# Do you say "mid-drift"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2007, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001 "2007-05-14T05:15:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/1 "2007-05-14T05:15:51Z")
I keep hearing and seeing people using “mid-drift” instead of “midriff”. I think this is an interesting change. (I’m not knocking it; I just think it’s interesting.) Do you say this or know someone who does? I’m sure I’ve seen it on this board. ---
**Author:** ![Defective\_Detective](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@Defective\_Detective](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defective_Detective)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/2 "2007-05-14T05:49:40Z")
I have heard people say it. Fortunately, I’ve never actually seen it written. If it’s spoken, I can let it slide as odd pronunciation, but written? I think I would lose it. That kind of stupidity just gets to me like you don’t even know. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/3 "2007-05-14T06:19:57Z")
As I sit here on my new labtop computer, I can’t help but wonder what a mid-drift is. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/4 "2007-05-14T06:27:40Z")
[QUOTE=Captain\_C] As I sit here on my new labtop computer, I can’t help but wonder what a mid-drift is. [/QUOTE] I’ll just tell you that it frequently appeels to the pruryunt interest. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/5 "2007-05-14T06:36:26Z")
[Here’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=420128&highlight=mid-drift) a guilty party ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/6 "2007-05-14T06:47:28Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] [Here’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=420128&highlight=mid-drift) a guilty party [/QUOTE] She’s a witch! Buuuuurrrrn her! ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/7 "2007-05-14T06:55:35Z")
Rightly or wrongly, it’s certainly apt to refer to the action of a lot of female clothing these days. I have tops that keep drifting to points north of the navel which would be fine if only the slacks & jeans weren’t made to slither south. I’d be much happier if they didn’t drift away from the midpoint, myself. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/8 "2007-05-14T07:39:03Z")
Do I say “mid-drift”? I do not. I speak the King’s English and try my best to enunciate. I really am appalled at the number of folks who don’t understand the spelling behind the words. I recently inquired about a gentleman’s last name. The answer? “Dotson, just like the dog”. Do WHAT? Err, that’s Dachshund. It’s not spelled OR pronounced the same. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/9 "2007-05-14T07:40:14Z")
I do not say it. When I encounter it in print, I fix it. (I’m an editor, so this is my job.) But I think what we have here is language drift. Someday, mid-drift will be correct. The one that gets me is “step foot,” as in, “I didn’t dare step foot in her room.” It used to be “set foot.” I guess “step foot” is equally correct, but I don’t like it. So I change that, too. (In print, on things I’m editing.) The problem is that people hear things, and don’t read, and then they sit down and try to write on message boards without knowing the mechanics (because they can talk just fine, so they think they can write, and in some cases they are correct. In other cases, they’re not.) Somebody sees something like “mid-drift” and says, “Aha, so that IS how it’s spelled,” and goes on to perpetuate the error. I prefer to perpetuate errors in pronunciation. For instance my son and I plan to read _The Count of Monte Cristo_ this summer, and whenever I tell somebody this they say, “Did you say the Count of Monte CRISCO?” And I say, “No!” Although I probably did say Crisco. That is all I’m confessing to tonight. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/10 "2007-05-14T07:50:20Z")
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze] But I think what we have here is language drift. Someday, mid-drift will be correct. [/QUOTE] No, it won’t, because your _mid_ does not _drift_. It might if, like your ‘step foot’ example, it actually made some level of logical sense, but a ‘drifting mid’ is not any kind of logic, so it’s nothing more than a homonym, and so won’t take hold. At least, I _hope_ it won’t, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/11 "2007-05-14T08:37:57Z")
No. I don’t say it, and I’d never seen it before this thread. I also don’t regard anything with _distain_, which I just read here. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/12 "2007-05-14T08:57:46Z")
I’d never come across this before I saw it in a thread on here. I’ve always used “midriff” and I had to stop and think what the poster actually meant when I read “mid-drift”. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/13 "2007-05-14T13:07:58Z")
I thought this thread was going to be about sliding around corners in a car. So, no :). ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/14 "2007-05-14T15:21:14Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] No, it won’t, because your _mid_ does not _drift_. It might if, like your ‘step foot’ example, it actually made some level of logical sense, but a ‘drifting mid’ is not any kind of logic, so it’s nothing more than a homonym, and so won’t take hold. At least, I _hope_ it won’t, anyway. [/QUOTE] Mine did! It has drifted out a little and when I sit my mid drifts down a little. I’m working on it though. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/15 "2007-05-14T15:41:49Z")
A [mid drifting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midriff) too far often results in a [muffin top](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muffin_top). ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/16 "2007-05-14T15:43:51Z")
One example is the word drawers. I even posted here once a link to I believe was from Target, where they were advertising an item that had “draws.” I keep seeing it, I keep hearing it and yet no part of my mind can make it ok. Just don’t ask me to pronounce candelabra, I just can’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/17 "2007-05-14T15:51:21Z")
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze] But I think what we have here is language drift. Someday, mid-drift will be correct. [/QUOTE] It’ll always be wrong, but someday it might be accepted. See [Irregardless](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irregardless). ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/18 "2007-05-14T17:10:57Z")
I had never given it any thought - which makes me believe that I would be one of those who would have gotten it wrong. Of course, now I’ll know. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/19 "2007-05-14T17:19:04Z")
[QUOTE=fishbicycle] I also don’t regard anything with _distain_, which I just read here. [/QUOTE] Uh oh. I don’t know what’s wrong with that. Help? (And no, not knowingly on the mid-rift thing. I may have taken an odd angel on the topic of angles, once or twice, but that’s typo, not ignorance. And I know that atheists aren’t the most athi.) ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001/20 "2007-05-14T17:25:24Z")
It’s disdain. But I think you all are just prejudice. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-mid-drift/404001.md?page=2)