Chester Draws, in a parallel universe

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

Somewhere this week on MN, I've seen someone write about 'the luck of the drawer' - which still makes sense, as if there's a huge chest of many, many drawers & you have to pick one to open, without knowing what's inside any of them.

The 'thing' version is not correct but is being used frequently, probably because the TV subtitles are always wrong. They are responsible for a lot of the mangling we see these days.

'I can't be asked'.
Yes you can, but you might not be bothered.

'Bare with me'
No thanks, I prefer to keep my clothes on, especially if I am on the Chube.

I think the “thing” version is just a case of its having become so common that it’s now reluctantly accepted as inevitable, even though it doesn’t even make sense. Could be subtitles contributing to the misconception too though, you’re right.

”Think” is definitely the correct version: “If you think I’m going to tidy that up for you, you’ve got another think coming”

How could “thing” possibly work?

I am tryna see what is outside.

Subtitles are again responsible for this.

I thought tryna was just a colloquial abbreviation, like gonna or wanna or my favourite, Imma?

Wollah

One of my faves is potatoe - not sure why really.

Because it is a great feet of misspelling and we all kneed to spell it that way?

Perhaps you're a covert fan of 80s/90s US Vice President Dan Quayle?

GBoucher · Today 07:54

Which reminds me of an unrelated bug bear of mine. Snuck.

I, too, harbour an intense dislike for that, Cf "shined," and "dove." What? He pure white pigeoned into the water, from a great height.

Coffee "grounds," grindings, FGS!

Snuck & dove are Americanisms, aren't they? I find myself saying 'gotten' & 'airplane' sometimes. Bloody annoying.

SinnerBoy, shined is correct if you're saying, 'He shined my shoes.'

Whenever I hear 'gotten', I want to puncture my eardrums so I never have to hear it again. Same with 'I could care less' and 'Me either' Why????

Coffee "grounds," grindings, FGS!

No it's grounds. The level of fineness is called the grind; the actual stuff is called grounds.

'Gotten' is the original form of the past participle, which travelled out to America. Its use dwindled in England, but remained in the USA and some parts of the UK.
Why? It follows the same Old English formation of the past participle as forgotten, hidden, eaten, broken, given, taken, bitten ...

I keep seeing wary and weary confused.

Women instead of woman.

I was surprised to hear a game of "parcel parcel" anounced at a kids birthday party.

My other favourite is que - used to replace queue and cue. My DC seem to get quite obsure spellings at school, including homophones, but never queue and cue, which might be why so few people can spell either.

GBoucher · Today 16:50

SinnerBoy, shined is correct if you're saying, 'He shined my shoes.'

He polished my shoes, he made them shine.

BettyUnderswoob · Today 17:07

No it's grounds. The level of fineness is called the grind; the actual stuff is called grounds.

That may be the industry terminology, but it ain't right. To grind is the action, the resulting fragments are the grindings.

www.mrtreeservices.com/blog/use-stump-grindings-mulch/

I was thinking someone who couldn't be pinned down!

@BettyUnderswoob I am aware of that. There are many such examples. But language evolves. The fact that something was used centuries ago (there is no 'original'. 'Gotten' is also an evolved form of an even older word, which in turn was evolved from something else and so on) doesn't make it 'correct'. If we took that attitude, we would still all be speaking like cave men.

Ill gotten gains, anyone?

@SinnerBoy ,

'He polished my shoes, he made them shine.' Yes, that is correct grammatically. But 'to shine (shoes)' is a verb in its own right so there is absolutely nothing wrong with saying 'he shined my shoes'. Some verbs conjugate differently according to the meaning, e.g., the picture was hung on the wall; the traitor was hanged. It doesn't mean one is wrong. Hung and hanged are both correct depending on the meaning.
You wouldn't say 'the traitor was executed using a noose round his neck' just to avoid saying 'hanged', would you? So why would you say 'He polished my shoes, he made them shine.' instead of 'He shined my shoes.' just to avoid using 'shined'? This is very odd reasoning.

Yeah, I wasn't sure about this one. Everyone says 'coffee grounds'. That's what I've always called them. It's in the dictionary. But it doesn't follow the pattern of similar things like 'pencil shavings' (not pencil shaveds) and tree cuttings (not tree cuts), so I do have to wonder why 'coffee grounds' have become the 'official' word. Language is weird. And wonderful.

*has become