LIP: 20 Embarrassing Phrases Even Smart People Misuse

[L]

I'm terrible with spelling & grammar...but I did know most of those.

[rootbeerfloat]

The expression "piece of mind" actually would suggest doling out sections of brain. 

This seems like an appropriate thread to vent about something that bugged me this week. If you can't spell "dilemma," then I'm too distracted to read your thread. Call it a problem instead, lol.

[kategm]

I'll own up to getting #9 wrong. I didn't realize that Slight was wrong there.

[rugbywife]

I have only ever been guilty of one of those…I had NO IDEA that for all intents and purposes as in fact NOT for all intensive purposes until I was into my 30s. For shame.

[justjen]

I apparently once had a very heated discussion on home vs hone in at work (ah, editors, lol). I don't even remember much about it, but my colleagues at the time still mention it. I was Team Hone, fwiw

[rugbywife]

Homing in makes sense to me because of the idea of a homing pigeon.

[waterchurch]

I knew these. You know which one I have self doubt about? Free rein/reign. I always thought it was free rein, like giving a horse a loose rein to go where they will. Free reign also kind of makes sense too, though. It's rein, right?

[rbp]

I have left the "d" off of first-come, first-served.   For the most part, I feel like if an idiom doesn't make sense to you then you should probably abstain from using it, because you're probably misusing it. 

Here's one I can't figure out: "say my peace" or "say my piece?" I guess I should follow my advice above and not use it. 

[rootbeerfloat]

Mar 13, 2015 20:27:44 GMT -5 @this said:

Mar 13, 2015 20:18:33 GMT -5 rootbeerfloat said:

The expression "piece of mind" actually would suggest doling out sections of brain. 

This seems like an appropriate thread to vent about something that bugged me this week. If you can't spell "dilemma," then I'm too distracted to read your thread. Call it a problem instead, lol.

Nooooooooo this was me! Is "dilemma" wrong?!

NO! Someone on MM used "delimma."

[Poppy]

I think honed in is the only one I routinely get wrong.

I have been waiting for one of these threads so I can complain about averse vs adverse.

[noodleskooze]

Yeah, the only one I got "wrong" was the "hone/home" one, but I will just defend "hone" as acceptable anyways.

[justjen]

Mar 13, 2015 20:41:08 GMT -5 Poppy said:

I think honed in is the only one I routinely get wrong.

Hone in is not wrong! It's "hotly debated," lol

i.word.com/idictionary/hone%20in

ETA: the link is for the Merriam Webster website. My arguments seemed to carry much more weight when their URL was the much clearer "m-w.com"

[catbus]

ALL of these bug me. And what's worse is some are so widely (mis)used, that I've doubted myself on occasion.

[catbus]

Mar 13, 2015 21:08:35 GMT -5 @fivedogs said:

Mar 13, 2015 20:25:19 GMT -5 waterchurch said:

I knew these. You know which one I have self doubt about? Free rein/reign. I always thought it was free rein, like giving a horse a loose rein to go where they will. Free reign also kind of makes sense too, though. It's rein, right?

It's rein.  Also "rein in" is correct.  

grammarist.com/spelling/free-rein-free-reign/

www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/reign-rein-and-rain

"Rein" vs. "reign" really irks me, and I see the misuse on these boards all the time. 

Also, the previous link you posted is from my alma mater. I love that it's one of the most-cited grammar references out there. 

[waterchurch]

I'm glad I was right! I'm going to give myself free rein to eat an ice cream bar in celebration.

[bowies]

Mar 13, 2015 21:34:36 GMT -5 @mrswindycity said:

"I could care less" is one of my biggest pet peeves of alllllllll time.

Mine too. Arrrgggh it's like nails on a chalkboard.

[kordanegirl]

I knew all of these, aside from #10, which I've heard either way.

#19 is my huge pet peeve. It's piqued, people!

[magpie]

My H and I say "intensive purposes" as a joke. We also over emphasize the H in whet (Whet your appetite) because we dorks.

[heygrey]

Mar 13, 2015 20:28:41 GMT -5 rootbeerfloat said:

Mar 13, 2015 20:27:44 GMT -5 @this said:

Nooooooooo this was me! Is "dilemma" wrong?!

NO! Someone on MM used "delimma."

and if you check the "Job Advice" thread currently trending on MM (lol), you'll find "dillema."

you're welcome.

[heygrey]

Mar 13, 2015 22:26:36 GMT -5 @vicmo said:

Mar 13, 2015 22:24:14 GMT -5 heygrey said:

and if you check the "Job Advice" thread currently trending on MM (lol), you'll find "dillema."

you're welcome.

But she's really in a pickle!
*rimshot*

!

after reading that, all i've been thinking about is deep fried dill pickles i had at a party a couple weeks ago. so good.

[irish]

Mar 13, 2015 21:34:36 GMT -5 @mrswindycity said:

"I could care less" is one of my biggest pet peeves of alllllllll time.

Me too. I see it a lot on these boards. So often that I was beginning to think it was an American phrase. Like, the way the English language developed differently on two continents (which it has a bit) to have an idiom such as the incorrect one but yet in UK/Ireland it is the "correct" one.

[mannah]

Someone at my H's job pronounced "impetus" as im-pee-dis multiple times during a large meeting and we still laugh about it. Seemed appropriate to put that here. Hope this isn't a regional thing or else I will sound like a big a-hole.

[rbp]

I once said "DEB-a-cull" (for debacle). Luckily it was only around H, but I was mortified.

[gibbinator]

I really thought it was baited breath! That's embarrassing since I correct other people's grammar for a living :/
I also think it's hilarious that there's an "an" error in #10. Proofread your article about English errors!

[gibbinator]

Mar 14, 2015 6:20:09 GMT -5 incogneato said:

Mar 14, 2015 5:32:10 GMT -5 mannah said:

Someone at my H's job pronounced "impetus" as im-pee-dis multiple times during a large meeting and we still laugh about it. Seemed appropriate to put that here. Hope this isn't a regional thing or else I will sound like a big a-hole.

I actually see mispronunciations as a different thing. To me, it indicates that the person has read the word but never actually heard it spoken.

When I was a teen I said "veHEEmently" instead of vehemently because I read a lot of books but no one I knew used that word around me.

It's funny, in my head I always pronounce it ve-HEE-mently, but when I say it out loud it comes out right.
I was 20 before I realized that gesture was not pronounced "guess-ture"

[iheartbanjos]

I don't use he phrase often, but I say "honed in".

I also thought it was baited breath.

I haven't even been awake for an hour, and I learned something new!