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 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.
Came here to share this one too
I care a tiny bit. I could care less, but not easily.
I agree that this is very vaguely irritating, but for me it only differs by one sound and a vowel quality
“I couldn’t care less” [aɪ̯.kɘ̃ʔ.kɛɹ.lɛs] vs “I could care less” [aɪ̯.kɘ.kɛɹ.lɛs]
Doesn’t this make sense if someone says it in a sarcastic manner?
No
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.
I could care less, but then I wouldn’t care at all…
“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.
I think they just heard could’ve or meant to say could’ve
Also they’re/their, your/you’re, here/hear, to/too.
That’s a dialectal difference, not an error.
I mean no? The have in could have is pronounced the same as of, but at least AFAIK no dialect explicitly says could of. Tell the other person to not mesh the two words together and they’ll say have. I think.
Minor nit pick from my experience. If the word is written out “could have” I enunciate the entire word. I only pronounce the contraction “could’ve” as “could of”. And vice versa when dictating.
Not when written
It’s very much not recommended, and generally seen as an error. But this article puts an asterisk on it.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/whats-worse-than-coulda
I am viscerally against this concept.
It’s one thing to include the spelling as a way to capture the phonetics of an accent or a dialect, entirely another to accept its use in writing when using a neutral voice.
If anything, because it’s so often just a misspelling I would avoid trying to use it as a phonetics thing just as a matter of style. At this point everybody would think I’m making a mistake instead of trying to mimic a way of speech in a way they’d never do with “coulda”.
With you on all counts.
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”.
Did you mean “would of”
Ugh yes. Autocorrect kept fixing it over and over. Must’ve changed it again when I hit post.
Yeah, must of.
Please state what country your phrase tends to be used
Please state in which country your phrase tends to be used…
Casey Point
This reply deserves to be put on a peddle stool
Touché
Worst Case Ontario
Get two birds stoned at once!
Haahahhaahahhahahahahaahaah
Reminds me of “Worse case scenario”
Worser cast scenario.
Thanks! I’ll be using that from now on.
“For all intensive porpoises” is the one that really annoys me.
They’re dolphins, not porpoises. Fuck, get your cetaceans right.
Lol I believe it’s “for all intents and doplhins.”
For all intensive dolphins
Feral intensive dolphins
[cetacean needed]
For all intensive porpoises, we should create a care-free environment.
This thread peaks my interest.
I hope my words
piquedsomeone else’s interests more.There is no fucking s at the end of “anyway”
“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
Niche is pronounced neesh and not nitch
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
“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.
You do things on purpose or by accident, you don’t do anything on accident.
I will follow you into battle.
onto battle
unto battle
Outto battle.
For non native English speakers (such as myself), these things can get tricky. It can be difficult to know which preposition is right especially when in relation to non-tangible concepts such as time, accidents, or purpose. Please do correct them though, people eventually learn with repetition.
Look, I’ve been speaking English for work and pleasure for thirty years now and I’m here to tell everybody that prepositions in English are arbitrary conventions and it’s all mostly fair game.
Unless you are trying to precisely identify the position of an object relative to something else, the “correct” preposition is a few years of consensus away from changing.
I definitely understand that. But none of this thread is trying to hold non native speakers’ feet to the fire.
I hope you know of that phrase. I just realized that’s a saying that might not translate.
Our language is the offcuts of several others stitched together, to make some sort of coherent garbage.
Never feel bad about getting something wrong - most of the natives butcher it in their daily lives without a second thought.
The accents are wild too. I feel so sorry for new speakers that are confronted with Scots. The further north you go, the more unintelligible it gets to the basic English speaker.
I’m from Angus originally (not the very top, but close enough), but moved to Wales. There was a period of time where I could understand everyone, but found myself not understood by others.
Eventually my own accent settled into some sort of “Scwelsh” that works, but it’s difficult for listeners to place me geographically.
Have a few bonus Welshisms for your trouble:
“I do do that I do” - I also do this
Whose coat is that jacket? - Who owns this coat?
Now in a minute - Could be immediately. Could actually be in a minute. Could be an hour from now.
You’re right, English is dumb, but I’d say 95% of the time it’s native English speakers I hear getting this particular one wrong.
Sometimes I do things off purpose.
… or by purpose.
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
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.
