It's "the worsT", not "the worse"

That should be “if worse comes to worst”.

Is that not correct?

There are loads of mistakes

I've done a lot of public speaking and always tailor my material to the audience. But that doesn't mean I compromise on quality of language - that would be unbelievably patronising.

I wouldn't assume a Cockney accent and start doing glottal stops to ingratiate myself with an audience - simply because I'd made all kinds of assumptions about them! And before you sneer at this - I've seen it done. Actually, Tony Blair was a big offender in this way - he was a public schoolboy who felt he needed to talk down to the masses. I don't think 'the masses' like that, or are fooled by it!

Archaic? I disagree. I’ve seen it written and heard it spoken throughout my lifetime, including recently.

It would be far better for people to understand the meanings of words rather than avoid using them because of a coincidental resemblance to unacceptable ones. We need to preserve the wonderful breadth of the English language.

Broadcasters in particular need to pronounce words properly. Radio 4 presenters forever pronounce “defuse” as “diffuse”, very annoying.

Just a thought...

I'm a pedant when it comes to official use of language and professional people's use of language.

But of course I understand that some people haven't had the benefit of a good education, or don't come from families where reading and discussion was encouraged. However, I feel very strongly about the importance of literacy for everyone. To deprive people of language and to tell them it doesn't matter is the opposite of empowering.

Sometimes - rarely - on MN there's an Original Post which is illiterate: no sentence breaks, no paras, spelling and grammar all over the place etc. These posts are hard to understand and pps often ask for clarification. The ones I've seen have been from an OP who is clearly in need of help and advice - they tend not to be the lighthearted, frivolous threads. It always strikes me how hard life can be for people who don't have a command of English for one reason or another.

That's why I feel so strongly about language - it's a vital tool and not just for poets and academics. You might not be into creative writing, but everyone needs to leave school feeling confident that they can make themselves clear in both speech and writing - it's not a trivial matter.

"A wide birth" always looks funny. Makes me think of childbearing hips.

Also, so many people seem to get advice and advise the wrong way around. I can sort of understand that as advice has the "s" around whereas advise (with an actual s) has more of a "z" sound. Although it shouldn't be hard to relearn.

I have popped into Pedants' Corner a few times moaning about people not finishing words properly. For example "a chill morning" (chilled, surely?) or "he is bias" (biased) or "first come, first serve" (served). The more this stuff gets repeated online, the easiest it is for people to assume these are the correct versions.

Also rising in popularity is "great full" instead of grateful. It makes me think "no you don't mean that you are full of greatness, you are full of gratitude ... think about it".

Nervously checking post for grammar and spelling!

I mean, you COULD try diffusing a bomb but you might end up with a very different outcome.

My vocabulary is just fine, thanks love. However, I would suggest that your circle is a pretty niche one. If someone is speaking to a broad group and wishes to be understood well by them, they should tailor their vocab to their audience. This is Communication 101.

I’m still trying to get past the ‘of’ instead of ‘have’ and ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re’… And these are from people whose first language is English!!

That isn’t what I said.

No one is claiming that "worse" isn't a word.

I reckon it’ll survive somehow.

*definitely
*worst

Ect instead of etc. people spell it wrong (on MN all the time) and they even say it! Ectetera is really hard to say so why not say it the correct way.

I’ve seen adverts for Chester draws 😂 Wrong in every way possible.

That definitely is the ‘worse’ 🤣🤣

Are you happy to live by the principle of making things a 'race to the bottom'?

I'm not!

Birth and berth getting mixed up is quite funny though - e.g. 2 birth caravan for sale. Did their kids really enter the world in there?

having reviewed a lot of documents in my time I find a lot of people haven’t a clue about the difference between principal and principle and affect and effect.

It's not outdated in my world! It's used often - say, when we have a meal out and someone might find the portion of chips etc niggardly.

I really dislike this idea that words are outdated - they're in the dictionary, you can look them up, so increase your vocab.

The writer Will Self was/is a great enthusiast for unusual words and his novels are full of them. Good for him.

Do you want to impoverish the language?

I was just reading about Dr Johnson and his dictionary and the influence it had on the English language. Words and language matter hugely to me and I won't have people telling me that some are 'not used any more'. Speak only for your own social circle - it doesn't apply to mine!

Ah the old “Chester draws”

YANBU, and it's "AS OPPOSED TO", not just "opposed to".

Yes. It's when professional or official people don't know how to speak - that's when it gets irritating.

On the BBC I've heard 'froo' for through, and 'fink' for think from continuity announcers. They used to employ trained actors for this job - who on earth are they employing now?

I'm not just making an 'academic' point - they are sometimes difficult to understand.

(Just to be clear: I'm not complaining about accents - you can have an accent and speak perfectly clearly by making the required effort that actors have to make .)

Another pet hate of mine is people who make no effort or concession to the fact they're speaking on a phone, or into a tannoy etc. Slow down, make sure your mouth is in the right place for the mic and be clearer in your speech. I would have thought that was obvious, but I hear lots of announcements etc where the speaker is basically mumbling.

Surely the very fact that they are “depressingly common” tells you that not everyone finds the difference as simple to discern as you do.

I think your post is the first time I’ve read that word in more than a decade, and the time before that was probably in a Dickens novel.

it was outdated decades ago.