, to/too.
It’s definitely a mistake, but I think it has slipped by because spell check wouldn’t have a reason to mark it, and not everyone uses grammar check, so they think it’s correct to spell it out by the sound of the contraction.
Worst Case Ontario
Get two birds stoned at once!
Reminds me of “Worse case scenario”
Worser cast scenario.
English/US - seeing “would of” instead of “would’ve”or “would have”. This one bugs me the most.
The thing is that, at least in the UK, many people also say “of”. You might say that in quick speech it’s not possible to tell between “would’ve” and “would of” which is probably where this misspelling came from, but I once was talking to my English friend and after he said something quickly, I asked if he just said that “she would see it?”, to which he replied “she would OF seen it” putting a lot of emphasis on that “of”, making it clear that he wasn’t aware that it should be “have”.
This thread peaks my interest.
I hope my words
piquedsomeone else’s interests more.Oh this one’s peak
“Shoot that guy when he peaks the corner again”
This is peek Lemmy right here.
In Everquest, there was a Gnome NPC in North Ro at the docks where you went to Velious that said “peaked your interest.” Always bugged me.
“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
TIL
I always heard people use it as a synonym for pushing the envelope (like you’re walking right up to the line and prodding it with your toe), and only found out the “falling in line” meaning later. I still see tons of that usage today, and I wonder where it came from.
Britain I think?
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.
they ought not have misspellings
Wouldn’t it be “ought not to”?
Why no! In the negative (ought not) you don’t need the to.
Neat. That gives me old British author vibes
To my ears it sounds weird without the “to”, but so does “fraught” instead of “fraught with [something]”, which is now common-ish.
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.
double oo for loose so not tight, lose for the one that has lost one.
Double oo so its a oooo?
Why not, fine for me
I might loooose my parking space…
“For all intensive porpoises” is the one that really annoys me.
They’re dolphins, not porpoises. Fuck, get your cetaceans right.
[cetacean needed]
For all intensive dolphins
For all intensive porpoises, we should create a care-free environment.
I
couldcouldn’t care lessHold
downthe fortThe proof
is in the puddingof the pudding is in the eatingelon muskTwat“Hold down the fort” and “the proof is in the pudding” is how those phrases are currently used in the US, regardless of their origins, and they still make sense. “Could care less” is objectively wrong unless you’re trying to indicate that you do kinda care.
The last correction is accurate.
Sometimes I like to be extra specific about how it is physically impossible for anyone to care less than I do about <something>.
To add to that
twittertwatterxtwatterXitter
Irregardless
Irregardless.
Without regardless
Without without regard
With regard
I’m going to end my emails with irregardless and see what happens. What’s the worst that can happen?
“Irregardless, MajorMajormajormajor.”
I’m writing with regards to the issue of…
That’s very friendly and I’ll be sure to forward your regards…🙄
This is literally a restaurant near me. Quite good one too
Also, the vanishing use of countable quantities: they are all amounts nowadays.
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.
Fuck yes. Most annoying mistake in English. Seems to have sharply risen during the last few years
More then a few made the mistake back than, too.
It’s one of those ones that bother me too as a non-native speaker, they’re such different words from each other when you learn them more from reading than oral exposure. The they’re/their/there trio is another one where I can’t fathom how people have issues distinguishing them.
Very well said. Those all bug me for that same reason. Very different meanings.
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.
About 1 in 3 posters here say “loose” when they mean “lose”
That triggers me lol
Don’t forget:
brake vs break
waist vs waste
