To tell you that it's "rein" not "reign".

[FlyingElbows]

Because it is and it's doing my tits in!!

Rein. Rein. Rein. Rein. Rein.

Free rein. It's an equestrian term meaning to give the horse freedom of movement.

It is NOT reign. That's what the Queen does.

It's right up there with "intensive purposes" and "doggy dog world"!!

Yes cordeliavorkosigan Where has the last 'e' gone from breathe?

Do people actually say 'and breath' or do they just spell it wrongly?

Why does it irritate me as much as other examples on this thread? Should I learn to shrug and move on rather than feeling as though these things are the equivalent of nails drawn down a blackboard? 99% of the time, I pass by, with my teeth set on edge by the mangling of our lovely language.

It's pedants' corner, JugglingFromHereToThere. I see the pedants have let you escape from there !

cheweduprope: "Any [American] literature that I have found on the subject has been pretty clear that "If I would have..." is incorrect English."

That's interesting. When a usage becomes near-universal, does it still make sense to say that it's "wrong"? Tenses are often used in odd ways in English. Americans will say: "Did you see that film yet?" where a British person would say: "Have you seen that film yet?"

Then there's the way that British people (and possibly Americans) use the imperfect rather than the perfect. For example, "I was saying to Jack just this morning that the weather is particularly warm for the time of year" rather than "I said to Jack..." It's so common that I think most of the time we don't even notice it.

Can someone please tell me what "bone apple tea" is the mistake for?

"Doggy dog world" and "bone in a China shop" I know (and quite like).

Can someone please tell me what "bone apple tea" is the mistake for?

guessing Bon appetit.

I am not the world's best speller, but I got the loose/lose thing as a child. On the old local trains with the shiny wooden doors, it used to say 'Please close the door when the train is in motion' in gold lettering. Some wag had managed to scrape off the 'C' I thought it was hilarious . It set me up for a lifetime of getting that one right! But the spelling makes no sense.

sanityisamyth I am with you on ect. I have no idea why people come up with that one, and you see it just as often as etc (which my spell checker thinks is wrong because it wants me to put a '.' after it. It is a pedant and hasn't heard of open punctuation.)

Oh yes!!! I've been muttering it to myself and it didn't click (I never say bon appetite so slight disadvantage).

You can do one.

Words change spelling and meaning all the time.

OP how about these two?

'Kerb your enthusiasm' and 'show a clean pair of heals'

It certainly does jdoe8, I think the history of English is a fascinating subject. As is the reasons behind different accent and dialects.

There are of course actual errors made in spelling and grammar (personally I'm not sure why anyone would feel the need to point it out - actually that's a lie, I know why and it's not to be helpful).

I do wonder at what point a common 'error' become part of the language (nationally or locally). I recall reading recently posters getting all het up about a word being used 'incorrectly' when the other meaning (the 'wrong' one) had been in common usage for five hundred years. FIVE HUNDRED YEARS!!! 500.

hackmum

I don't know if it is actually universal though. I found this thread (forum.wordreference.com/threads/subjunctive-if-i-would-have-known.601345/), which although nearly 10 years old, suggests that it may well be restricted to certain regions of the US.

It also includes an interesting discussion on whether we should always allow language to "evolve" through popular usage of terms and rules, or whether there are times (like in this case!) where we should put our foot down and say no! This is just WRONG. The grammar is too illogical!

These were my absolute favourites from the fb tat thread...

Too too Car moon. Ok. Lordy, like it'd kill them to Google it. Shake of fara sounds like a terrible cheap aftershave

I would not of started this thread!

"Too too Car moon" is brilliant.

When people write "ect" it always reminds me of Molesworth.

Another one I notice a lot is "worse" for "worst". I was quite shocked to see Annalisa Barbieri use it in her Guardian column on Saturday. I don't know why but it really grates on me.

Some commentator recently referred to Castro as the socialists' poster boy...

Funny, I would have said it was Shake of fara.

Thanks paxillin.

And I probably should have written "I've not checked to see which they use"

It must be tricky over there!

'I haven't checked which they use' ?

Grammatical changes like 'if i would have' feel different from 'eggcorns' (too too car moon) to me. Suppose they are both types of renalysis followed by analogy. But grammar changes are so much more subconsciously done, while just not knowing a phrase (like toe the line) is a specific failure in general knowledge.

I know the difference between bought and brought. For some reason, I am incapable of saying brought and it just comes out as bought!

I think I actually misused this on here recently because my bloody tablet autocorrect is an utter bastard. You think you have changed it to the correct word and it switches back 20+ times and then you think you have finally corrected it and bam, you click post and it has switched to the incorrect spelling.

So speaking of horses, how does it feel up there on your high horse?

Yes, I guess you're right Cherylene, one could never breath easy over there could one?

Their
There
They're

Since the start of facebook, I've been shocked at how many people get it wrong. Also,

To
Two
Too

It hurts my poor pedantic eyes!!

Just to clear it up, the person who wrote Eh Wallah was using it in the context of et voila!, not referring to Allah.

Too Too Car Moon is really lovely actually, I can imagine my kids writing it like that.

I have a young relative who says, 'aitch, no haitch' and I long to tell her that she was right the first time in such a diplomatic way that I don't hurt her feelings.

There's sometimes confusion about advice/advise which was explained to me - 'may I advise you with a piece of advice.'