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

[LaFlambeau]

When the correct expression is 'toeing the line'?

Birds, could you explain exactly how "toe the line" is the later version?

A version of any aspect language which only has significance for the the speaker is hardly a valid reason for its existence, as language is bt definition, a mode of communication; that is, enough other people have to get it to, er... get it.

To be pedantic and answer the question in the op, what springs to mind when I hear that is a totally different thing, namely:

this

Oh god. I've done that.. on mumsnet, recently I think (hangs head in shame)...

I know the origins, I know that it's toe the line as in stand up to the line, but I put tow as in everyone pull the rope together..

In my defence I'm knackered right now..

What's wrong with "route cause?" - route cause analysis is common in my work (and it's not just where i work that uses it).

It's "root cause", the thing that is at the base of an issue, the thing that drives it.

Iliketea Unless you are doing something extremely technical and esoteric involving possibly traffic routes it's "Root cause analysis"

Tea, its root cause analysis. As you are getting to the root of the problem.

Reading this thread has made me acknowledge my inner pedant. I find myself getting irked when dh says 'gen-you-wine' Gaaah!

staunch a bleed. HARRUMPH

Is it that they should be staunching bleeding rather than a bleed? I just don't immediately see what's wrong with that phrase, it's definitely nowhere near as grating or as glaringly obviously wrong (to me anyway) as most of the previous examples.

'An' instead of and is getting on my nerves at the moment. Where has the fucking 'd' gone: An I said he should of (sic) done what I told him too an he said...
AnD of course 'should of', 'would of'.

grammarist.com/usage/stanch-staunch/

Speckledy I think the issue might be stanch v staunch, although if one were saying the phrase they would sound the same.

I can't see any problem with bleed or bleeding.

I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird at the moment but may have to stop as Harper Lee has just written that if the people of Maycomb thought that, they had another thing coming...

Argh.

all you pedantics

Why have (U.S.) Americans changed the logical "couldn't care less" to "could care less" which is the exact opposite of what they mean? That always grates when I hear it.

There is an episode of peppa pig listed on some places as 'the school fate' all about the school fête. I saw someone today on a buy and sell page selling her 'shabby sheik' furniture.

How is stanch pronounced then?

I know staunch as an adjective means loyal, for example.

But to staunch a flow of something also "sounds" right.

My son has said "can't be asked"-because he doesn't like saying arsed!!

Well CBA doesn't really make sense does it?

But "can't be asked" kind of does-there's no intention of doing it, so don't even ask!

RuddyDuck "Surely the phrase is "toeing the line" not "towing the line"?"

I know some people don't read the thread before posting, but you didn't even read the first post!

Tsk.

"I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird at the moment but may have to stop as Harper Lee has just written that if the people of Maycomb thought that, they had another thing coming..."

Thing, is an accepted evolved expression.

It was debated why HL used "thing", some said it would make sense, because the thinking process/attitudes of many White Americans, were not about to change, actions, the legal system, judgements were.

So "things" were changing, even if thoughts weren't.

Toeing the line, was originally "Toeing the Plank and Toeing the Scratch", then it evolved.

Language evolves.

Oh sorry, yes, surgeon should stanch a bleed.

I understand staunch is becoming interchangeable with stanch but the purist in me abhors this.

[Brian Sewell face]

This is all very interesting, can anyone recommend a book on the origin of common phrases?

I get confused about rawl plugs. Is that a word or am I just hearing wall plugs with a lot of northern accent?

LeBearPolar - are you reading TKAM on a Kindle? I just checked - my Penguin copy says 'another think coming', the Kindle edition (which I got free last week) says 'thing'

I always say rawlplug, but I think that that might be a manufacturer's name & that wall plug is also correct.

So all rawlplugs are wall plugs, but not all wall plugs are rawl plugs!!

On our local FB Gossip group it seems we have a lot of rebels - judging by the number of people who say 'you should defiantly do such-and-such...'

Thanks re staunch/stanch. I had no idea staunch was incorrect.