to think someone should know doggy dog makes no sense?

[Juells]

Heard someone (on TV) using this yesterday. "It's a doggy dog world". Why do people think this means anything?

Later (think it was on Antiques Road Trip) someone said they were thinking of changing tact.

@SockMachine interesting isn't it? We don't have any Egyptian connections, only Russian/Romani. However - my great great Uncle wrote a book about languages (which you can still buy on Amazon, and a copy of which still resides in mum's bookcase). So I wonder if he introduced it into the family vocabulary at some stage.

I'd love to tell mum, sadly she is well into Alzheimer's and it might not mean much to her now. Still worth a mention though, it might trigger some old memories for her (or she might reveal that her great Uncle's live in gay lover, a big family secret, was in the RAF).

MN is brilliant for this sort of thing, thank you all so much!

The word minutiae confused me I had no idea how you pronounced it until a colleague (who knows some Latin) said it.

My daughter calls the permanent marker "the unremarkable pen".
(She is only 5 though. )

@DarlingNikita
That’s interesting and a bit sad. I mean if you’ve gone to all of the effort to write 70k words, wouldn't you want to spend some money on it. Otherwise no one will read it.

I would say the best books have been brilliantly proofed.

For my phd my dad who did editing/ proofing (as a living ) turned my shambled thoughts into a coherent award winning work.

On my own, forget about it.

A colleague used to say ‘pacific’ Instead of ‘specific’. Drove me nuts.

Regarding names such as Hermione, apparently quite a few years ago (60s/70s) there were two ships called HMS Penelope and HMS Antelope. Sailors being sailors, the pronunciation was switched and they because the Pennylope and the Antellopee.

One of the best I've ever seen was a FB post of a woman missing her husband. She could "still smell his colon on the pillow"

Cologne, dear. Cologne.

I can't see why it's so hard for folks to get their heads round "having another think coming". We're on Mumsnet, where we all know from time to time we have to give our heads a wobble. Adjusting our thinking, because we had another think coming.

When people say 'someTHINK' instead of 'someTHING'

Thinking about it, you lot might be able to shed some light on one of my late mums sayings. She was great at getting words muddled (ear flaps for lobes) but one winters night came in from walking the dog and exclaimed "its a crucial wind!"
Obviously my dad and I took the Piss for years but to this day I have no idea what phease she was going for.

Could the crucial be excruciating?

I think more people just have terrible hearing

@SistersOfPercy could she have meant to say 'cruel' wind?

One of the best I've ever seen was a FB post of a woman missing her husband. She could "still smell his colon on the pillow"

Perhaps she really could smell his colon? 😂

There's a lot if people doing their 'upmost' both in writing and verbally - heard a BBC news reader using it a few days ago.

I've seen 'viscous' a lot on MN recently.

My mum says 'mute point' which actually makes some sort of sense even though it's wrong and drives me silently nuts every time.

I cannot say 'anaesthesist' without a run up, and often need several attempts.

A guy on a forum I used to post on always wrote sorta speak instead of so to speak.
My DGF always thought misled was pronounced miezald.
Should of and would of are the ones I really can't stand.

This isn't anything new though. There's a really fun book called The Etymologicon which has a chapter on folk etymology which explains how, through things being misheard, "to eat umble pie" became "to eat humble pie", "dormoise" became "dormouse" even though dormice are not a type of mouse, and "escrevisse" became "crayfish" even though crayfish are obviously not a type of fish.

I think some things are done for fun — we cast nasturtiums with alarming regularity, but we do all know it should be aspersions.

My DSis had a "hilt she wouldn't die on" recently. I pointed out that once the hilt was involved it was probably too late to do anything about it.

I can't be that smug though. I thought that Alicia and Alesha Keyes were two different people for a long time, as were Jayzee and Jay-Zed...

Sometimes people just don't know what a word means, but use it anyway.

A man at work has used vendetta instead of venture (eg. it's a personal vendetta) several times. It makes him sound very bloodthirsty!

My friend pronounces "eptiome" as "epi-tome" (to rhyme with bone). I can only assume this is because shes only seen it written. I am always itching to correct her but think this would make me a massive dick.

One that I've heard pronounced wrong is hyperbole.

Some people think it's hyper bowl.

Recently I’ve been seeing the phrase “bawling my eyes out” written as “balling my eyes out”. Removing them with a melon baller maybe?

Why should people who have only ever read a word automatically know how to pronounce it?

And, as an aside- how often do people use the word epitome in ordinary conversation?

I still remember pronouncing 'choir' like 'chair' (approx choyre) in a reading test at school aged about 8, our school not having such a thing and us not being a churchy or up to that point particularly musical family. Now I sing in several of the things.

@CatteSteeer- that’s what I mean. There is absolutely no reason why you should have known how to pronounce a word you had never come across before. I hate it when people find genuine, completely understandable mistakes funny.