Annoyingly misused words/phrases

[Echobelly]

I saw a listicle about 'Nepo babies' of famous people who looked just like their parents, when what they meant is 'child of a famous parent'. Not all of them were in the public eye or attempting to break into the entertainment or sports industry. Nepo baby specifically means someone using their parents' clout or connections to get a career, it doesn't mean 'child of a famous parent' and that kind of annoyed me.

Have you seen any misuses of a word or phrase that has irritated you?

“I was today years old when I discovered…”

That phrase is spectacularly irritating because it makes no sense. ‘Today years old’ - what is that? Say you discovered something at the age of X, or you were X years old when you realised something but not that you were today years old.

Bear with me seems to be accepted now like could “of”. Now I just noticed mumsnet or my phone correct that to could have but it mustn’t do it on email or Teams because at work it is rife. I’ll just throw in “egg nore “ (instead of ignore. Couldn’t think how to show what I mean so excuse my attempt at phonetics here !).

See “bare” with autocorrected here too. I’m being asked to “bare” with at work constantly.

A BBC presenter has just talked about a "triathAlon". It's a triathlon.
We don't have a " maraAthon"

That’s called sarcasm. You misunderstand why people say this

Reoccurring dreams

its recurring

Not according to previous threads about this phrase specifically. Happy to accept it being used as sarcasm, but loads of people just think that "cheap at half the price" is the correct way..

Edited to respond to the actual comment I quoted!

Discrete doesn’t mean individual in the sense make-up can be individual. It means being distinct in the sense of being separate, rather than being distinctive.

Distinct entities, for example, or phases of a project, could be described using the word discrete. Someone’s make-up can’t. It was definitely meant to be discreet.

“ He/She has mental health” when it should be “He/She has mental health issues”. This is done way too much & drives me potty! We all have mental health!
Another vote for rest bite!

My dh took over the local Residents’ Association, when the former chap moved away.

He ‘inherited’ the online paperwork, which included a page for annual accounts, headed ‘Residence Association’.

Dh thought nobody would notice the mistake, or care, but I said yes, some most certainly would - I couldn’t have anyone thinking he was semi-literate, and changed it PDQ.

The former chap was an estate agent, nuff sed really.

Although I’m a fully paid up grumpy old pedant, I had some sympathy for anyone writing ‘rest bite’ on a forum for carers of people with dementia. Which I visited a lot when in that situation myself.

The poor things were desperate for a ‘bite’ of ‘rest’.

Nickname when they mean diminutive. Eg we will call the baby Nicholas NN Nick. A nickname evolves.

One thing that really irritates me is ‘there is’ with a plural. It’s everywhere now - do people no longer learn such basics at school?

I wonder, therefore I might be.

Prefer mentally ill tbh

And people commonly say, 'I'll have a think about that.'

If you don't have, or know of anybody constrained by terms, you just notice lots of kids around and say 'half term.'

It does my head in.

I blame Levi's. "There's rivets... and there's Levi's rivets".

"There ARE rivets, ya fucking moron," I'd scream at the TV.

Is it me? The number of customers who want 'thick' or 'thin' ribbon when they mean wide or narrow irritates me, and then Esme used 'thick' on the Sewing Bee's Mexican week. It must be me...

That's what I thought. And then questioned myself. Thanks for clarifying it.

Decimate. It is used all the time to signify something much worse than a reduction by 10%.

That’s because the meaning has changed in the centuries since it was originally used.

Not read whole thread but I will add - stepped foot. Drives me mad!

Off his own back when it should be off his own bat

I saw a beautiful eggcorn yesterday: 'Try and error' (presumably 'trial and error')