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?

If you google it, both are used, The half the price version is supposed to be ironic.

I’ve heard several TV weather forecasters make the same mistake recently and I’m wondering if it’s a coincidence. So, say they want to say: “It will be warm, if a little on the breezy side.” Instead they’ll say: “it will be warm if not a little on the breezy side.”

Laura on GMB, I’m looking at you.

Rest bite instead of respite. Arrrrrrrgh!

Laying, as in 'I was laying in bed'. What were you laying? An egg? A patio?
You were LYING in bed.

Oh, so, so many.

Literally. Used to describe something that is evidently not literal.

Kind of unique. Unique is a superlative. It's either unique or it's not.

Use of adjectives in place of adverbs, e.g. "She was dressed nice". "How are you? Good thanks."

Misuse of less and fewer. Fewer has almost fallen out of use but when you know the grammar rule hearing less used incorrectly grates. 'Less people' makes me wince.

Incorrect use of who and whom.

Incorrect use of myself and other reflexive pronouns, e.g. "When you call ask for Jane or myself".

Similarly, using 'Jane and I' if it should be 'Jane and me' because you think you're being posh. "For whom is the bottle of Lambrini? It's for Jane and I".

Your/you're confusion. 'Your wrong about that'.

Bare/bear confusion. 'Bare with me'. I'd rather not!

Greengrocer's apostrophes: Banana's 50p a lb

I'm a grammar pedant so all of the main offenders bother me. I'm well aware that language is a living thing and will change over time. Change from ignorance still irritates me.

Beyond grammar, how anyone indulging in slightly, and possibly temporary, selfish behaviour is a narcissist.

I heard the term 'flexitarian' the other day. Which describes the human diet since prehistory, doesn't it? Why is the word needed?

I'll think of many more but that will do for now.

I don't think it's correct , of course if something is half the original price then it's cheap.
The saying cheap at twice the price is correct, because it means an item would still be cheap if it cost more than the original price.

Brought instead of bought! 🙄

I thought that "after" is used if the Aunt is a Late Great, whereas "for" is if the Great Aunt is still around to be flattered.

Are you from Essex? I have lived in several areas of England, and always associate this with Essex and my friends and family there.

When people say rob when they mean steal. For example, Someone robbed my purse.

I miss not having him here annoys me. I miss having him here makes sense!

May I introduce you to... "I was led in bed"

"conscious' instead of 'conscience'.
'It was on my conscious' - no it wasn't. You were conscious of it or it was on your conscience. Drives me nuts!

So many people say weary instead of wary. Drives me crazy!

’i brought something from the shop’ BOUGHT.
’It think it’s far to cold’ TOO
’Shes gone too the shops’ TO

An American one that makes me cringe is ‘He puts the fruit in the pot and then adds a bunch of water’

Somerset and Gloucestershire??😀

DS2 uses ‘ sure’ a lot and ‘. Can I get ‘ instead of ‘may I have. ‘ Winds me up no end.
Also ‘ at the end of the day ‘ .. but I admit I use this.
It’s all meaningless speech fillers.

This is not a misplaced saying. It is an actual saying

I’m super excited
I’m super happy
110% doesn’t even make sense!

Also free instead of three
Are you from Essex? I have lived in several areas of England, and always associate this with Essex and my friends and family there.

And Sarf of the river. An assistant in our local bakery would always ask if you wanted 'anyfink else'.

And 'Erife' appears on a 17th century map.

This is fun:
The Polish RAF Map

"Michaelangelo's influence can't be underestimated"

You mean, it mustn't be underestimated?

Or that it can't be overestimated?

So often the context means it's impossible to overestimate.

Grrr

My pet peeve too. Actually drives me slightly batty.😁

PAT test... Portable Appliance Test test. So annoying

That makes no sense. I don't actually know the saying and have never used it but looking at all the notes in here surely it is cheap at twice the price. This is such good value that even if it were twice the price it would still be cheap ?