# What misused phrases have you heard? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 14, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160 "2008-12-14T21:03:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/41 "2008-12-15T18:13:54Z")
> [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](#): > > Until now, I’d only ever heard “kitty-corner.” Can anyone else in Sasaktchewan back me up, here? I’m not in Sasaktchewan, but I’ll back you up. I learned kitty-corner when I was growing up, same as my sister. Yet she backs up her daughter saying catty-corner. I’ll say the fucken thing however I want. One that’s somewhere between amusing and annoying is spoken, not written: “Six and one half of a dozen or the other.” One that you’s two bug the crap out of me: “Oh by the way.” As in “I have to pick up my dry cleaning, oh by the way.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/42 "2008-12-15T18:23:57Z")
> [@Taenia\_spp](#): > > I’ve run into people using various phrases that they have no idea how to actually spell them. I think they hear certain phrases, and then make a guess on how to spell/pronounce them in an effort to sound erudite. > > Examples: > “wah lah”, a bastardization of **voilà** > “re-coop”, for **recoup** > > Any others? When was a senior in high school and president of a particular club, a freshman member wrote me a fairly formal letter airing her many grievances. It was “formally” written but extremely personal. She claimed that I was jealous of her because I would never be “Valid Victorian”, like she would be when she graduated. ---
**Author:** ![Arglefraster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@Arglefraster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arglefraster)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/43 "2008-12-15T18:25:15Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > I’ve mentioned before, years ago: seeing _phase_ instead of _faze._ It may be true that nothing phases you, but that’s only because Star Trek technology isn’t a reality yet. The word you’re really looking for is _faze_. No kidding? :smack: (I always thought it was phase.) I drive my husband nuts when I respond to the question “Why?” with “Cause” (pronounced like “Cuzz”). He always says “That’s not a reason. Or a word.” Of course he always pronounces “With” like “Wiv”, which drives _me_ nuts. His mom does the same thing, so I’m guessing he picked it up from her. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/44 "2008-12-15T18:25:41Z")
[QUOTE:drastic\_quench] Ouch. I’ve been there. I bit my tongue so incredibly hard when I had to listen to a less-than-stellar colleague go on about a certain “genre” – pronouncing it “John - ruh”. [/QUOTE] that’s not too far http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/genre The phrase “dead to (rights/rites)” has thrown me such that I don’t write it. Which is it? Also, another vote for “catty-corner”, though this is the first I’ve ever considered writing it out. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/45 "2008-12-15T18:25:52Z")
OK, this is not a misused phrase, but I hate it anyway. “By any chance?” “Do you have a stamp I could buy from you, by any chance?” Well, yes, I do, but it’s not by chance. I have stamps because I went to the post office and bought them. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/46 "2008-12-15T18:32:54Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > She claimed that I was jealous of her because I would never be “Valid Victorian”, like she would be when she graduated. Tee hee! Slight hijack, but this reminds me of the Pink Toe Shoes story I heard from someone on a different message board. The poster was once a member of some sort of support group, maybe a substance recovery group or something. One woman brought her pink toe shoes to every session. Every time she recounted her tale of woe, she would hold up her pink toe shoes and bemoan the fact that had her parents not abused her, she would have become a great ballerina. She was over six feet tall, extrememly big boned, and clumsy as an ox. And her ballet shoes showed absolutely no signs of wear. ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/47 "2008-12-15T21:08:38Z")
My absolute favorite misused/misunderstood saying: _It’s a doggy dog world._ Used as the graphic on a local news show, for a story about everyone just being out for themselves! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/48 "2008-12-15T21:24:02Z")
In the misuser’s defense, a lot of English phrases don’t seem to make much sense in today’s terms, like “cash on the barrelhead.” Maybe people that use phrases like “take for granite” just assume it’s an antiquated phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/49 "2008-12-15T21:46:38Z")
The one that’s driving me the most crazy lately, probably because I’m watching more news these days than I usually do and hear it quite frequently from people who should freaking know better, is ‘quote unquote’. Uhm, NO! If you’re trying to quote someone by verbally indicating the quotation marks, you say them in the place where you would _put_ them – _around_ their quote. If you write (or type) “”, you haven’t actually quoted anything!!! The other one that bugs me is so obscure that I’m sure it bothers no one else in the world but me, particularly since the misused phrase has become so commonplace it’s probably considered correct today. But it kind of bugs when people say, “He/She wants to have their cake and eat it, too.” Well, someone _can_ have their cake and eat it, too. What they can’t do is _eat_ their cake and have it, too, because once it’s eaten, it’s gone! > [@](#): > > [You can't have your cake and eat it - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_one's_cake_and_eat_it_too) > > **History** > > The phrase’s earliest recording is from 1546 as “wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?” (John Heywood’s ‘A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue’)[1] alluding to the impossibility of eating your cake and still having it afterwards; **the modern version (where the clauses are reversed) is a corruption** which was first signaled in 1812. > > Paul Brians, Professor of English at Washington State University, points out that perhaps a more logical or easier to understand version of this saying is: “You can’t eat your cake and have it too”. Professor Brians writes that a common source of confusion about this idiom stems from the verb to have which in this case indicates that once eaten possession of the cake is no longer possible.