# 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:** 6
**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 5, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/101 "2010-03-05T17:24:40Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Hmm, not as thoroughly as I should have it seems. Must take out my copy of Bill Bryson’s dictionary of troublesome words which I might have misremembered in the first place. Bear in mind that Bryson is primarily a humorous writer. His books about English are great, and I generally agree with his beliefs abiut prescriptivism/descriptivism- especially regarding what douches Fowler and Webster were- but he’s often hugely inaccurate about factual stuff. > [@](#): > > I could never understand how, in a field where there are mobs of English teachers, grammarians, and pedants, no one ever explained to the state board that the action is “to certify”, the piece of paper is the “certificate”, and if someone has the piece of paper, they are “certified”. I know it is an accepted usage over here, but every time I hear _burglarized_ I cannot help but think the speaked is a moron. 'Course, they’re usually newscasters, so it’s not like I’m wrong. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/102 "2010-03-05T18:31:47Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I know it is an accepted usage over here, but every time I hear _burglarized_ I cannot help but think the speaked is a moron. 'Course, they’re usually newscasters, so it’s not like I’m wrong. 😉 Had to guess at what you meant. Up until now I had no idea that the verb “to burgle” was not a nonce verb made up for The Hobbit. ---
**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 5, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/103 "2010-03-05T18:37:41Z")
To be perfectly honest, _burgle_ now sounds a bit odd to my been-in-America-for-half-my-life ears, so I’d probably just say _rob._ ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/104 "2010-03-05T19:06:00Z")
I used to know a guy who used to say “I don’t like to mix words.” Ship ----\> sailed. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/105 "2010-03-05T19:49:50Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > To be perfectly honest, _burgle_ now sounds a bit odd to my been-in-America-for-half-my-life ears, so I’d probably just say _rob._ Actually, robbery and burglary are not synonymous. In robbery, the robber is generally directly confronting the robbee; in burglary, the burglar is generally burgling from a building in which either there are no occupants, or the occupants are unaware of the burglar. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/106 "2010-03-05T20:13:06Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Actually, robbery and burglary are not synonymous. I was going to mention that, but as long as you did first… Did you learn that from the Mary Tyler Moore show? I did. ---
**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 5, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/107 "2010-03-05T20:45:43Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Actually, robbery and burglary are not synonymous. In robbery, the robber is generally directly confronting the robbee; in burglary, the burglar is generally burgling from a building in which either there are no occupants, or the occupants are unaware of the burglar. That’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/108 "2010-03-08T19:09:54Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Had to guess at what you meant. Up until now I had no idea that the verb “to burgle” was not a nonce verb made up for The Hobbit. And I had to look up _nonce_, because I’ve always thought it was _nonsense_ word. :smack: Jabberwocky! ---
**Author:** ![mo50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@mo50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mo50)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/109 "2010-03-08T20:06:00Z")
Friend of mine sometimes says “I’ll approach the subject” instead of “I’ll broach the subject” another’ll say “Well, I don’t mean to put a hamper on anything” instead of a “damper”. Both do it deliberatley for a chuckle (I think/hope) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/110 "2010-03-17T20:14:39Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > In California, teachers and school administrators must be certificated. > > I’m of the opinion that the state board is certifiable. Okay, so along these lines, am I right to mentally cringe every time my Shakespeare professor talks about Henry IV being ‘coronated’? It _is_ supposed to be crowned, isn’t it? Somebody please tell me I haven’t lost my mind. He’s a good teacher, but this is just making me crazy. I guess it’s a good thing we’re on to Othello now. And then, do I mention it? ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/111 "2010-03-17T22:21:04Z")
Our school principal has a couple times even typed out the phrase “illicit a response”. As for “finna”, I first encountered that from little black kids I was teaching. I too decided it was a contraction of “fixing to”, which I’d only heard before from my college buddy from Dallas. ---
**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:** [March 17, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/112 "2010-03-17T23:02:52Z")
You know what I hate? “Acclimated” instead of “acclimatised.” Another American usage which is apparently universally accepted, but it still makes me grind my teeth. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/113 "2010-03-18T00:06:22Z")
I read a paper the other day in which the student had used the phrase “by enlarge” instead of “by and large.” ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/114 "2010-03-18T02:16:35Z")
Orientate instead of Orient. Commentate instead of Comment. Utilise instead of Use. “No love was lost between them” when used to mean they hate each other; the phrase actually means the exact opposite - all the love between them was retained, none has been lost. > [@Haunted\_Pasta](#): > > [QUOTE=Khadaji] > We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it. Hey! I say that, too! It’s never gotten a laugh in 20 years, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna stop now. [/QUOTE] Mine is “We’ll come to that cross when we bridge to it”. Although on review, for causal correctness it should perhaps be “We’ll bridge to that cross when we come to it”. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/115 "2010-03-18T12:54:49Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > “Hone in on” instead of “home in on” Oh, man, the memories! My wife had a TITANIC fight with an associate who INSISTED that “hone in on” was a perfectly good use. Of course the real issue was he hated being corrected. He eventually developed the thesis (which, tellingly, he did NOT present early in the argument, showing that he had made it up entirely while searching for justification) that he meant he was “sharpening his focus” on the target, hence, “honing” was acceptable. I wanted him to send us the rest of his argument by _honing_ pigeon. ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/116 "2010-03-18T22:03:49Z")
A perennial favorite: It’s a doggy dog world. ---
**Author:** ![meanoldman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@meanoldman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meanoldman)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/117 "2010-03-19T00:13:43Z")
When talking to people about the corporate budget numbers, and they say ‘We will put off that expense until the next physical year’. ---
**Author:** ![snowmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@snowmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowmaster)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/118 "2010-03-19T15:43:19Z")
I’ve been waiting for this thread my whole life. My wife makes me cringe when she says “What in Carnation?” Of course, Tarnation sin’t really a word anyway.😃 ---
**Author:** ![snowmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@snowmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowmaster)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/119 "2010-03-19T16:02:56Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Let’s nip it in the butt. Gaaah! Wife does that one too. Threatens she will be nipping me in the butt all the time, too. Is that good or bad? When I was young, I was pretty sure that an avid basketball player as a basketballer who had contracted AIDS. More a word than a phrase, but still… The now-famous Ima as in Ima let you finnish, Ima go get a drink, Ima smack you in da face. How do you possibly squish I’m going to, I’m fixing to, I’m about to into one tiny syllable and 3 letters? This annoyed me long before the kanye thing. ---
**Author:** ![gang\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f07891/32.png) [@gang\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gang_green)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141/120 "2010-03-19T16:45:08Z")
Newcular. Ax (as opposed to ask). There was a phrase I saw earlier today that made me cringe, but I cannot remember it now. Typical. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-seen-mangled/531141.md?page=7)