To wonder what mental image people have for 'towing the line'...

[LaFlambeau]

When the correct expression is 'toeing the line'?

[alAswad]

I've been mumbling "Pierre du Terre" over and over under my breath and I can't work out what it's supposed to be - can someone please put me out of my misery?!

[diddl]

Pied a terre!
:-)

[GoringBit]

LisaMed I've read a few e-books that have clearly not been proof-read or edited. I think it's great that writers can get their work out, some errors (or too many of then) really detract from my reading experience.

Anyway, I'm generally good with proof-reading (though stuff like split infinitives and passive whatever's whoosh over my head), so if you'd ever like a (friendly) critical look at your work, let me know.

[GoringBit]

P.S. My posts here (from my phone)!shouldn't be taken as a sign of my eye for detail or lack of it.

[GarlicJulyKit]

I definitely thought the same as Wanda about 'cheap at half the price', which makes it clever rather than daft.

Am I the only one who has to ask: WTF??
1. People who say "ptun" when they mean "clannicle"

Even Google doesn't know what those two words are.

[diddl]

What are ptun and clannicle?

I keep thinking of punt and coracle!

[WandaFuca]

I think ConstableOdo was joking - making up words/facts. Except for the last one - I have to avert my eyes when I read "could care less".

Glad you understood what I was getting at, Garlic. I did have trouble explaining it; but, in hindsight, I could have just referred to those adverts comparing two similar foods/drinks, one being a branded item, the other being the supermarket's own cheaper item, and added the tagline that said food/drink is still shite whatever you pay for it.

[diddl]

OK

Absolutely about could care less.

Can anyone make sense of that?

[diddl]

Talking to myself here, but I wonder if it's out of context.

You could say " I couldn't care less" or "if you think I could care (any) less..."

I love "proper gander".

Makes me think of this

[EleanorAbernathy]

The other day a work colleague had written something about a gentleman who had "Ashburgers Syndrome".

[WandaFuca]

diddl - from my long experience on the internet, and back when most of the chat was dominated by USians, I think it started off as a mishearing, where first the /t/ sound dropped to a /d/ sound, and then the /n/ sound disappeared as kind of background noise.

As an analogy: there's someone on another forum who says she's been repeatedly told that she mistakenly types "then" instead of "than", but her response is that's the accent in her part of the USA. I have read (though it might be an urban legend) that in some US accents, people always append "horse" or similar to "riding", to distinguish from "writing", because the /t/ has in some places changed to a /d/.