# Weird manglish from the wild **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 29, 2021, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160 "2021-11-29T20:25:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/1 "2021-11-29T20:25:33Z")
And by “manglish” I mean the sort of English that is mangled, not the sort of English that’s spoken by a man. From a newssite this morning: “Some experts are therefore cautiously optimistic that – if Omicron turns out to be less lethal but more contagious and dominant than the Delta variant – the new mutation may actually be a **blessing in the sky**.” The headline does in fact have the expected "blessing in _disguise_ What manglish have you seen recently? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/2 "2021-11-29T20:31:16Z")
I got an email around Black Friday with the subject “Queue the Great Deals”. I don’t think they intended to be advertising long lines, but maybe I’m out of touch. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/3 "2021-11-29T20:40:30Z")
Presumably they meant the deals are lining up, not the people taking advantage of them. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/4 "2021-11-29T20:41:08Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > blessing in the sky One term for this kind of mistake is an “eggcorn”. > **[Eggcorn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggcorn)** > > An eggcorn is the alteration of a phrase through the mishearing or reinterpretation of one or more of its elements, creating a new phrase having a different meaning from the original but which still makes sense and is plausible when used in the same context. The autological word "eggcorn" is itself an eggcorn, derived from acorn. Eggcorns often arise as people attempt to make sense of a stock phrase that uses a term unfamiliar to them, as for example replacing "Alzheimer's disease" with Eggcorns... ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/5 "2021-11-29T20:56:01Z")
Cool. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/6 "2021-11-29T21:02:17Z")
A personal peeve that makes me grind my teeth is every idiot who says “wallah!” instead of “_voilà_!” Unless they’re praying to god in Arabic, it’s a gross mispronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/7 "2021-11-29T21:25:25Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > A personal peeve that makes me grind my teeth is every idiot who says “wallah!” instead of “ _voilà_ !” Unless they’re praying to god in Arabic, it’s a gross mispronunciation. It’s the typical sound merge like cot/caught or Mary/marry/merry. All the same to me. I do spell differently, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/8 "2021-11-29T21:30:15Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > A personal peeve that makes me grind my teeth is every idiot who says “wallah!” instead of “ _voilà_ !” Would you prefer they say “Viola!” ? ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/9 "2021-11-29T22:00:19Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I got an email around Black Friday with the subject “Queue the Great Deals”. I don’t think they intended to be advertising long lines, but maybe I’m out of touch. > [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Presumably they meant the deals are lining up, not the people taking advantage of them. I believe the expression they were thinking of is “cue”. Like giving a theater performer the _cue_ that it is time to get on the stage. Give the bargains their cue that it’s time to be purchased. (Yeah, anthropomorphization.) ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/10 "2021-11-29T22:04:42Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > A personal peeve that makes me grind my teeth is every idiot who says “wallah!” instead of “ _voilà_ !” Unless they’re praying to god in Arabic, it’s a gross mispronunciation. I had to look this one up. “The V is sometimes not heard”. > **[Definition of VOILÀ](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/voil%C3%A0)** > > —used to call attention, to express satisfaction or approval, or to suggest an appearance as if by magic… See the full definition ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/11 "2021-11-29T22:11:01Z")
Besides the possible Muslim prayer, “walla” is a word for a street merchant in some places. The more annoying version for me is pronouncing “voila” in English, “voy-la”. If you can’t speak proper French (and who can?) just say, “Ta-da!” I started a thread elsewhere about “the elf in the room.” And, speaking of eggcorns, I worked with folks who said, “I was being sour-castic.” Another used “wimp-sical” to mean timid. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/12 "2021-11-29T22:31:32Z")
Y’all need to come south. There not enough time left in my lifespan to tell you guys all the egg corn I hear, here, hair, her. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/13 "2021-11-29T22:58:19Z")
It’s not an eggcorn, but **Sr. Weasel** mixes up common expressions all the time. My favorite is when he said “we have to put our butts to the metal and get it done.” I don’t know if there is a name for that. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/14 "2021-11-29T23:01:36Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I don’t know if there is a name for that. A malapropism, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/15 "2021-11-29T23:04:13Z")
“Blessing in the sky” may well have been misinterpretation-by-robot of someone’s dictation. Which is why you always need to proofread before hitting send. Try watching a YouTube video with auto-subtitles turned on. You’ll see a lot of things like this. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/16 "2021-11-29T23:33:32Z")
> [@Hatchie](#): > > You’ll see a lot of things like this. I think you meant: “ye ole sea olive sings lye kiss”. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/17 "2021-11-29T23:42:29Z")
I just heard an NPR news guy try to get his mouth around “the Omicron variant.” It came out “Omni-crone.” ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/18 "2021-11-29T23:51:08Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > One term for this kind of mistake is an “eggcorn”. I’ve heard “very close veins” for vericose veins, which are visible superficial veins. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/19 "2021-11-29T23:52:24Z")
My Wife and I have two Trivial Pursuit games. The very first one and one purchased about two years ago. The questions on the new game are worded very strangely. Is this due to being produced overseas? Or perhaps a recent high school graduate in the US? Don’t know. My Wife and I gave up on the new one, because the questions are so poorly worded. “What the hell is the question”? ---
**Author:** ![Ranch\_Dip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranch_dip/32/5238_2.png) [@Ranch\_Dip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranch_Dip)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160/20 "2021-11-29T23:53:50Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > A personal peeve that makes me grind my teeth is every idiot who says “wallah!” instead of “ _voilà_ !” Unless they’re praying to god in Arabic, it’s a gross mispronunciation. I say Viola. On purpose. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-manglish-from-the-wild/955160.md?page=2)