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?

Cheap at half the price means something is expensive

I don't really understand this.

Surely anything is better value if you're only paying half the price?

If I pay £10 for something, it's always going to be cheap at £5 😳

I'm normally pretty sanguine about this sort of thing but "hence why" is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

Stop it. The meaning of "hence" is "for this reason/as a consequence".

"The company is losing money and using more AI, hence the layoffs"
"I got a dog, hence my increased step count".

Hence why is nonsense.

The old favourite; Brought instead of bought. I've been hearing it all my life, even from adults and it still pisses me off. Also free instead of three, from a teacher, no less, how can we expect children to speak properly when their own teachers can't do it.

If something cost £50 quid and you said, 'Oh, that's cheap,' then it would be a bargain.
If that same thing cost £25 quid and your reaction was still, 'Oh, that's cheap,' then that means it's still a bargain, even at the lower price.
Cheap at half the price.

Disinterested - means you are neutral NOT uninterested.
Vicious cycle - it should be vicious circle.

PIN number grates a bit.

Personal Identification Number.

N stands for number. You don't need to say number again.
My personal identification number number ..... 🙄

I used to work in a shop on a retail.park. it had a sign on it saying 'please return to unit 52 of found wondering' on my last day i put a sticker on it saying 'i think therefore i am'.

Off of

Does it really elaborate on off!

@dollyboots if it’s cheap at 50 of course it’s also cheap at 25. 25 is cheaper than 50. The point of the saying is to get across that “this is so cheap, even if it were more expensive (i.e. twice the price) , it would still be cheap.” Cheap at twice the price.

‘Discrete’ when they mean ‘discreet’. Discrete is not an alternative spelling - the meaning is quite different - it means separate/distinct.

Lately I’m seeing ‘anyways’ all over the place, instead of ‘anyway’. Another US import I expect, that gets on my nerves.

And I know I’m probably being U but I really hate ‘birthing’ as it’s so often used now. You don’t ‘birth’ a baby, you give birth to it! 🤬
To me it just sounds semi-literate.

It BAFFLES me to see the sheer amount of people who call drawers...draws. I also cannot explain why is annoys me as much as it does either.

Yes, and ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ of, when the ‘of’ is redundant. E.g. Outside ‘of’ the town centre.

As in 'chester draws'? 😂😂

It’s another THINK coming… not thing coming.

*Runs off before thread is derailed…

That one sends me over the edge :)

Also, I would be very weary of trusting him...sigh, no, you would be wary...

'Nonplussed' used with the opposite of its actual meaning.

And a nickname should arrive organically, like someone being called 'Short Socks' when their name is David, but they once wore short socks.

Actual example - Robert Curthose, son of William the Bastard. Robert Short Trousers, supposedly because he was short in stature.

Totally agree that nicknames should arise organically. Someone might have different nicknames in their family, at school, at work.

This makes no sense to me lol. If it’s cheap at £50 it’s OBVIOUSLY really good and cheap at £25.

If you cut my hair and I say “cheap at twice the price” it means I still would consider it value for money at £100… so that’s the compliment

I really resonate with that.

Something resonates with you. You don’t resonate with it.

Mixing up 'rein' and 'reign' really annoys me - how hard is it to choose the correct word? Similarly, 'lose' and 'loose', 'lend' and 'borrow', 'bought' and 'brought'.

I keep seeing the word 'fumming' which I assume is supposed to be 'fuming' and 'dinning' instead of 'dining'. Arghhh!

Super can fuck right off. It makes the speaker sound like a right knob, I just 🙄

My annoyance is directed at people who say 'my dis/dd/dwhatever is ADHD or SEN'. No they aren't; they may have ADHD or SEN but that shouldn't define them.

Well you wouldn’t say “Ooh, that’s more at expensive!” at half the price. Literally everything would be cheap at half the price.

‘Cheap at twice the price’ makes far more sense. Even if you paid double, it would still be a bargain.

May I offer you 'colder sack' instead of 'cul-de-sac'?

A Mumsnetter once said she read this in her local FB group!

"Why haven't the bin men collected from my colder sack?" 🤣🤣