# Little facts people get wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 15, 2016, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575 "2016-10-15T02:48:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/121 "2016-10-17T23:05:08Z")
Using _of_ when you really mean _have_. “I knew I should _of_ voted for Clinton” Using _then_ when you really mean _than_. “My new car gets better gas mileage _then_ my old one” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/122 "2016-10-18T00:30:58Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Nice - pedantic Niiiiiice. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/123 "2016-10-18T00:42:51Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > These folks are overconfident hyper-achievers. 😃 If they attempt something, dammit, they are damn well going to accomplish it! Do or do not. There is no try. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/124 "2016-10-18T01:43:56Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > “I could care less” > > No, you _couldn’t_ care less. You don’t know that. I can _always_ care less. My indifference has unplumbed depths. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/125 "2016-10-18T01:46:06Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > Using _of_ when you really mean _have_. > > “I knew I should _of_ voted for Clinton” > … This one grows out of the aural confusion of “should’ve” with “should of”. For the many people who substantially never read and so do all their language learning by ear, this is an easy mistake to make. More so in some dialects and accents than others. That doesn’t make it right. But it does make the error more understandable. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/126 "2016-10-18T01:49:13Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not on Google Scholar they are not. Literature is a legitimate subject for some scholarly texts. Not just ornithology. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/127 "2016-10-18T02:15:13Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Literature is a legitimate subject for some scholarly texts. Not just ornithology. Perhaps so, but the first couple of pages are scientific studies. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/128 "2016-10-18T02:38:10Z")
People who use the word “nonplussed” to mean the opposite of what it actually means. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/129 "2016-10-18T02:50:27Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > People who use the word “nonplussed” to mean the opposite of what it actually means. Same with “abashed,” “enervated,” and “bemused.” ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/130 "2016-10-18T05:43:10Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > Oh thank god, this drives me nuts and I thought I was the only one. I mean how difficult is it to get right? > > On a sidenote I find it kind of amusing that until recently the equivalent UK system was known as the ‘Bikini State’. Ha, wow - as in, the Bikini Atoll tests? But yes, I recently read an article that said that in light of the troubles and woes facing the Trump campaign, that the Trump campaign was now at “DEFCON 5” mode. What - in light of all these massive, urgent crises, the Trump campaign is now officially hitting the red button and saying, “Everything is OK, normal, no problem?”:smack: _Although_…maybe that \*is \*their way of doing things… ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/131 "2016-10-18T05:44:25Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > But they should have named it the other way around. DEFCON-1 is upper limited, there isn’t anything beyond it. I think that is the point though. By having it so that it can’t go any lower than 1, you hit a ceiling of maximum readiness. If the ceiling were upwards, then someone might always keep saying, “I want a level of readiness more dire than DEFCON-5.” and then, “We need a level of readiness even more than DEFCON-6. Make it DEFCON-7.” ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/132 "2016-10-18T10:57:51Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I always notice that - it seems to be a feature of Black Engkish Vernacular, like “here go” for “here is” - but I see nothing wrong with it. There’s no reason that “stay” cannot describe the action of occupying a dwelling just as accurately as “live”. I don’t think it’s quite the same as “live” - I never hear people say they are “staying” in the house that they own or the apartment where they are on the lease. They’re always “staying” with their mother or their sister, etc. It seems to indicate a non-permanent situation, in the same way I might “stay” at my sister’s when I’m visiting her or having work done on my house. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/133 "2016-10-18T11:17:51Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I don’t think it’s quite the same as “live” - I never hear people say they are “staying” in the house that they own or the apartment where they are on the lease. They’re always “staying” with their mother or their sister, etc. It seems to indicate a non-permanent situation, in the same way I might “stay” at my sister’s when I’m visiting her or having work done on my house. As **Acsenray** mentioned, ‘stay’ definitely means ‘reside on a permanent basis’ in Scotland - it caused me slight confusion the first time I encountered it, because I was _Staying_ (in the England-English sense of the word) in a hotel nearby (i.e. in Scotland) - when I replied about the hotel, the person I was talking to said “no, but where do you _stay?_”. So if it can mean that in Scotland, why not in other English dialects? Words mean what people accept that they mean (also, it seems wrong that ‘stay’ cannot imply permanence, because in a literal sense, that’s exactly what it \*does \*mean - it’s the opposite of ‘go’). ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/134 "2016-10-18T11:21:21Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > As **Acsenray** mentioned, ‘stay’ definitely means ‘reside on a permanent basis’ in Scotland - it caused me slight confusion the first time I encountered it, because I was _Staying_ (in the England-English sense of the word) in a hotel nearby (i.e. in Scotland) - when I replied about the hotel, the person I was talking to said “no, but where do you _stay?_”. > > So if it can mean that in Scotland, why not in other English dialects? Words mean what people accept that they mean (also, it seems wrong that ‘stay’ cannot imply permanence, because in a literal sense, that’s exactly what it \*does \*mean - it’s the opposite of ‘go’). I’m not saying it _can’t_- I’m saying in my experience in the US it _doesn’t_. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/135 "2016-10-18T11:24:21Z")
OK - understood. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/136 "2016-10-18T12:45:19Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > As **Acsenray** mentioned, ‘stay’ definitely means ‘reside on a permanent basis’ in Scotland - it caused me slight confusion the first time I encountered it, because I was _Staying_ (in the England-English sense of the word) in a hotel nearby (i.e. in Scotland) - when I replied about the hotel, the person I was talking to said “no, but where do you _stay?_”. > > So if it can mean that in Scotland, why not in other English dialects? Words mean what people accept that they mean (also, it seems wrong that ‘stay’ cannot imply permanence, because in a literal sense, that’s exactly what it \*does \*mean - it’s the opposite of ‘go’). I don’t know if it’s still used this way, but in some older British texts (older as in Victorian), I have seen the word “stop” used for a less permanent residence. As in, “At which hotel are you stopping?” I’m sure I’ve seen it in Sherlock Holmes, and I want to say I may have seen similar usage in Dickens and Thackeray as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/137 "2016-10-18T13:12:35Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > I don’t know if it’s still used this way, but in some older British texts (older as in Victorian), I have seen the word “stop” used for a less permanent residence. As in, “At which hotel are you stopping?” I’m sure I’ve seen it in Sherlock Holmes, and I want to say I may have seen similar usage in Dickens and Thackeray as well. That sounds right to me. ‘[Overnight stop](https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187138-i2558-k3035232-Overnight_stop_in_Troyes_city_centre_or_near_motorway-Troyes_Aube_Grand_Est.html)’ is certainly in current use - so by extension, ‘stop’ still makes sense on its own. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/138 "2016-10-18T13:30:26Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > That sounds right to me. ‘[Overnight stop](https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187138-i2558-k3035232-Overnight_stop_in_Troyes_city_centre_or_near_motorway-Troyes_Aube_Grand_Est.html)’ is certainly in current use - so by extension, ‘stop’ still makes sense on its own. And also, of course, the slightly old-fashioned and somewhat derogatory phrase “dirty stop out”, referring to someone who has made an impromptu - but hopefully enjoyable - overnight stay with a very recent acquaintance. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/139 "2016-10-18T16:07:23Z")
I wonder about the practicality of some of these errors. When enough people start using the word incorrectly but consistent with each other, as a minimum an acceptable alternative definition exists. If I’m talking to my co-worker at an IT job and mention a “robin”, there is no confusion. Being in Virginia, he will know I’m talking about Turdus migratorius not Erithacus rubecula - at least in terms of the mental image my words invoke. If I go to Europe on vacation or to the local ornithology club, it might be important to be more specific. To insist that common names are “wrong” is not just pedantic, it is wrong itself. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575/140 "2016-10-18T16:43:11Z")
For decades, there are people who confuse Taiwan with Thailand. It still happens. It makes no more sense than confusing New York with New Jersey. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-facts-people-get-wrong/768575.md?page=8)