# Phrases you've seen mangled **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141 "2010-03-03T16:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/41 "2010-03-03T20:12:26Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > What the hell are you conversating about, now? Just respondifying to these tantalizations. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/42 "2010-03-03T20:12:56Z")
I used to have a major problem with the word “hella”. It’s a bay-area-and-north word, that means “very” or “a lot of”. Is he cute? Dude, he’s hella cute! Nah, I’m not hungry, I went to the buffet for lunch and had hella chicken. I’ve made my peace with it in recent years, but I still twitch a little. ---
**Author:** ![TheBori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@TheBori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBori)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/43 "2010-03-03T20:14:26Z")
Irregardless. I now have my kids telling people…“You mean anti-dis-non-irregardless?” Just to make their point. ---
**Author:** ![Gomi5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8491ac/32.png) [@Gomi5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gomi5)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/44 "2010-03-03T20:32:04Z")
One that I mangled for a long time: massive Christian burial. (Mass OF Christian burial. Very different. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Mom-of-Andrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@Mom-of-Andrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mom-of-Andrew)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/45 "2010-03-03T20:40:24Z")
"I wanted all my ducks in a row so if we did get into a posture we could pretty much slam-dunk this thing and put it to bed. " Lee Cooke, mayor of Austin, TX ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_Tightlips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@Joey\_Tightlips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_Tightlips)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/46 "2010-03-03T21:01:24Z")
It was an innocent mistake but my Aunt once said, when discussing a relative of ours with lung cancer, \*\*"…are you kidding, he smokes like a fish!!". \*\*She clearly just confused “smokes like a chimney” with “drinks like a fish”, but the fact that she said it so emphatically to such a large group of people just cracked me up. The best part was that I was the only one to notice, so while I was laughing hysterically, my relatives were looking at me like I was crazy for laughing at lung cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/47 "2010-03-03T21:23:22Z")
To round things out, here are a few more. Although words and not phrases, they make my spleen hurt whenever I hear them and, therefore, deserve mention. Pronouncing the word ‘deteriorate’ “detiriate” Pronouncing the word ‘mischievous’ “mischeevious” Pronouncing the word ‘espresso’ “expresso” Pronouncing the word ‘supposedly’ “supposably” Pronouncing the word ‘especially’ "Expecially’ Pronouncing the word ‘cache’ “cashay” Pronouncing the word ‘larynx’ “larnix” Pronouncing the word ‘across’ “acrost” Pronouncing the word ‘jewelry’ “joolery” …to name a few. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/48 "2010-03-03T21:26:42Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > To round things out, here are a few more. Although words and not phrases, they make my spleen hurt whenever I hear them and, therefore, deserve mention. > > \ > > …to name a few. 😉 Preach it! Every one also on my list! ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/49 "2010-03-03T21:39:51Z")
> [@Joey\_Tightlips](#): > > It was an innocent mistake but my Aunt once said, when discussing a relative of ours with lung cancer, \*\*“…are you kidding, he smokes like a fish!!”. \*\*She clearly just confused “smokes like a chimney” with “drinks like a fish”, but the fact that she said it so emphatically to such a large group of people just cracked me up. The best part was that I was the only one to notice, so while I was laughing hysterically, my relatives were looking at me like I was crazy for laughing at lung cancer. Hey, nobody’s human. ---
**Author:** ![breaking-reality](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a8b319/32.png) [@breaking-reality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breaking-reality)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/50 "2010-03-03T21:41:13Z")
> [@TheBori](#): > > Irregardless. > I now have my kids telling people..“You mean anti-dis-non-irregardless?” Just to make their point. I am totally guilty of this one. I almost always catch myself, though, as I _know_ it’s wrong. I also have a tendency to say “controlative” which is…not a word. I have mostly beaten myself into the correct word use. 😛 ---
**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:** [March 3, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/51 "2010-03-03T21:43:41Z")
Use of _except_ in place of _accept_. _Viola_ when meaning to write _voilà_, or worse, writing ‘wallah!’ or some such. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/52 "2010-03-03T22:08:38Z")
In _Diggstown_, Bruce Dern used the phrase “tear this man from limb to limb.” It REALLY gets on my nerves, as the correct phrase is to tear _limb from limb._ My SIL drives me nuts using the word “unthaw” to refer to the process of “unfreezing” something. I don’t _actually_ smack her with a wet trout, but I’d like to, all the while shouting, “It’s THAW!! The word is THAW!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/53 "2010-03-03T22:15:09Z")
Unravel is a lot like unthaw, eh? One of the funniest lines in _O Brother Where Art Thou?_ is after one of the guys spills a big batch of paper money onto the ground and one of the travelers says something like “Friend, some of your folding money has done come unstowed.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/54 "2010-03-03T22:18:11Z")
> [@Beadalin](#): > > Although this is apparently creeping into acceptable usage, but it still drives me nuts when I see something that “is comprised of” other things. Um… why? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/55 "2010-03-03T22:22:55Z")
Lemme axe you a question. AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!! ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/56 "2010-03-03T22:28:25Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > This is kind of like threads where various misspellings drive you nuts, but this one is about phrases and cliches. These can be spoken as well as written. > > The latest one I’ve heard was “If money was no option, where would you live?” Um, if money was no option, I’d live with my parents. If it was no OBJECT, then I’d live in a beach house. > > “It doesn’t matter, it’s six and one half dozen of the other.” Gotcha. Twelve. > > “If you eat that, it’ll make you sick, then you might throw out.” Mmm, projectile vomiting. > > “We’ll get so stoned 'til stoned isn’t stoned.” I think he meant to say stoned as stoned can be. He may not have been thinking clearly at the time. My wife is notorious for these. “Half a dozen of one, half a dozen of the other.” No, the idea is that you use two different ways of saying the same thing. “That model is so thin. She’s very stealth.” Uh, I think you mean svelte. My friend’s daughter does it too. “He’s not very smart. His head must be shallow.” I think you mean hollow. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/57 "2010-03-03T22:35:34Z")
I once chided one of my employees for responding to a customer with an unintelligible email. So she wrote another one to the customer to apologize for the"confusement" she caused. ---
**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:** [March 3, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/58 "2010-03-03T22:42:33Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Unravel is a lot like unthaw, eh? > > One of the funniest lines in _O Brother Where Art Thou?_ is after one of the guys spills a big batch of paper money onto the ground and one of the travelers says something like “Friend, some of your folding money has done come unstowed.” One of the possible meanings of _unravel_ is an autoantonym, but generally, unravel means untangle - which is the way it’s commonly used. And unstowed means loose, which makes sense in the quoted context. But unthaw means to freeze. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/59 "2010-03-03T22:43:02Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Lemme axe you a question. > > AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!! That’s querstion. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/60 "2010-03-04T00:43:35Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Same with toeing the line. Until recently I thought it was towing. Yeah. My position on that is this- Toeing the line sounds ridiculous. Completely. Towing the line makes me picture a guy pulling a barge with a tow line… He’s towing the line. He’s doing the work, if he doesn’t the barge might be lost to the river. You do it right or something bad might happen. Toeing? Seriously TOEing the line. Utter bullshit. That’s just my position. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141.md?page=4)