[2] Alternatively, the two verbs can be understood to represent a sequence of actions, so one can indeed “have” one’s cake and then “eat” it. Consequently, the literal meaning of the reversed idiom doesn’t match the metaphorical meaning. I hold out no hope whatsoever that I’ll ever get anyone to change it back again, so I’ll just have to go on slightly cringing every time I hear it. ETA: Oh, and add “All the sudden” to misused phrases that make me want to gouge my ears out. :shudder: ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/50 "2008-12-15T22:12:32Z")
On a flyer posted around the building: Holiday Potluck Dec. 19th Please bring: 1. Main Dishes 2. Deserts 3. Orderves ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/51 "2008-12-15T22:14:59Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > When was a senior in high school and president of a particular club, a freshman member wrote me a fairly formal letter airing her many grievances. It was “formally” written but extremely personal. She claimed that I was jealous of her because I would never be “Valid Victorian”, like she would be when she graduated. On the plus side, at least it wasn’t “formerly” written. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/52 "2008-12-15T22:26:23Z")
A few that annoy me: Bucu/boocoo (as in, “bucu bucks”). It’s beaucoup! It peaked my interest. No, it piqued your interest. I also know someone who says/writes, “It takes two to tangle,” instead of, “It takes two to tango.” ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/53 "2008-12-15T22:29:57Z")
> [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](#): > > How would you transliterate your own pronounciation, out of curiosity? Trust me, John-ruh with a hard J sound, is miles from (zhän’rə) - and you put an extra “o” in pronunciation. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/54 "2008-12-15T22:48:58Z")
Add the misuse of ‘then’ for ‘than’ (and vice versa) to my list. I see this one a _lot_! It’s even rampant here on the Straight Dope, where I would expect the average poster to be much more educated than most. Not meaning to pick on the OPer, but see the title of [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=497635) for an example. That misuse makes me want to gouge my eyes out. Before you know it, I’ll be deaf and blind! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/55 "2008-12-15T23:14:15Z")
> [@legalsnugs](#): > > My absolute favorite misused/misunderstood saying: > > _It’s a doggy dog world._ > > Used as the graphic on a local news show, for a story about everyone just being out for themselves! This was a graphic on the TV news? Oh my. I can’t believe I’m the 1st to say that points are never mute. It wouldn’t be much of a point if it couldn’t “speak” to you. Points can be moot, however. Drives me nuts when people say mute. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/56 "2008-12-15T23:16:33Z")
Come to think of it, other than here, I’ve never heard anyone say the phrase “you’ve got another think coming.” They always replace the word with “thing.” Even Judas Priest did it. I suppose it makes sense in its own way, but it’s still wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Across](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Across](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Across)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/57 "2008-12-15T23:44:32Z")
I’ve just been handed a document that in one part talks about a “themed pneumonic”. I think the author means mnemonic, but this also doesn’t make sense in the context. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/58 "2008-12-16T00:37:53Z")
This isn’t really a misused phrase but… No, you cannot AX me a question…if you need something answered ASK me The only think you can AX is my body if you want to kill me, and I’d probably take that over you saying ax ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/59 "2008-12-16T00:55:48Z")
> [@Audrey\_Levins](#): > > My ex used to say “bandit” when he meant “banshee.” As in, “Runs screaming like a bandit.” > > I’ve also heard “the hard of the matter” when in fact they meant the “HEART of the matter.” > > My most recent–and favorite–example is a text-message from a co-worker. She said she was going to pick up my shift for me, and then typed out “SIKE!!” > > It took me several seconds to realize what the hell she meant. > > Now it’s a running joke amongst my friends. > > Sike? Really??? > > It’s almost too sad to make fun of. > > ALMOST. In my experience, that is so commonly used in that way that I would just call it part of the evolution of language- that _sort_ of joke is just called ‘sike-ing’ among people who know how to talk… ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160/60 "2008-12-16T01:22:06Z")
> [@gurujulp](#): > > In my experience, that is so commonly used in that way that I would just call it part of the evolution of language- that _sort_ of joke is just called ‘sike-ing’ among people who know how to talk… Yes, but I’m fairly certain the point of his joke is that it’s supposed to be spelled “psych,” Urban Dictionary backs me up here. Psych: > **[Urban Dictionary: psych](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=psych)** > > Psych: Often believed, by those who don't understand the term's origin, to be spelt (or spelled, for the American audience) 'sike'. Deriving from the word... Sike: > **[Urban Dictionary: sike](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sike)** > > sike: A slang term (correctly, "psych") that was big in the 1990s. It's similar in usage to adding "not" to the end of a statement that's meant to be... Two of which say it’s a misspelling of the former. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-misused-phrases-have-you-heard/477160.md?page=4)